Shroud of Doom

by William Manchee

  Chapter 14

  Mt. Soni

   

  Bruda and Essyria hired a Grinden for three days to take their mating party to Jedeva. It was expensive but Rupra considered it a good investment. He wanted to not only impress Essyria but also his friends. They reported to the rental lot just outside the dome, were assigned a driver, and began their journey to Jedeva. They could have taken the Jedeva Tube, but Rupra and Essyria were not in a rush and wanted to enjoy the spectacular scenery provided by the southern tip of the Weeping Mountains.

  There were six in the mating party. Bruda brought Peeta and Chalk and Essyria brought Silla and her sister, Marga. The Grinden was fully stocked with food and drink so the party got off to a fast start.

  “You’re going to be in so much trouble when your mother finds out you’ve been mated,” Silla teased.

  “Too bad. It’s my decision, not my mothers,” Essyria replied.

  “I know, but aren’t you afraid your parents will cut you off?”

  “No. Why would they do that? It’s not like they had any control over who I ended up with anyway.”

  “True, but still.”

  “Once they get to know Rupra they’ll approve of my choice.”

  “Then why didn’t you introduce him to them before now?” Silla asked.

  Essyria shrugged. “You know how parents overreact. I just wanted to avoid all that drama.”

  “If her parents had done a background check on me, they probably would have opposed the mating,” Bruda interjected.

  Silla looked over at Bruda expectantly.

  “Ah. I was testing an experimental rifle for my father and there were some rhutz stalking a herd of range deer. About the time I pulled the trigger there was a tremor and I accidental shot a rhutz?”

  “Accidentally?” Chalk laughed.

  Bruda smiled smugly. “Well, at least that’s my official position.”

  “So, what’s wrong with killing a rhutz?” Silla asked.

  Everyone laughed.

  “Nothing?” Bruda admitted. “But there are some rhutz lovers who believe the ugly beasts are like humans, so there was a big stink and my grandfather had to resign from the Tributon Assembly.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Silla said taking a drink of her Tekari. “What a bunch of slubdubs.”

  “Anyway,” Bruda continued. “We didn’t want that little incident to get in the way of our mating.”

  Silla nodded.

  Bruda thought of his friend Romas Lantra who he’d strangled for betraying him. It wasn’t that he felt guilty for murdering his friend, but more sadness over his death. Bruda had liked Romas and missed him.

  “What’s wrong?” Essyria asked, seeing Bruda’s contemplative stare.

  Bruda looked at Essyria and smiled. “I was thinking of a friend back in Tributon, Romas Lantra. He was found dead for no apparent reason.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry. They don’t know the cause of death?”

  Bruda sighed. “No, but I suspect he committed suicide. The inquisitors were looking for him. I’m sure he was trying to protect me. He knew if the inquisitors got a hold of him, he could be forced to say anything.”

  “Yeah. The inquisitors are a bunch of scutz,” Peeta said.

  Bruda looked at Peeta. Reading his mind Bruda knew he was worried about the public enforcers investigating Eyeball’s death.

  “Luckily they’re incompetent too,” Bruda replied. “Even if they gave a crap about a mutant, they wouldn’t waste much time worrying about his death.”

  “Mutant?” Essyria questioned.

  “Ah. I mean, rhutz.”

  “Then why did Romas commit suicide? If the PE’s were incompetent?” Essyria asked with a look of confusion on her face.

  “Ah. Well. Because they’re incompetent they have to resort to intimidation and out right fabrication of evidence to do the bidding of whoever is pulling their strings.”

  Essyria frowned.

  “Anyway. That’s ancient history,” Bruda said. “Let’s talk about something more interesting—like our future.”

  Silla sat forward excitedly. “Yes. What are you going to do after you’re mated.”

  Essyria’s frown vanished as she contemplated the question. “Well, after we’re mated, Rupra will have to find a job. I’m sure once my father gets used to the idea of he and I being together, he’ll offer him a position.”

  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Bruda replied. “What I’d like to do is go into politics.”

  Essyria nodded. “Sure, but that takes time. You’ll have to establish yourself first. My father can help you.”

  Bruda smiled. “Of course,” he said out loud but he had no intention of working for Essyria’s father. He liked his independence and couldn’t stand the thought of someone looking over his shoulder all the time. That didn’t mean he couldn’t use Essyria’s father’s help. He planned to tap into that resource as often as he could.

