The Red Jasmine Revolution

22. Seeds (Final Chapter)

Fire! Fire! The camp was on fire!

Chyarmanine passed rows of flaming huts as she ran to the north of the camp looking for a way out. There was a gap next to the big house where the men had been planting seeds and she galloped towards it. Then there was a whistle and a boom as huge ball of fire fell crashing out of the sky to land in front of her. Chyarmine skidded and fell as the ball exploded in a wall of searing, blistering flames, she screamed in pain as sparks and large embers dashed themselves against her skin, which was thick, but still felt fire.

The ball of fire were smashing into buildings and crushing the roofs as they hit, where they hit the ground they burst and sent out flames in all directions, setting fire to anything they touched and throttling the camp with their ground shaking weight.

The moon was now high above the eastern mountains, but the Gates of Winter were not being opened. Instead of the harmony of hundred of bells being rang at once, there was discordant screaming and wailing and the sad mutred sound of bells hitting the dirt as people ran to escape the fireballs.

It was Gunthaw and he had broken the Gates.

Chyarmanine turned back, trying to forget the pain that was coming from the blistered skin on her trunk and forehead. She ran back down the camp to the elephant stables but they were on fire too. She wailed a trumpet of frustration and was about to turn back again when she heard a response from the other side of the stables.

Jhabow!

She cried back to him and he called back. But there was no way around past the fire. She stepped back as the flames grew larger, but felt heat on her back. One of the flaming beams had fallen, dragging down an entire wall of the stables which now burned, penning her in tight. She felt the heat on her skin. Even if the flames did not burn her the heat would take her. She knelt down in the dirt while the fires rose around her, giving one last call for Jhabow to run to safety.

Jhabow charged through the flaming stable walls to save her. He pushed with his forehead and shovelling with his tusks as the fire burnt him, but he did not care. He wrapped his trunk under Chyarmanine and lifted her to his feet and then got behind her, pushing her through the gap to the safety of the jungle. They vowed wordlessly never to return.

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When Sut told her that Gunthaw had returned, Seng Nu sighed in frustration at his stubbornness. Hadn't he learned from last time? Sut said that he had brought carts with him and he was setting the carts on fire.

Seng Nu frowned, but did not have time to hold the expression, as the fireballs began to rain down. She yelled for them to bring water, but it was clear it would be too late. No one knew what to do. Everyone was looking at her, their eyes pleading with her to do something.

More and more buildings were going up in flames. "Seng Nu!" they shouted "Stop it!" "Do something!" "Save us!".

She did not feel anger, just despair. She would not kill again. [more, on the argument in her mind]

"Run" she screamed at the men and women around her. They looked at her in confusion. Why was she not doing anything? She felt her voice rise, "Run!". And they ran. She ran too. Into the big house, and onto the balcony to release all the doves. They flew up into the sky out of the reach of flames and smoke, away above the forest, leaving behind the smouldering anthill that was Buttersweet.

Seng Nu looked out from the balcony. Nearly half of the buildings were in flames and some had already collapsed in on themselves. On the other side she sees that the women's dormitory is now just a bonfire.

Seng Nu is outside and she is running towards the gate. She knows she is making a sound- a simmering scream of fear and anger- all she can feel is the blood crashing like a raging wave inside her. She runs across the camp, past the burning buildings, past the running people, shouting in pain and in fear and already mourning the dead. Past the chaos and the confusion. The front gate has been torn apart and she sees Gunthaw and his army on the other side. They are not coming through yet, they are still loading their machines that launch balls of fire and she realises that he does not want to come in... he wants to destroy. She feels her own rage rising up to meet his. She will destroy him. She will destroy all of them. She is running towards them, her body is a fist of vengeance. She is about to leap into the air when she hears a wail behind her, she turns, but only in time to see a flash of grey that knocks her down and she hits the ground hard.