ML Bellante Books, LLC
‘As the party neared the mountain of fire, it became clear to all that it was in a steady state of eruption. On some days, it appeared relatively calm, spewing only white smoke. At other times, it was in the throes of a violent event.’
‘Coleman, Titus, and Ayascho climbed the steep cliff, and from the ridge top, they looked into a gaping crater at least a thousand feet deep and more than a mile across. The soil inside the crater was cobalt-blue in color, just like the meteorites.’
‘Coleman and Ayascho saw no signs of game, so they didn’t even try hunting. This was a barren place, a wasteland. The further they went, the more desolate it became.’
“We are the People of the Mountain, the Cavers. We have lived here for many, many generations.
‘The p´atezas was well overhead by the time the group reached the Batru village. It was much larger than the one he and Ayascho were from; at least twice as big,
Coleman guessed.’
They hid in a narrow wadi. They waited quietly for the terror bird.’
‘…Coleman could see a village surrounded by a wall of logs reminiscent of an old-time western fort. In front of the wall was a deep ditch filled with upturned spikes… Once inside, Coleman could see many lodges and huts. They were covered with fronds to protect the dwellings from the rain. He could see no window openings and the doorways were covered with animal hides. Smoke rose from the center of many of the roofs.
‘…the party bumped into the Magheedo Mountains, a range of rolling hills with peaks no higher than about two-thousand five-hundred feet. They were rugged and covered in lush vegetation.’
‘There were no roads in the west because of the Great Magheedo Marsh, a huge, impassable wetland south and west of the mountains, full of weak-ground. Coleman came to understand that term to mean quicksand.’
‘…the Magheedo Plain, an expanse of cultivated fields, sprouting what looked like wheat, oats, and other cereal grains.’ “These fields feed the citizens of all three great cities. They have always provided food enough for the people as well as beast and slave,” Sestardi Titus, commander of the king’s detachment
‘He was flat on his back, and as he peered through the visor of his environmental suit, he could see a triple canopy of vegetation above. Obviously, this was not Tranquility’s He-3 Base.’
‘Chashutzo suddenly flew into the air as if in slow motion and collapsed several yards away. One after the other, men in the line were tossed in the same manner until the beast reached Coleman and Tzeechoe. Coleman managed to dodge the onrushing bulk, but Tzeechoe was too slow and was knocked into a tree, slumping to the ground, unmoving.’
“What are these terrors, and what makes them so danger-ous?” Coleman wondered.
“I’ve seen them,” said Pontus. “They have a big fin on their back, taller than a man. They are as long as ten men are tall, maybe more, and they can swallow ten men at once. That’s why no one goes on the ocean.”