  It was early in the afternoon when they finally arrived at their hotel in Jedeva. After they had settled into their three adjacent suites on the seventh floor, Bruda and Essyria went to pay off the doctor for the pregnancy test. When they got back they all went to dinner at a Tunisu Restaurant. Tunisu was a large island at the tip of Turvin that was well known for its unique way of cooking seafood. As they were finishing up their meal the topic of the next days’ activities came up.

  “Why don’t we climb to the observation point at Mt. Soni. I heard there’s been a lot of smoke coming out of it lately,” Essyria suggested.

  “I don’t know. Do you think the observation point is still open? Aren’t they worried about it erupting?” Chalk replied.

  “No. It’s not going to erupt. It just has to relieve the pressure once in a while so a lot of steam comes out.”

  “What about the tremor the last time I was here,” Bruda reminded her.

  Essyria sighed. “You guys are a bunch of twits.”

  A twit was a nervous bird that jumped and squawked excitedly at the slightest provocation. Bruda was annoyed by the observation and glared at Essyria.

  “All right,” Bruda finally said. “If you want to live dangerously. We’ll drive up to the observation point.”

  Chalk and Peeta glared at Bruda. He smiled back at them, amused by their discomfort.

  “Sure, that should be fun,” Marga agreed. “Will it be cold up there? I didn’t bring warm clothes.”

  “I’ve got an extra jacket,” Silla advised. “It will be cool, since the observation area is over eight thousand feet high.”

  “It will be warm in the Grinden, anyway,” Essyria noted, “and we’ll have plenty of Tekari to keep us warm.”

  They all nodded in agreement.

  The next morning, after breakfast, they piled into the Grinden and started their journey to Mt. Soni. It was a spectacular ride through the dense forests of the Weeping Mountains. Even though the road was narrow and winding the Grinden took it with ease and there was little discomfort for the riders inside. As they got closer to the big volcano they could see the large plumes of steam streaming out of it. Had they’d been outside they would have smelled the pungent odor of volcanic ash as well, but the Grinden’s air filtration system eliminated the odor inside. They all looked up when the driver suddenly stopped.

  Bruda hit his com button. “What’s wrong? Why are you stopping?”

  “Ah. Sorry, sir. But the road to the summit appears to be closed.”

  “What? I didn’t hear anything about that?” Essyria complained.

  Bruda sighed. “Wait here. I’ll get out and have a look.”

  Bruda got out of the Grinden and saw that a gate had been swung around blocking the road. There was a sign that said the observation area was closed due to recent volcanic activity. Essyria got out of the Grinden and came up beside him.

  “You mean we came all the way up here for nothing,” Essyria complained. “I really wanted to see the volcano up close.”

  Bruda shrugged.
“I’m sorry.”

  Essyria glared at Bruda. “Come on. You’re not going to let a little gate stop us, are you?”

  Bruda sighed and went over to the gate. He looked at the padlock and willed it to open. Suddenly the metal rod popped out allowing him to remove the lock. Then he swung the gate open to the let the Grinden pass through. After locking the gate behind them, they continued up the mountain.

  “Do you think this is smart,” Chalk asked. “I mean, what if there’s an eruption?”

  “Don’t be silly,” Essyria said. “Mt. Soni’s been dormant for over a hundred cycles.”

  “Yes. But on the VC they’ve been saying volcanoes all over Tarizon have become active. Some experts predict there will be a lot of eruptions all over the globe.”

  “Maybe. But Mt. Soni isn’t going to erupt today. We’ll just go up to the observation area, take a quick look around, and then go back to Jedeva. You wouldn’t want to spoil my mating by being a twit, would you.”

  “No,” Chalk said nervously. “Let’s just not linger once we get there.”

  “We won’t,” Bruda promised, smiling at Essyria. “We’ll just look around, take a few stills, and then come back down the mountain.”

  “Look,” Silla said pointing ahead. “The sign says it’s only three more kylods to the observation point.”

  “Good,” Chalk replied. “I’ll feel better when we’re traveling away from this place.”

  As they traveled on the dense forest suddenly disappeared and they crossed a rocky area devoid any vegetation. A few kyloons later they reached the south observation area reserved for tourists. Across the volcano at the government monitoring station there were many people, some civilian and others military. When the driver stopped they all got out, walked to the fence along the edge of the cone, and peered down into the volcano. Steam was spewing out into the atmosphere like someone had poured cold water into a hot fry pan. The air reeked of sulphur and the noise was deafening. Suddenly the ground shook violently knocking Chalk and Peeta off their feet. The rest of them managed to latch onto the fence and hold on for dear life.

