Chapter 4. The Ghost Volcano

I picked up a feather pen and touched the parchment, intending to inscribe the night ahead.  At once, the pen started moving, writing down my thoughts and the dialogs around the fire.  Only the past and the present can be written safely, I kept reminding myself, I must not write about the future.

A shadow fell on my face and when I looked up I saw a colorful rug hanging in the air over the bonfire.  “It is a flying carpet!” I thought excitedly to myself, remembering reading about them in my childhood fairytale books. The feather pen promptly wrote down my joyous thoughts on the parchment.  A creature sitting on the flying carpet raised his arms and waived at everyone.  A loud baritone voice announced, “I apologize for being late!“  Several fairies surrounded the carpet and guided it to the bench by the bonfire.  When the carpet landed, I saw a very short and overweighed human-looking male.  He got up, no more than 3 feet in height, and happily continued, “I had to fly by the Ghost Volcano to see if it’s still erupting!  Its lava is made of gold and diamonds!”  He wiped off the droplets of sweat from his bolding forehead, and picked up a cool piala from the serving tray.  “Ah, Ehram, as usual, I see the gnomes are busy serving your kind!” He sipped the chilled fruity tea.  “Did I miss anything?”  “Welcome, Vitas, to the gathering,” said Ehram, frowning. 

“If the first story-teller has not yet been chosen, I would like to start the evening,” proclaimed Vitas, who evidently was used to talking and not listening.  He walked towards the bonfire without waiting for an affirmation.  “The Ghost Volcano takes its physical form only when the morning fog touches it,” started Vitas.  “But its elusiveness is not why so many go looking for it.  In its heart lies a huge sapphire and the legend says that any creature that touches the precious stone gets impervious to the heat and fire.”   With that, Vitas stepped right into the blaze. 

Shocked, I watched the short figure being licked by the fames.   His purple suite with green shoes was shining vividly in the center of the bonfire, getting brighter and brighter.   In the corner of my eye I saw a young water nymph approach the fire, ready to cover it with sand to save the bold man.  To everyone’s surprise, Vitas stepped out on the other side, safe and sound.  Ehram seemed troubled by this act, and said, turning to me, “This bonfire is under a spell.  No one should be able to survive it, and no one should be able to cross it.  Vitas found a way to break the spell.  This day may not be as peaceful as I hoped, and you may not be as safe as I promised.” 

Vitas, shining as bright as the sun, went back to his bench and sat down on the rug.  “I touched the sapphire, and the legend is true.  I survived Ehram’s magic fire, and I believe this makes me the most powerful wizard of all.”  A surprised and disapproving murmur was heard from all the corners of the Cryll Valley, and my feather pen could not keep up with all the negative thoughts streaming towards Vitas.  Without acknowledging his claim of power, Ehram said, “Could you entail us with a story of how you uncovered the Ghost Volcano?  Many of us went looking for the disappearing mountain, but only you were able to find it and get inside.  And you had to be extra sharp and quick to get to the sapphire that was protected by the powerful spells for hundreds of years!” I sensed the mocking tone in Ehram’s voice.  “Yes, it is a story worth telling,” answered Vitas proudly, “and the young ones can learn from me.” 

“My only gift passed on to me by my family was whistling.  Those who do not know what a powerful gift it is, I can demonstrate.”  With that, Vitas placed the tips of two of his fingers on his tongue.  Ehram quickly turned to me and waived the palm of his hand over my head – a transparent bubble appeared in the air, covering my head and neck.  In the next moment, I heard a shrilling noise, so loud that I fell to the ground, not being able to hold on to my bench.  Vitas, with an ease of a child, was whistling.  When the shrieking stopped, I looked around – I was the only one who seemed to be affected by the high pitch.  Even my parchment was laying flat on the table, as if under the weight of a rock.  Ehram helped me get up, and removed the protective bubble.  “I apologize for not warning you,” he said, “but there was no time.  Without this bubble you would have been dead.”  Mad at the short fat man, I sat back down on my bench, and saw many oak trees moving away from the valley towards the Great Lake.  Many did not have any leaves left on their branches, and many could barely walk.  “So much for no one getting hurt”, I thought, as the feather pen sealed my thoughts on paper.

