Return of the Burning Man

Chapter Eleven

Despite the dawning day, Raru'iti was insistent that Sothoo rested while he and Segar'iti searched the escarpment for whoever killed Lolontoo.

'But I am not tired, and I wish to prepare Lolontoo's body for cremation. We must send her off to the otherworld as soon as possible, we cannot wait to take her back to Peral'dul.'

Raru'iti understood Sothoo's need to be busy; he and the others felt it themselves. So they agreed; Sothoo would take a small amount of poppy water and get some rest while the others searched the caves for Lolontoo's murderer.

Sothoo was asleep before they were ready to leave, the exertion of the previous day and the grief of Lolontoo's death left her drained.

Sothoo had been clear that she only wanted a small dose of poppy water as she felt her natural tiredness would lead her to deep sleep without the need for any extra help. As soon as she closed her eyes she seemed to drop into a sleep of vivid dreams. But these dreams were not like any she had ever had before. These were so close to the normal activity of everyday life that it was impossible to say where dreams started and real-life ended.

She heard a strange noise and it woke her, or was she still asleep? She sat up and turned towards the direction of the noise. It was a qworking noise that sounded like a bird. Looking towards the cave entrance and towards the bird noise, she spotted a Jackdaw. Sothoo stared at the bird and the bird stared back. It stared intently and did not look away; it was not afraid and showed it. It qworked again, hopping a few paces away from the cave. It turned to look at Sothoo, fixing her gaze once more. It wants me to follow. Sothoo stood and put her boots on. She wrapped her cloak around her and followed the noisy bird.

Sothoo reached the cave entrance and saw that the bird had flown to a bush a dozen paces away. I qworked loudly and flew towards another. Sothoo followed moving away from the escarpment and out towards the forest. What is it trying to show me? Sothoo kept pace with the bird as it flew from one bush to another and entered the forest.

The bird would qwork from time to time, letting Sothoo know where it was. Sothoo followed the bird into the forest along a path only one person wide thickly edged with trees and shrubs. The foliage was so dense that Sothoo had no idea where she was going. But she managed to keep sight of the bird or at least hear its noisy qworking until they eventually ended up in a large, circular clearing in the forest at the centre of which was a circle of upright stones set on their ends a few paces apart. Sothoo counted them.

'...sixteen, seventeen, eighteen.'

In the middle of the stone circle was a massive stone slab big enough for six men to lay on side by side. The surface of the slab was about knee height and it was a pale, grey-blue colour. Sothoo stood outside the circle not knowing what to do next when a rumble of thunder burst overhead. She cringed slightly at the noise and looked overhead wondering where the lightning was. Then she spotted the Jackdaw in the middle of the slab, instinctively she walked forward into the stone circle and approached the slab. For the first time, the bird did not move but waited for her.

She stopped at the slab and looked at the bird not knowing what to do. What should I do now, my friend? The bird qworked and hopped from the slab onto her shoulder. Sothoo was taken aback.

'Well, my friend. Now what?'

Then something happened that Sothoo wasn't expecting. The bird spoke to her. Not through its beak but directly into Sothoo's mind. It said something wonderful, something that made Sothoo cry.

'Sothoo, it is the Numa spirit of Lolontoo. Something amazing is about to happen. Step back twenty paces and prepare yourself.'

Sothoo did as Lolontoo's Numa requested and as she did the sky cracked open and a fork of lightning burst out to directly hit the stone slab. The blast was massive, the stone was shattered into a crazed pattern of blasted fragments. Stone chips were sent flying in every direction as Sothoo and the Jackdaw were knocked flat onto the grass area around the circle.