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A.R.Yngve

DARC AGES Book Three
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Fogo awakens

Chapter 30 (continued)


A rumble like distant thunder crashed through the sky and shook Darc and Shara out of their sleep. It was in the middle of the darkest night; the thunder came from the north. Drowsily, they wondered why there was no lightning. Then they understood, and rushed out of bed. The stone floor wobbled under their feet, and they groped for each other's support. Pots and small items shook and crashed onto the floor.

In a few seconds, the earthquake had ceased -- but the distant rumble increased in strength and rhythm, as if some vast creature was breathing the atmosphere with massive force. Darc and Shara grabbed their clothes and footwear. They rushed out into the mansion's central corridor and hurried toward the entrance hall. Around them, the entire household was in frenzied motion -- the electric lamps flickered on and off, and an air of nightmare lay over the scene.

"Eye-Leg!" shouted Shara, dashing off to the Leper girl's sleeping quarters. Her room lay at the other side of the central dining hall, nearby the entrance to the inner catacombs of the rock mansion. Darc followed after and the couple found Eye-Leg, writhing in panic on her bed, dangerously close to falling off. They lifted the frightened girl into a wheelchair, and helped her outside the mansion.

A wide stone staircase led out onto the winding path below the mansion's rocky front, down toward the forest, the terraced fields, and the nearest village. The members of Mechao's household hurried down the path, lighting the way with candle-lamps as they went. The dark clouds above began to boil with tension. Suddenly, a crackling explosion drowned out all thunder. An orange light illuminated the cloudy sky from the north, and the whole main island vibrated. Darc thought of atomic explosions -- but the detonation was of another class, more powerful still. Miraculously, the elevated cable-line remained intact and working. The population of the nearby village joined Mechao's household at the upper end of the line, ready to head downward for the harbor and escape in the hidden boats.

Darc defied all warning calls, and climbed a hill to see past the mountain ridge. The illuminated orange sky lit up everything; he could see the terrain quite well. Dohan hesitated, then separated from the group and quickly followed after him. After a couple of minutes, Darc came to a hill peak and could gaze across the sea to the north. He gasped at the sight.

One could barely make out the string of smaller islands at the horizon, that surrounded Fogo on both sides. The volcano was but a distant, bright top of fire, from which a blazing column of lava and smoke shot up into the night. A hot gust of wind swept over the landscape; the smell of sulfur increased, and Darc's eyes watered from the stinging dust that blew in his eyes and nose. The sea inside the ring of islands was in an uproar -- the waves crashed against the shores with greater force each time.

Dohan came climbing up next to him, and stared in horror at the eruption. The sight stirred up memories of the stories from his childhood. Those ancient tales recreated the earliest memories of a cataclysm -- the time just before the coming of the Eternal Ice, when the earth and sky unleashed its wrath on a corrupted mankind:

The wrath of the Goddess was merciless. From her body opened a vast crack, and fire and ashes burst forth. The lord of the skies saw this, and roared in rage, and the sky ruptured. And he shook the heavens, so that a white-hot star fell down from the sky. And when the star hit the ocean, the entire earth rustled in its path. And the cities crumbled, and each day became like blackest night.

"Goddess," he whispered, "have mercy upon us."

Then Darc noticed Dohan, and said to him: "I hope there aren't many people over there. It's not safe for them to cross over, with these storms blowing up."

Dohan stared incredulously at his friend, who seemed quite composed in comparison to his own fear. Could not even the All-Mother's wrath shake Darc's confidence?

"What do we do now?"

"What can we do? It's safer to stay here. Perhaps..." Darc swallowed, ashamed that he did. "Perhaps the Goddess is trying to protect us. Or she's arguing with the Singing King over our fate. Looks like she's winning."

The moment he finished his quip, a mighty crackling thunderbolt struck down at another peak, no more than a half kilometer away, and sent a sharp echo rolling over the hills.

Darc flinched, just a little.

"Great Goddess and King, Darc!" Dohan exclaimed, his young face full of frightful reproach.

And for once, Darc kept his mouth shut.