“For this gift my parents lovingly named me The Nightingale,” continued Vitas.  “The only creatures not affected by my gift were the wizards, and I swore to, one day, find a way to force them to pay attention to me.  Today is such a day.”  Vitas pompously looked around, and saw me. “Oh!  A human!  Alive!  Did Ehram protect you? “ Vitas laughed, but unexpectedly started coughing.  “Fine,” he finally said when the coughing subsided, “back to the Ghost Volcano and my fruitful journey to find it.”

“The key to any voyage is a map.  I guess no one here knew that there was such a map.  I found out about it from Aro, an old forest dweller who I met one day while practicing whistling.  He begged me to stop, and offered a secret atlas in return.  When asked where he got the map, he said he used to live in the grove near the Volcano.  When his senses got weak, he drew a map of his home so that he would not get lost. 

Immediately I realized what the old man was offering.  I took the atlas from him, and left his forest.  Back home I picked the best carpet for flying –my beloved Nowa.  It was large enough to fit many horses, strong enough to carry rocks, and beautiful enough to astonish a wizard.  Prepared with barrels of water and baskets with bread, cheese, and fruits, I left my home.

The trick with the map was that it showed the path to Aro’s old home, but I needed the mountain instead.  I reached the grove by nightfall, and landed in the clearing.  Impatiently I walked towards the edge of the woods, looking and touching everything in my path.  I saw the night fog approach, and watched it intently for any signs or sounds of a volcano.  I spent the whole night crawling on my hands and knees, with no luck, until I heard the morning rooster.  Immediately, the morning fog surrounded the grove like a cloud, and for an instance, I saw fire up in the skies and heard the loud thunder. The Ghost Volcano was erupting!  Quickly, I ran to my flying carpet, and dashed into the air.  But the thunder and fire disappeared, and I was left circling the air above the grove for hours. 

The next morning  I waited impatiently for the rooster’s call, sitting Nowa, ready to fly.  As soon as the morning fog approached, I saw the volcano and the fire, felt the heat, and heard the thunder.  That morning, the mountain was a lot further away, and I couldn’t reach it in time.  Realizing that the volcano does not stay still but moves erratically, I started thinking of how to predict its next position.  Till nightfall I was trying to come up with a way, when all of a sudden I heard a quite howl – it was not coming from a distance, it was somewhere very close to my carpet.  Scared, I walked around but saw no animals or creatures in the dark.  The howling continued, and I’ve decided to follow it.  As I circled and circled around the grove clearing, I soon realized that the howling was coming from Nowa.  Sitting down on it and listening intently, I reached in the direction of the sound and stumbled upon a glass bottle that I used for drinking water.  The bottle was empty and closed, and inside I saw a strange creature…. No, not even a creature, but a cloud-like being that was trying to crawl out.  I shook the flask, and the cloud settled on the bottom.  And then it hit me – I caught the morning fog!  It must have sipped into the empty bottle and accidently tumbled over and locked itself in.  Immediately I recognized the importance of my finding – the morning fog was needed to see the volcano, and now I had it with me!  I didn’t have to wait till morning, if I wanted to, I could force the fog to show me the volcano now!  The cloud howled again, trying to push the cork out, but I was holding it firmly in place.  “I will let you go if you help me get to the center of the Ghost Volcano,” I said loudly.  The howling stopped, and then, to my surprise, I saw three letters form inside the bottle: “YES”.

I put all my belongings on Nowa, and flew up in the air.  Staying over the grove, I took the closed bottle out of my pocket, and showed the creature where we were.  An arrow formed inside the bottle walls, showing me the direction in which to fly.  As I started moving, the arrow was changing guiding me every step of the way.  Soon, the grove was nowhere in sight, and I realized that the volcano moved so far away that the next morning I would not have been able to see it. 

Suddenly, the arrow pointed straight down.  I stopped the carpet, and looked over the edge at what lay below, but saw nothing but the tree tops.  “OPEN” was the next word inside the bottle.  I understood immediately what the creature was trying to do – it needed to touch the volcano for it to become visible.  I removed the cork, and the cloud slowly lifted out of the bottle.  It descended to the ground, and unexpectedly I saw the crater directly below.  The flames and lava were pouring out of it with such force that Nowa caught fire.  I could not guide my flying companion away from the heat, and we fell straight down into the volcano’s heart, surrounded by heat and thunder.

