The Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest, Search for the Ifa Scepter (13 page)

Farra swung her pouch behind Pupa, and when
she believed that it was beneath him securely, she yelled, “Let go
Pupa!”

Pupa grabbed the pouch and Farra hoisted him
up, immediately wrapping her arms around him.

“I thought I had lost you. I don’t know what
I would do if I had,” she cried to Pupa.

Pupa barked at Bomani once and panted
gratefully as Farra fussed over him.

They walked back toward the tunnel where
cool water spilled into the molten sea below. After he caught his
breath, Bomani looked over at Farra. Her eyes were closed now, and
she heaved with effort, trying to catch her breath and take in
enough air to strengthen her. A glimmer of light moved across the
mark on her face, and he stared at her in amazement. As he looked
upon her, he realized that her mark had lengthened.

“Uh, your mark got bigger,” he said to her
as she stirred and righted Pupa in her arms. She touched her cheek
gently.

“Yes, I felt it.” She replied. She held Pupa
up to her face and looked into his eyes, and Pupa licked her cheek,
affectionately. Pupa’s mark had grown as well.

“Our marks.” She said to Bomani, still
looking at Pupa dreamily.

“Marks or no marks, it’s hot,” Bomani said.
“Do you have any ideas on how to get out of here?”

“I’d guess we’re inside of a volcano. Seems
like a long way up, and a short way down. It’s so hot. This is not
good. Not good at all!” Farra said.

Looking up through the volcano opening they
could see the night sky. It seemed as if it would take days to
climb it, however, days they didn’t have. The heat inside was
unbearable, and below them, the boiling magma stirred violently.
The lava seemed to breath as it slowly rose up and turned into
itself, like an awakening monster.

“We’ll never make it out of here,” Farra
cried. They both looked up at the mouth of the volcano. “It’s too
high. I don’t think we can last in this heat much longer,”

“Hey, we made it in, and we’ll make it out,”
said Bomani trying to feed some determination into her with the
will of his eyes. “Never give up without a fight. Come on.”

They jumped down to the rock below them then
further down following a path that brought them even closer to the
hot liquid below.

The pressure inside built up and gave way to
geysers of hot lava that shot up from the boiling pool of magma
like a sun flare in mild and violent spurts. Bomani and Farra were
watchful and headed toward a rock formation that made for a narrow
crossway ahead. Farra was terrified. She looked back at Bomani and
her eyes pleaded for him to think of another route out of the
sweltering volcano, but he looked on steadily.

“It’s the only way, Farra. We’ve got to do
it,” he said.

The crossway was formed from igneous rock
and was just as makeshift as Hagga’s boat had been. There was no
line or rope to hold on to, and a careless step or a collapsed rock
could be the end for one or all of them. They took the crossway
cautiously. They were exhausted from the heat and every step seemed
to take an immense effort. As they walked, Bomani suddenly became
dizzy and fell down. Farra gasped, as she was certain that Bomani
was about to fall into the boiling magma.

“Are you okay?” she asked. She had never
seen Bomani show any signs of weakness. She was scared.

“Yes, I just felt a little dizzy for a
second.”

“It’s so hot in here. What are we going to
do? I can barely breathe.”

“We
have
to keep moving,” Bomani
said. She was right. The heat was so unbearable that he was heaving
for air.

Suddenly a burst of magma from below
splattered upon the walkway ahead. The weight of the molten rock
cracked the narrow pathway and it crumpled, leaving them separated
from the other side.

“I don’t think it can get much worse than
this.” Farra said. She was frightened.

“Back the other way,” she suggested.

They turned around to go back when another
burst of magma crashed upon the narrow pathway in front of them.
And now their platform had no support and fell, smashing into the
hot, liquid rock below. They balanced, floating on a slab of rock
that was no more than ten feet across.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say this
volcano had it in for us.” Bomani said.

“Oh Bomani, this is no time for jokes!”

“I’m not joking.”

