RUMBLING
Scene 55
Rumbling. The portal mound shook, and soil fell from its open entrance, the outer door resting on the slope of its mound, outthrust roots and rootlets dangling. Derizan and Daryuz got to the entrance first, with weapons drawn, Piotras close behind them. They looked in. Diamann followed them at a distance.
“It might be best to shut that door,” called Alumaras, coming along with Diamann.
“Yes!” Daryuz said, “Come on!” The three at the door heaved it back over its opening, scraped away tangled debris from its long, corroded outer handle, and cranked the handle to latch it back in place. The shaking subsided, and the mound lay still for minutes as the group waited and listened.
“That’s the fourth time I’ve heard this,” Diamann said.
“It’s happened before? Did anything else come out of this mound?” Derizan.
“I don’t know. I didn’t know this mound was from here. I was lost and wandering when you found me, but I heard and felt the rumbling while I was trying to find my way in this place.” Diamann looked up. “It’s getting late in the day. It’s going to get very dark in here, soon.”
“We’ll try to set ourselves up for the night,” Derizan said. Inwardly he said to Farsinhilh, “You must be sensing something we don’t.”
Fiarsinhilh didn’t respond at first. Then, “No. I’m resting after all the exertions. I need food before I can work with you again.”
Derizan didn’t like that. “So… some kind of meat? The menu is a bit thin right now. I can chew some dried meat.”
Silence inside.
The mound had stayed quiet. Ajina asked, “Could the shaking be when someone is using a portal someplace else?”
“I’d rather not think about that,” her sister said.
Daryuz asked Diamann, “You heard it several times, right? Did anything appear?”
“No,” said the older man, “It came and went. I think we should be all right to just let it do whatever it does.”
“All right.” Derizan went to the door and its covering rock, roots, and soil. “Let’s pile this door high with dirt and rocks so if anything tries to open it from inside, it’ll make a racket. We need to eat, and then rest. Tomorrow we can work on finding our way and getting to better places.”
# # #
The earth under the great trees had softer patches scattered here and there, and after warming a light dinner of provisions over a small fire of root debris from the mound’s debris, they found places to rest for the night. The deep hiss of the forest seemed a little less to them now as the light faded into blackness. Derizan and Astina lay side by side, Ajina and Selech a few steps away. Diamann and Alumaras rested near the couples, finding softer soil for their aging bodies. Piotras, Guinban, Alumaras, Denzari, and Daryuz took up spots circling the rest. Tellina decided to recline with Samantine against a long, great root not far from Alumaras, nursing her baby and humming to her until both of them slept.
Occasionally a faint rumble from the mound came and went. Far up in the darkness came fleeting cries of small creatures of the gigantic trees. Kaxukinil, the great forest of the South Fall over Sirathen, dozed in Ben’s timeless dreaming.
