Secrets of the Druids

Chapter 13 Hell and Brimstone

Chapter 13.

Hell and brimstone.

It was not rain. It was not snow that fell down on Abbie and bran.

It was ash.

Abbie coughed. Bran shook his nose and sneezed. The ash was sticking to Abbie's wet clothes and face.

Up ahead she could see men with torches at the end of the boat.

She pushed against the wind and ash towards them.

Above the noise of the low thunder and what sounded like seagulls she could hear the captains voice barking orders to the men with the torches.

"This ash cloud is getting bigger. Get that rudder fixed. NOW! Before we are all buried!"

Abbie was about to reach them when a hand tapped her on the shoulder. She turned and seen a tall old brown skinned man pointing to a sheltered spot.

"Come over here child."

She followed him over.

They were standing under a sail sheltered from the ash and wind. A single lamp hanging on the mast of the ship lit the space up.

Abbie loved the lamp. It was like one from Aladdin she wondered if it held a genie. The old man sat on a barrel and started sowing up a rip in the sail.

"You and your ass will be safe in here." The old man told her as he continued to sow.

"It's a wolfhound" Abbie told him rubbing the ash off herself.

"Then you, your wolf hound and your ass will be safe in here." He laughed like a man who enjoyed a good laugh.

He beckoned her to sit on a barrel beside him.

She went over but instead of sitting. She stood on it and looked out.

She could see the captain and crew leaning over the end of the boat trying to fix the rudder .

Beyond them in the darkness she could make out land. A coast, cliffs and mountains. The sound of seagulls seemed to grow louder.

Then there was a long flash and the landscape lit up.

She was looking at hell.

One mountain dominated the sky . It's top blown away smoke ash rock flew out it it like a chimney on fire.

Below a city on fire sweeping to the shoreline.

She realised the sound of seagulls was not seagulls.

But people.

Thousands of them screaming along the coast edge. Then the mountain exploded. The screams roared up.

"Get down!" Shouted the old man who grabbed Abbie and pulled her back under mast of the ship.

The ash was first to rain onto the ship then stones then rocks on fire.

Abbie, old man and wolfhound hugged under the mast tiring to make themselves as small as possible.

The storm of hell raged outside. The old man started to prey. It was the our father.

Abbie joined him.

There was a look of surprise in the old mans brown eyes as Abbie joined in. Abbie didn't see it.

She had her eyes closed.

She had seen enough.

She was lost in the prayer shutting the world out.

"Deliver us from evil ...Amen...rocks rained into their shelter... Abbie's world went black.

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