“I changed my mind, this is much, much
worse,” said Farra.

“Even worse than that, I think we are
sinking,” said Bomani.

They balanced themselves on the shaky rock
as it wobbled back and forth trading buoyancy for the weight of the
kids. The edges dipped into the liquid, and the smoldering matter
melted their raft, bit by bit. They backed into each other, both
trying to stand as close to the center as possible. As Bomani
stated, it did seem that this volcano had it in for them. Farra
grabbed Bomani’s hand.

“Bomani, I’m getting really tired, and
dizzy. Getting hard for me to stand up,” Farra said, fighting the
sensation to lie down and rest.

“I feel it too. Try to fight it. I need your
help to balance this thing, but we won’t make it, unless we get out
of here, quickly. Do you have any ideas?” he asked, hoping that she
wouldn’t sense his fear.

“In the water — when we were back in the
water, we used the water rune. Maybe lava is fire, and if so,
then...”

“Then that means we use the fire rune. It's
worth a try,” Bomani interrupted. “Let’s hope that lava
is
fire.”

He pulled out the fire rune, and then took a
deep breath. Farra grabbed him for a second. “Wait a minute, when
we used the water rune, it made a whirlpool, we went into the
water, I got all wet.”

“So?” replied Bomani.

“So, I don’t think…” She took a moment to
catch her breath then continued. “I don’t think we’d survive—going
into the lava.”

“You have any other ideas?” Bomani replied,
trying to shake off the effects of the intense heat.

“No,” said Farra.

“Neither do I.”

Farra looked at him earnestly, “Well, what
ever you’re going to do, do it quickly,” she said. She was
definitely influenced by the effects of the heat, and it was making
her feel so drowsy that she could barely stand. She clutched Bomani
for support, but he was not immune to the heat either. He knelt to
the ground and breathed in heavily, trying to get enough air into
his lungs with each breath. He too was on the brink of passing
out.

The boiling lava ate away ever more quickly
at the rock upon which they stood. Bomani dropped the fire rune
into the magma below, and for a second nothing happened. Suddenly
they heard a loud rumble and the whole volcano shook. A spurt of
magma erupted directly under the slab of rock they stood on,
pushing them upward. They rose swiftly. Had they the energy to
scream, they would have, but the heat had drained them.

They rose higher and higher. Bomani watched
in amazement as the burst of lava pushed them quickly toward the
volcano’s opening. It would have taken them days to climb to the
top, but within seconds the volcano’s hot belly burped them
out.

XV WHERE BLOOM FLOWERS

BLOOM

When Bomani awoke, he found himself laying
on the ground and squinting from the sharp pain caused by the
sunlight as it entered his eyes. His face was warm from the sun—
almost sweating, but his legs and his back were cold, not just cold
but they were freezing. Sitting up only amplified this headache
that he felt.

He held his head and one thought entered his
brain,
it’s freezing.
He looked down and was surprised that
he was sitting in snow. All round him, he could see it on the peak
of the mountaintop where he sat. They were high enough for the thin
air to be cold. The peaks of the mountains trapped any moisture
from reaching the base.

He looked over and saw Farra lying
motionless in the snow.

“Hey,” he said to her as he nudged her.
“Farra, are you alright?”

Farra moaned lightly as she awoke. She
looked up to see Bomani kneeling over her.

“What happened?” she asked Bomani,
confused.

“The last thing I remember was flying
through the top of the volcano. We must have hit the ground pretty
hard,” Bomani said.

“Where’s Pupa? Pupa. Pupa! Where are
you?”

Pupa’s head popped out of a mound of snow
and he dashed forward jumping onto Farra. He licked her joyously,
and she giggled. She was happy and relieved to see that her
companion was all right. The scare in the volcano made her feel
even more protective of him, and while Farra and Pupa exchanged
their morning greetings, Bomani noticed something else moving in
the snow.

“Hey, what’s that?”

“What’s what?” Farra asked.

