The mountain explodes
behind us and a hundred thousand Ahram go down like grass flattened in the
wind. Whoosh. Then comes a brain numbing sucking silence that makes our ears
pop and squeak and all sound disappears from the world as if it’s been switched
off. I feel as if I am floating in some thick substance, like swimming around
in a goldfish bowl full of treacle. I reach out for help but my hands won’t
move. Colours come and go, shapes that mean nothing to me move across my field
of vision. Nothing has any depth or perspective. It’s all two dimensional right
up in front of my face. I feel myself floating gently above the ground and
wonder where I’m being taken.
Then comes a backwash of
wind, and a screaming, howling pressure inside my head that pierces to the
centre of my brain like a dirty nail and my eyes begin to bulge. The world
jumps back into a crazy focus of misty landscapes and crouching figures. My
nose is running so I wipe it on the back of my hand and am surprised to see
blood. I turn and see another Ahram nearby and he is also bleeding from his
snoot - dazed. All the Ahram, like me,
are unable to stand, driven to their knees by the screaming sound. But it’s not
over yet. Then comes Jove’s thunder and all hell enters my head. The ground
judders and shakes and cracks and everyone is suddenly running and falling and
trying to escape a foe that is all around us….above and underneath, ripping the
universe apart and tearing it from under our feet.
The mountain that
exploded is all of thirty miles away, which is probably why we are still alive.
I turn and watch a massive chunk of it separate from the main range, teeter,
topple, and fall over in a cloud of dust that races towards us like a massive
wall of boiling brown soup. The ground jumps up to meet me and my hands grasp for
something to cling to. I close my eyes and tuck my head in as the wave of sand
and debris hits us. Gasping and choking, I wonder if we’ll ever see open air
again.
The rain of sand and
dust finally settles and a beautiful silence returns, full of normal
nothingness. I listen to my breathing. I am here. I am alive. I do not move. I
do not ever wish to move again. Life has suddenly become very precarious and I
feel sure any untoward movement of mine will set off another catastrophic
explosion. The Ahram also think so, for we all wait…very quietly, and very
still.
Then I hear it. Like the
buzzing of an angry bee, getting closer and closer and I look around to try and
identify the insect responsible. But the sound gets louder and louder…impossibly
loud for an insect or animal. I can feel its vibration in the air and when I
look up I see the Tartarus a few thousand feet above us, engines screaming to
keep the ship aloft and once again my world is whipped out from underneath me.
How the hell did he find
me? How the hell did he find me amongst all these Ahram? Well I suppose he
didn’t find me yet or else I’d be dead. He was probably just taking a few
practice shots.
Shim is talking to me
but her words make no sense - like Donald Duck-speak. And she’s making gestures
with her hands but I just stare at her like an idiot. Then the other two girls
are at my side, lifting me up and carrying me along. I look down and watch my feet
dragging in the dust and give them a good talking to for being so lazy. But
still they refuse to work. Life is funny now. Now that it’s nearly over. I feel
a lightness in my soul, as if all my cares have been taken from my shoulders. I
look at the Ahram girl next to me and smile at her. I am just full of good
will. Spreading the love. She turns her head away.
There’s dust in my eyes
and in my mouth. I can also feel the caked blood on my chin and cheeks. What a
sight I must be. The Ahram look no better though. Slowly the feeling begins to
return to my body and my legs start to function again. Within minutes I am
running without much help. I look around for Garm. I can’t see him anywhere in
the crowd but the press is so great I can hardly keep track of everyone. We are
all being dragged along by an ocean of Ahram sweeping away from the explosion towards
the citadel, a mindless mass, shocked senseless, heading pell-mell towards the Seesh’s
lair.
