Fort Morgan by Claudia Hall Christian

not
erupting,” the serpent said.
    “ It looks like it is,”
Sandy said.
    The serpent’s one eye gave Sandy a hard look
before turning to Delphie.
    “ No, you’re right,”
Delphie said. “The volcano wouldn’t have erupted for another
thousand years. You would have been well prepared for
it.”
    “ What is happening?” the
serpent asked. “Who did this to us?”
    Delphie’s eyebrows furrowed over her worried
eyes.
    “ Did the fairies do this?”
the serpent asked. His voice rose with rage.
    “ No.” Delphie shook her
head.
    “ Dragons?” The serpent’s
voice was filled with such loathing that Sandy instinctively
shuddered.
    “ They’re fighting against
this,” Delphie said. She pointed to the air where four or five
brightly colored dragons flew overhead. “Watch.”
    A dragon gave a powerful
pulse of its wings before tucking them to its sides. The dragon
dropped through the opening of the bowl, only to be pushed out
by an eruption of lava spiking up into the air. The dragon screamed with
frustration and flew out of the bowl.
    “ They’ve been trying to
get in as long as I’ve been standing here,” Delphie
said.
    “ They are our enemies,”
the serpent said.
    “ Enemy or not, they are
trying to save you,” Delphie said.
    “ Who then?” the serpent
asked. “How is this happening?”
    Delphie gave a slight shake of her head.
Sandy saw tears well in her eyes.
    “ All we can do is bear
witness,” Delphie said.
    The serpent roared with
raw pain. A mother serpent was pushed out of a cave across the bowl
from them. She had five small serpents on her back. She tried to
fly but was knocked out of the air when an enormous piece of molten
rock came loose from the wall. The rock hit her squarely on the
back and knocked her out of the air. Frantic to save her babies,
she flipped over onto her back. She landed on her back with her
children on her belly. The babies tried to fly from their mother’s
stomach. One at a
time , they were knocked into the burning lava . The
final baby serpent lay down with its head near its mother’s . They sank together into
oblivion.
    Sandy felt tears fall from her eyes. Delphie
put her arm around Sandy’s shoulders.
    “ My heart is breaking,”
Delphie whispered to herself.
    “ We are not the disgusting
creatures you imagined?” the serpent asked.
    “ Just because you’re not
our friends, doesn’t mean any of us would want . . . this,”
Sandy said.
    “ Yes.” The serpent’s voice
held so much sorrow that Delphie turned to look at him.
    “ So ends the serpent,”
Delphie said.
    The lava kept coming. The
dragons continued to try to get into the bowl to save the serpents. Each
time they entered, the heat, ash, and lava pushed them
out.
    Feeling movement behind
her, Sandy turned to see Heather. Tanesha and Jill trailed behind
her. Heather fell to her knees at the edge of the cave. The lava
had risen to where it was lapping against the opening to the
cave. Heather put her hands down on the hot, molten rock. With her
touch, the rock began to cool.
    “ Only love,” Heather said.
She looked up at Sandy. “Join me.”
    Sandy dropped down to her knees next to
Heather. Tanesha and Jill dropped down on the other side of
her.
    “ Only love,” Sandy said
after Heather.
    “ Love,” Tanesha
said.
    “ Only love,” Jill
yelled.
    “ What are they doing?” the
serpent asked Delphie.
    “ They are bringing peace,”
Delphie said.
    “ Focus,” Heather
said.
    “ Only love!” Tanesha
yelled.
    “ Only love!” Heather
repeated.
    Jill and Sandy called out in unison. They
repeated the call until a faint yellow light grew around them.
    “ Keep it up!” Delphie
said.
    Their light grew in power
and intensity until the entry
way to the cave was lit up. When the lava
hit the light of their love, the lava turned to hardened rock.
There was a subtle hissing sound as the light moved across the
bowl. All of the pain, loss, and cruelty created in the Sea of
Amber was released at