  “I told you this was a bad idea,” Chalk said as he got back on his feet. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “Come on!” Essyria replied. “There are always tremors around a volcano. It’s no big deal”

  “Oh, my God!” Chalk yelled as a finger of hot lava shot up fifty feet into the air. “It’s going to blow.”

  The ground began shaking again and a giant boulder not thirty strides from them broke off the cone and fell into the abyss. Bruda looked down following the big rock and for the first time saw molten lava slowly pushing up toward the rim of the volcano.

  “You’re right, Chalk,” Bruda said nervously. “We should get out of here.”

  They all turned and ran back to the Grinden just as the ground below them began to break apart. They jumped in and told the driver to get them out of there. Fortunately, he’d turned around in preparation for their return trip and bolted away as just as soon as he was told to do so. The parking lot collapsed beneath them as they reached the road leading back down the mountain. The Grinden rocked and tossed them about as it struggled to keep traction. When they finally reached solid ground the car lurched from side to side as another tremor struck. As they held on in terror there was a tremendous explosion behind them as the south side of the mountain blew apart.

  Debris and rubble began raining down upon them hitting the Grinden’s roof and putting a huge dent in the bulletproof window. The driver swerved around trying to avoid rocks and debris that suddenly appeared before them. The girls screamed and Bruda looked back in horror at the exploding mountain.

  As they raced down the mountain a combination of falling ash and steam cut visibility to just a few feet. The driver was forced to slow down to be sure he stayed on the road. When they stopped to open the gate Bruda jumped out. Looking to his left he saw a line of molten lava crashing through the trees like they were toothpicks. He quickly opened the gate and rushed back to the car.

  “Step on it! If we let the lava beat us to the road, we’ll be trapped!”

  The driver nodded and stomped on the throttle. The big Grinden took off and they plunged down the mountain at nightmarish speed. Chalk looked to his left in horror as the lava flowed through the trees like water through grass. As they reached the curve where the lava would cut them off if it beat them, the driver slowed, then accelerated through the turn. A ten foot wall of lava spewed over the highway just a few feet behind them. A big glob hit the top of the Grinden with a loud thud making the girls scream.

  Bruda looked back and sighed. “Alright. We made it,” Bruda said. “We should be able to out run it now.”

  Chalk glared at Essyria. “Yeah. Mt. Soni won’t erupt.”

  She shrugged. “Ah, don’t be a slubdub. That was fun.”

  Silla looked over at Essyria and raised here eyebrows.

  “Well, it will a great story to tell our children,” Peeta noted. “I’m not sure I’d do it again, though.”

  When they got down off the mountain traffic became heavy as local residents rushed to evacuate the area. Ash was already falling like snow and visibility was only a few strides. It was nearly nightfall when they made it back to Jedeva.

  The tranquil hotel they’d left had turned into a bustling refugee center by the time they’d returned. The desk clerk summoned them over to the front desk when he saw them enter.

  “Mr. Bruda. May I have a word?”

  Bruda looked at the clerk warily, then walked over.

  “Sir. I wonder if you would surrender two of your rooms. There are a lot of people who need shelter.”

  Bruda frowned. “You want all six of us to stay in one suite?”

  “Yes. In light of the emergency.”

  “But we’ve come here to be mated. We want to be alone.”

  “Please, sir. People can’t stay outside. It’s not safe with all the ash in the air.”

  Bruda sighed. “You can have one of the rooms, but you can’t expect my new mate and I to sleep in a dorm tonight.”

  The clerk bit his tongue. “Alright, sir. Thank you for that.”

  Bruda went back and gave them the bad news.

  “Well, at least we can still be alone. I’m surprised they didn’t want all of us to sleep together.”

  “They did,” Bruda replied, “but I told them to forget it. This is a special time for us and I’m not going to let anything ruin it.”

  Essyria smiled. “Good. I’m glad I’m mating with a man with backbone.”

  Silla and Marga looked at each other and raised their eyebrows. Chalk turned away but Peeta smiled. “You don’t have to worry about that, Essyria. Bruda’s backbone is made of steel.”

  Bruda smiled. “Right. Well, let’s not let a little volcano spoil our evening. Let’s see if room service is still opened. If so, we can order up dinner and some drinks. We need to celebrate our narrow escape off the mountain.”

  They all nodded and headed for the elevator to go back to their rooms. The door opened and they got in. Chalk pushed the button for the sixth floor and the elevator began to rise, but before they reached the sixth floor the elevator began to rock back and forth. Silla screamed and Essyria grabbed Bruda’s arm. Then the lights went out and the elevator came to a sudden halt.