Fantasy Poem "Kamal Del and the Dark Elemental"

"Kamal Del and the Dark Elemental" (above in 2 parts), published in the May - July '08 Issue of Sorcerous Signals and Arcane Whispers Vol 2: The Best of Sorcerous Signals 2008, Dec '09.

Kamal Del and the Dark Elemental

A wild whirlwind blew across the Zal Sea,
Churning the waters into a raging swell.
Deep within that fey cyclone’s swirling heart
Lurked a baleful elemental terror.
Drawn by the flame of many honest souls,
It sought to consume every spark of life.

Angry dark clouds dimmed the afternoon sun
As the dank breeze carried an evil stench.
A tense hush fell over the humble folk
Caught in the path of the menacing gloom.
Ancient seers sensed the terrible truth
And raised the call to arms throughout the town.

Heavily laden war galleys set out
To grimly confront the approaching foe.
One hundred silk sails of crimson and gold
Were swallowed up by the advancing murk.
Aged mothers swooned and young widows wept
When only ten shattered wrecks returned home.

Perched atop a jagged prow of grey stone,
Kamal Del stood alone before the storm.
A gleaming light shone all about him
Like the bright blaze of a pharos beacon. 
Radiant beams pierce the looming blackness
As they strove to part the beast’s gloomy veil.

 Darkness deepened as the fiend fought the light.
The tempest ripped at Kamal’s clothes and hair
As the fell storm’s rabid fury strengthened.
The mage called upon the Lord of the Air
To strip away the monster’s stormy cloak
And lay bare the elemental’s vile form.

A cool zephyr carried the god’s pure breath
Down from his lofty mountaintop abode
And westward across the angry grey sea.
Fresh breeze grew into a maddened bluster
And clashed fiercely with the eldritch tempest
Until it tore the storm clouds asunder.

A great serpent writhed amongst tattered clouds.
Lightning flashed from its glaring lidless eyes
Accompanied by the crash of thunder.
Poisonous fumes poured forth from its fanged maw
As it fixed it foul gaze upon the mage
And plunged with a savage roar toward earth.

Kamal Del raised his knotty oaken staff
And stirred the ocean into a maelstrom.
The twisting, whirring vortex rose skyward
And devoured the evil elemental.
It descended back into the black depths
From whence nothing living ever returns.

Kamal Del thanked the maker of all things
As he leaned wearily upon his staff.
Joyous town folk carried off the old mage
And paraded him through the cobbled streets
As the golden face of the setting sun
Painted tranquil wisps a glorious hue.