I might add more parts in this story but I am not sure.Who were we in this little company that was heading for a volcano? First out was the silent wanderer Pham Bui Giang, sitting in the bow, all the rest of us knew her as Mila. No one knew much about her more than she was from a distant land. We also guessing that she was carrying dark secrets. They could she keep to herself had we decided long ago.
Leaning against the other side of the bow was a small, but very muscular man who was approaching his forties. Unlike Mila this was man very talkative and liked to boast about all his adventures he had as a pirate. The man was called Hursk and what his birth name was long forgotten, not even he himself knew what it could have been.
A long and florid man without any sign of muscles, stood at the back of the boat near the helm and watched the sea next to him. The Blue-Blooder Off Bilieus was a man who was the offspring of a forbidden love Island Woman to a nobleman of the Dagh-Nhat clan. The bearded Forester Bonnrid was squatting not far off, in his right hand he held a cudgel, and the left resting on the deck. He was like most Foresters very talkative, but he was not bragging.
The most important of us all was the powerful lady who was sitting in the middle of the boat and rocked her head slowly to each shoulder. The woman was very old, but no one knew her age. Her long white-grey hair hung down over the broad shoulders and her body was adorned with a simple green dress. The old lady had an even more obscure past than the little Mila; we did not even know where she came from. Her appearance seemed to be a difficult mixture of various ethnic groups. Nor would she talk about it herself, although she was our leader and handed out assignments. For all of us, she went under the name "Grandmother", which was due to her great age and nothing else.
Marianette drove us in a leisurely pace towards the dark horizon. A light breeze pushed her forward, and soon the volcano was visible. The volcano was sleeping in silence, while the adjacent islet was illuminated. The lighthouse, which was halfway between the islands were abandoned long ago and the only thing who lived there were some surviving sea rats. We had to get through the Cave Islet we had to get to. Here we find the stone that would extinguish The Mountain of Fire. The only problem was that this night was the islet venue for a group of witches who celebrated Walpurgis Night. When we started approaching the islet Hursk and Off reefed the sails of Marianette and put down a pair of long oars into the water. With these they started to pole the boat as silent as possible. With a dull thud the worn capstan smashed against the rock and we feared the worst. Fortunately the cries from the cave did not diminish, and almost all got Marianette. Left in the boat was Hursk that drove Marianette against the volcanic island, from there we would leave the islands.
When Hursk disappeared, we started the ascent, which could mean death. Soon we had entered the cave system where the happy cries and the music seemed to grow in strength. None of us knew where the Sun Stone could be as we looked for a variety of possible hiding places: Mila touched on the walls in search for hidden doors or hatches deeper into the caves. The Forester jumped up squatting and was looking in the few grass patches that were on the island. A few minutes' walk led to a broader opening of the islet, here we came across a strange sight up ahead. In the middle of the cave some naked women played on stringed instruments and drums, while a few young women danced to the music nearby. No, they were not women rather girls almost grown-up and like the adults they were naked. While they danced they sang half mystical verses no one could decipher.
With her left hand Mila pointed down against a bush to the left of the perverse scene while she led us down towards the bushes. The high bushes hid the our sneaking very well and we would be out of the witches reach just a few steps forward. The noise from the failed singing efforts and almost as discordant instruments lowered dramatically. A groan last in the line got everyone to turn around and drowned out the noise temporarily. There was Bonnrid in a bizarre position with his cudgel under his stomach while he struggled to get up on his feet again. The drowning out of the musical excesses was of short duration, and soon they began to sound again. Off helped Bonnrid up on his feet and saw that the Forester's feet were almost torn apart. A muttering indicated that the injury should be ignored.
After a further hike without any exaggerated scenes, we arrived at the end of the cave where we stopped. Then we saw it, far out on the edge of the cliff witches were sitting around a campfire. One of them sat with a walking cane in one hand and knocked on it gently with her index finger. Simultaneously with this the rest of the witches talked loudly about something. A few words such as "fire", "daughters" and "colours" taken out of context were the only discernible.
The witch who sat with the stick wore colourful clothes, while the tangled hair was screaming blue, everyone knew who she was. The witch was the Queen of Witches in this backwater of the world. Their discussion was so lively that we were able to get down to rock the usual way, not sneaking. We wanted to be on the safe side so we went very quiet around them. Everything seemed to go great until a dry creaking was heard beneath our feet. We did not see what caused the sound until all the witches turned around. The queen cried hoarse but loud enough so that everyone on the island heard must have heard it: "Intruders!", She suddenly silenced before she shouted again: "Kill them!". The scream was followed by a drawing of her sword and the other witches followed her example.
