Earth's wrath

When Alice called out, her voice was high-pitched and strident. At first I thought she was screaming, but there was something elemental about it – like wind keening over rocks or the shriek of a storm.

Then there came an answer. The Earth screamed – a thin piercing sound, higher but in harmony with Alice’s cry. It was a sound that could make ears and noses bleed and burst blood vessels in eyes. I covered my ears, but my horse reared up in terror, forcing me to hang onto the reins to stop it bolting.

Now, between Alice and the Kobalos army, the Earth growled and hissed in anger, venting gouts of steam from where it had been imprisoned beneath the rock. Suddenly there was an eruption of fire, fierce orange flickering tongues of it, as rocks and earth were hurled skywards in explosion after explosion. Beneath me, some distance from the Fissure, the Earth shook and roared out in fury.

Suddenly I remembered one thing Alice had said to me, and I gasped in horror: she’d said I might not survive this.

We’d only just been reunited and, terrified of losing her, I dragged my horse forward until we were level with her. What I saw was appalling and heart-wrenching.

Blood was streaming from her nose and eyes; it was running in thin streams down her face and dripping onto her pointy shoes. Her face was twisted in torment, her mouth wide open in what looked like a scream. If she was indeed screaming, it was impossible to hear because of the tumultuous eruptions all around us.

I could do nothing to help. All I could do was hope that it ended soon.

The eruptions lasted no more than a minute or so. Afterwards it was hard to estimate how many of the Kobalos and their creatures had died in that inferno. When it began, they had not advanced far into that area of devastation. The vast bulk of their army was untouched. But it had halted their pursuit of our infantry.

Starblade Book 2 Chapter 21