| |
|
| |
| |
"I had an idea..."
The Tale of the Mad Wizard of Imbroglio
By Pukaq
Chapter 6
I awoke with a start. Some fetid stench had caused me to cough.
"Easy there. You're ok. It just smells terrible, but it helped you come around," said Quello, Aurora's father.
He looked haggard and worn. I'd been moved from the cave and placed into his care. He tried to keep me lying down, but I suddenly had to go. I had to find Anniu. Until that moment, I had forgotten that the area he had gone to was closer to where the flaming ball from the sky had crashed. He could be hurt and need help. I had to find him - I had to tell him what happened to his parents - make him understand how hard everyone had worked to save them.
I ran toward where I could sense Anniu, cursing my inability to telepathically call out him. For hours I ran, crying out for him until my voice failed to utter another sound and still I pushed the breath from my lungs and formed the shape of his name over and over rasping out his name again and again.
It wasn't until I stopped to rest that I noticed the changed landscape. In many places, where there had been wooded landscape, there were now broken or uprooted trees that all seemed to have fallen in the same direction. With a start, I realized that if I were to raise my arm and point to Anniu, my arm would point the same direction the fallen trees indicated. I had little to lose as I headed toward the source of what had blown down these trees.
From felled treetop to exposed roots, I followed the unfaltering course such devastation had plotted. As I progressed, I noticed the fallen trees no longer seemed parallel to each other: trees in the distance to my left and to my right seemed to be pointing inward toward a point on the horizon where a thin trail of smoke could be seen climbing into the sky. Surely, if Anniu had seen that, he would have gone to investigate. Spurred by that thought, I increased my pace and resumed calling out his name.
As I neared the source of the smoke, I observed far more destruction and devastation than I had previously seen. Trees were not only blown out of the ground, they were burned to ash. The closer I got to the center, the more scorched the ground had become and still I could not see the center. It was as though a giant, larger than any known to exist, had scooped up and shaped a huge circular area into a colossal bowl. From the center, wisps of smoke could still be seen, and there is where I found Anniu, kneeling, his back to me.
I called to him, but all I managed was a croaking imitation of his name, but he turned his head and saw me. From the rim of this vast bowl, I waved, but he seemed distracted. For a moment longer, he worked away at what he had been doing and then, standing up, he began his ascent toward my location. I rushed down to meet him. Grabbing him in an embrace of relief, tears of joy running down my face, I managed to express my delight at seeing him unharmed.
With Anniu leading the way, we made our way out of the depression. Wiping my eyes, I noticed his condition: he was covered in dirt and ash and parts of his clothing was singed. Noting these details, I realized I had overlooked something. During our brief embrace, he had been hot to the touch - no doubt due to his proximity to the source of smoke that arose from the center where I'd first seen him. He assured me, though, that he was fine.
He'd been farther from town searching for resources than he had expected to travel. The first he knew of something out of the ordinary was hearing a loud boom, but he was unable to tell exactly where the source was. Then, a sudden wind had come up blowing the trees around him followed by a ground shake. When he had climbed a nearby hill, he could see the top of the strangest cloud that had the shape of a mushroom.
He led me to a nearby cave where he had stowed his gear. The familiar spark was in his eye as he related his tale of finding it shortly upon his arrival. He had been through this area many times and this cave had never been here before, nor had the earthen bowl. He surmised that when the earth shake happened, this cave had been revealed.
Intrigued by the strange cloud and all the unusual events, he had made his way to the source, where I had found him. I was exhausted and could barely speak by the time we reached his cave and seeing this, Anniu gave me some fruit, honey and water to drink. Feeling refreshed and better able to speak, I told Anniu that I needed to share some bad news.
I related how the ball of fire had come streaking out of the sky. I told him about all the devastation it had caused in town and of the discovery that the mine entrance had been buried in an avalanche. With tears running down my cheeks from the memory of these recent events, I told him of the collapsed cave and how everyone had worked so hard to reach the trapped people inside. At last, I told him that his parents had been the ones found and that they were dead.
I'm not sure exactly what kind of reaction I would get from Anniu upon hearing this tragic news. Disbelief, anger at the thought of a cruel joke or tears of sorrow came to mind as possibilities, but as I wiped my eyes, he seemed distant and distracted. "I have to go back. I have to cover it up," he had said.
"Yes, we have to go back home and see to your parents," I had replied.
"No, not yet. I need to do this. I don't know why, but I need to cover it up."
"Anniu, what are you talking about?" I asked.
"The bowl where you found me, I need to level it."
"Well, you can't do it now. It's too late, I'm exhausted and my head is pounding. Let's get some sleep and we'll talk about it in the morning."
His voice still sounded distant to me as he reluctantly agreed and we settled in to sleep.
|
| |
|
|
|