Off glanced over his shoulder, where he saw the girls we met before, but with swords in hand. Without hesitation, all of our party ran as quickly as possible down the trail. Bonnrid grumbled loudly at the back, but ran anyway. When we came down to the edge of the island - not far from the lighthouse - we cross-braked. A hair's breadth more and the dark water had taken us. The witches were not far away, we investigated promptly, so that no-one was left behind. After only a few seconds Mila cried horrified:
"'Grandmother! 'Grandmother' is left on the island!" With these words panic began to spread among our little party.
A sigh of relief was taken, shortly thereafter when we saw "Grandmother" to come to us with a stone-looking thing in her hands. She yelled something we could not hear because of the distance, but the closer she came the clearer became the message.
"Run into the lighthouse! Run into the lighthouse!" she cried. The advice was immediately followed and soon we were inside the lighthouse keeper's quarters, almost all the food that had been there was eaten. In the corner was a yellowish skeleton with the a fisherman's clothing. The empty skull watched us with an evil grin, unpleasant emotions were strong by this sight, but grandmother called on us. The witches sinister cries of joy just below us made us resume our running up the rickety stairs, where we found a temporary refuge, a hidden room. Once inside, the stairs creaked and shrill voices were heard:
"They are here somewhere, be so sure ..." In a flash Off pulled up his coat, opened the door a little and threw something on the steps where the witches were.
"I saw something! It was a hand, there!" two witches howled in chorus. Before they had time to react, their comrades behind started to scream in panic. Soon the panic spread to them as well. The panic that spread among the witches did we take advantage of and continued up the stairs, soon it was revealed what Off had done.
"Sea Rats! Thousand of them! Never! "A hoarser voice shouted nearby:
"Oh, you are so weak. Stay here where if you want then. You with more courage come with me!" Witches would thus continue the hunt, albeit slightly fewer.
While we were running Mila thought we should get rid of them as quickly as possible. Bonnrid replied slightly scornful that it was a good idea, but wondered how that would be done.
"We can ignite the lighthouse. Target the reflectors toward the stairs and we blind them. All but one escapes down on the other side and the one left flee when the ignition is made," Mila said very excited. Everyone looked at her with suspicion. Bonnrid was the one who broke the silence:
"Excellent idea, darling, but we do not anything to ignite with," he muttered. Mila gave him a sour look and continued.
"How do you think I lit my pipe in the boat? Of course, I have tinder box with me." Mila quickly took out a tinder box which she lifted so it became visible. Off applied directly as a volunteer for the ignition and got the tinder-box handed over. When we reached the peak time was against us so the reflectors had to be calibrated quickly. We barely had time to throw us down the hatch that led to the stairs leading down to the other side when the door was opened. Shortly afterwards we heard a hissing followed by an ear-splitting explosion. Nobody knew what had happened and we got even more surprised when no red hair jumped down behind us. Instead, we heard a variety of splashing noises around us. We continued down the stairs with mourning hearts of Off's possible death.
When we got down to the foot of the volcano, we saw a man sitting by the sea with torn clothes, pitch black in the face and with almost burnt off hair. When we got closer he noticed us and said with a wheezy, but clearly recognizable voice
"I just wondered when you were coming." All cried out simultaneously when the voice was heard:
"Off! You're alive! But what happened?" Off brushed off his former sleeves and started walking up towards the volcano. The rest of us followed him and waited for him to answer the question we asked.
"I really do not know. I brought tinder-box to the wick then everything just exploded and I fell over the edge. The blast must have thrown away the railing so I fell into the water; luckily I gained consciousness and swam ashore. The Witches must have drowned on the other side." Off ended his speech with a cough and we soon came up to a location on the middle of the volcano. Straight up the carved steps leading to the right and put a sign saying "The Pot" with clumsy handwriting. Before we had time to think about it "Grandmother" said:
"We are going to The Pot, hurry up!" The order was followed and soon we found out what The Pot was when we enter a narrow opening in the rock. Inside it appeared an almost circular cave with a bubbling lake of lava in the middle of it. "Grandmother" came up with the foetal-like stone and handed it to Bonnrid. All knew what to do, but "grandmother " chose to speak.
"Throw it as near the middle as you can. So we can get out of here soon." Bonnrid obeyed and as soon as it dropped down, we started to get out the same way we came. When we reached the shore Hursk had come back with Marianette and we boarded. Hursk looked at us and nodded when we pulled aboard the burned Off. He seemed to understand exactly what had happened and decided to await to ask until we arrived ashore. This sort of respect was unusual for Hursk, but totally understandable. When all were aboard, we left the islets as quiet as on arrival, and with new adventures in sight.
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