I didn’t know how long I was laying on the warm ground when I gained consciousness.  I was on a tiny island in the middle of a pool of hot boiling lava.   Looking up, I saw high walls shimmering with red and orange glow.  Up above my head there was a small black circle with bright dots and I realized that it was the night sky with stars.  Hoping to find a way out of the mountain’s crater, I got up looking around.  Nowa was nowhere to be seen, and I thought that it was not as lucky as I, and was probably burnt by now.  Fortunately, I found several pieces of a broken barrel that earlier contained fresh cold water.  They were soaking wet, and probably that’s how they survived the fire.   Aiming at the other side of the lava lake, I used my shoelaces to tie the barrel slats to my soles.  I then began to cross the hot pool, jumping from one hot rock to the next.  By the time I reached the other side, I was sweating, and the barrel slats were hot and catching fire with every step. 

Exhausted, I fell to the cooler ground and slept.  I woke up from feeling prickling on my neck.  Turning around, I saw my beloved Nowa, half burnt, but alive and ready to fly!  I jumped on it, and it took me into one of the dark cool tunnels.  As we were flying, I saw the glistening volcano walls all around us.  Slowing down for a moment, I touched the sparkling dots, and realized that they were diamonds!”  With this, Vitas reached into a bag laying next to him and showed a hand full of brilliant stones.  “I suggested to Nowa to fly slower, and I picked the walls every time we passed a large diamond.  Soon, the carpet was loaded with precious jewels. 

As we kept descending to the heart of the mountain, the tunnel widened, and the air seemed even cooler.  Suddenly, the tunnel ended, and we emerged into a large cave with high ceiling.  In the center of the cave, not supported by any physical means, hung the largest sapphire you can imagine.  Unexpectedly, we hit an invisible wall, and fell to the ground.  I felt helpless, seeing my dream in front of me and not being able to reach it.  With tears in my eyes, I sat down, and started whistling.  Soon I realized that Nowa moved a lot closer to the sapphire then when we first entered the cave.  Having an interesting thought, I whistled with all my strength.  Even my flying carpet had to move away from me – it hurt so much.  When I was done I heard the sounds of invisible glass breaking into million pieces.  The sapphire was now free.  I walked toward the stone, and gently touched its rough edges.  A strange sensation went through my body, and I felt as if I just drank a whole barrel of ice cold water.  My desire for the sapphire was gone – I no longer wanted nor needed to see it or touch it.  Sitting back down on my beloved Nowa, we flew up toward the night sky.”

As Vitas was describing his journey, I could not help but think that as courageous as this man was, he was also flaunting his new powers.  And then I noticed something strange - Vitas’ clothes, just minutes ago bright as the sun, were getting duller and duller.  Ehram saw that as well, and gestured to me not to interrupt Vitas at any cost.

“When I got home,” continued the bolding Nightingale, “not only did I have the powers, I also had the diamonds!  And we all know the diamonds of this quality are rare, and I can make the best, most powerful spells with them!  And I am going to start with banning the Wizards Council from Lukzor!”  With those words, he put the diamonds back in the bag, and suddenly screamed.  “What’s the matter, Vitas?” asked Ehram, half-smiling.  “My diamonds!  They… turned into plain sand…!”  “Well,” Ehram said, “then I also would not suggest that you try to cross the bonfire again.”

“It is all YOUR doing!” yelled Vitas, staring bluntly in MY face.  I was shocked – why was he accusing me of anything, and how and why would I do that?  

“You took my diamonds away, you wrote that they will turn to sand, didn’t you?!  You are Ehram’s pet!”  Whispers were heard all around the fire, whispers about the new historian, a human, with a forbidden power, and the feather pen was swiftly writing them all down.

“Enough!” Ehram raised his voice numbing everyone around the bonfire.  “We all know when a wizard brags about his magic powers, he loses them.  I guess Vitas should have read The Book before he proclaimed himself a wizard!  Having the powers does not make you one!  Having no respect, no understanding, and no responsibility for your powers makes you an arrogant being! ”  Then, quieter, Ehram added, “however, I thank Vitas for sharing his story because we now have a way of finding the Ghost Volcano.  The heat the volcano produces can be moved to the far corners of Lukzor and heat many homes in the winter months.”