“I don’t know. I saw something moving in the
snow — something small, just under the surface. I don’t know,
something small and green,” he said.

They were all curious, and looked on
intently, especially Pupa. Something mysterious poked through the
snow, and it grew. Pupa’s curiosity brought him closer.

“Pupa, be careful!” Farra shouted. Farra
wanted Pupa to keep a safe distance, but the young wolf’s instincts
persuaded him to move closer. As they watched, the strange thing
grew a bit taller and began to sprout petals, right before their
eyes. Pupa jumped back. Its petals were thin and pear shaped — and
then they noticed the colors. Each petal revealed an array of
colors, displaying an entire rainbow. Each rainbow moved and
twirled fluidly upon each petal. It was stunning.

“It’s so beautiful", Farra exclaimed. She
moved closer to the fascinating plant and then they heard a strange
voice, “Must be careful.”

They turned around and saw a small imp
standing behind them. It had just dug its way out of the snow as
well. When it stood up it was about a foot and a half tall. It was
hunched over a bit, and its limbs were bent at the knees and elbows
like a little furless monkey. Its skin was gray with a brownish
hue, and it wore large pieces of jewelry that hung from its tiny
frame awkwardly. He had three fingers and a thumb on each hand, and
two toes on each foot, and upon each finger and toe and thumb, he
wore large, gaudy jewels.

“What?” Bomani asked. The unsightly imp
startled him.

“Must be careful,” the imp repeated.

“Who — No, what are you?” Bomani asked.

“Me, Zerggie,” the imp introduced
himself.

Zerggie hopped about on all four limbs, and
then he jumped on Farra’s lap and quickly climbed up to her
shoulder, before she could stop him.

“Hey!” she said. She twisted around and
tried to reach him as he skittered across her shoulders and smelled
her hair and clothing.

“Hey, you’re cute,” Farra laughed.

“I wouldn’t say cute,” Bomani insisted. He
turned up his nose and looked at the troll-like creature,
disapprovingly.

“What are you doing?” Farra laughed.

Zerggie climbed to the other side of Farra
and ran back across her shoulders. He scurried down to her bag and
began to burglarize it. He picked out a twilka berry and helped
himself to that as well, nibbling with his small teeth. Farra
glanced down at him.

“Hello, Zerggie, I am Farra. You like twilka
berries, I see.” Zerggie tossed the rest of the bunch into his
mouth and then jumped down.

“Hey!” Farra reached in her bag, and pulled
out a few bare stems. “You ate all of them! That wasn’t very
nice.”

Before Bomani could stop him, Zerggie
climbed up his leg and burrowed into Bomani’s sac.

“Hey!” Bomani exclaimed. The little thing
was beginning to annoy him.

Zerggie fumbled through Bomani’s belongings
and pulled out a rune. “What this?”

“What are you doing? It’s a rune, give it
back,” Bomani commanded.

“What it do?” the curious imp asked.

“It’s magical. Give it back!” Bomani
insisted.

“Like magic. Make it do magic,” Zerggie
requested.

Now, completely frustrated, Bomani grabbed
Zerggie by the neck and began to shake him. He threatened to hit
him and demanded that he returned the rune.

“Don’t hurt him!” Farra cried. She got up
quickly so that she could help the little creature.

“Don’t hurt him? He ate all of your berries,
and now he’s got my rune!” Bomani glared at the imp angrily. He let
out a sigh, and then lightened his grip on the wiry imp. “I won’t
hurt him if he gives me the rune back,” Bomani said reluctantly.
Zerggie slowly handed him the rune and Bomani sat him down. Zerggie
sensed Farra’s compassion and scurried up to her arms, she cradled
him like a baby. Bomani stepped toward them, and Zerggie swiped at
him with his thin long fingers as if to ward Bomani off.

“Aw,” Farra cooed at the imp. “Look at the
little guy. You’ve frightened him. Did you have to be so mean?” she
said to Bomani. Every body likes twilka berries.”