When the Earth Cracked by M L Eaton

Author:M L Eaton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Touchworks Ltd
Published: 2021-04-27T16:00:00+00:00

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“A NIGHT OF fire in harvest month. Jove was throwing thunderbolts of wrath across the sky, and Juno was whipping him on with thrashes of lightning. In our tents, my soldiers were sweating like pigs: for the gods’ argument was so fierce and so hot that all moisture was riven from the air. Not a single drop of rain fell.

For hours the storm raged across the sky, first from East to West and then, as the wind changed, from West to East. When the storm began, we had no fear, so sure were we that rain would fall. But, as hour followed hour and thunder rolled across the sky without pause, men began to pray, falling to their knees and calling upon their gods. First, as law demanded, they prayed to Roman gods: but as men grew more fearful they resorted to calling upon the gods of their youth, those to whom they prayed before they came into the service of Rome.

Yet still no rain fell. Only the stink of sulphur all around, and dreadful shadows looming in the darkness, lit by Jove’s demented rage as Juno peppered him with lightning spars.

It was harvest month, as I have said. What little grain there was had been gathered in, and in field after field, the corn stalks stood leaning against each other as if exhausted, so scanty and thin were they. For hour after hour we watched the storm until daylight glimmered on the horizon, dowsing Venus’ beauty in a sky so pale as to make us wonder if the sky itself had surrendered to Jove’s fury. Then a finger-streak of flame touched the straw stacks, one after another. And, one after another, crackling fires leapt heavenward.

And still no rain.

All at once, I heard an unearthly wailing, and turning, saw a figure high upon the hill that marked the Isle’s shore and knew it for the form of the island’s High Priestess. Dressed all in white was she, her long brown tresses blowing in the wind as she raised her hands to the sky, and ululated, long and piercing.

A small white cloud formed above the isle. The wind dropped as suddenly as the cloud had formed: I watched the cloud’s shadow as it floated landward. A moment before, the wind had raged from that direction, but no matter, for now I heard the hiss of rain upon water. Large raindrops raised small spouts from the estuary and then the rain was upon us — but no sooner had it come than it was gone, leaving the fires extinguished, the scorched earth damp and my lips smiling. For I could not take my eyes from the woman on the opposite shore as she spoke to the wind and brought forth the rain. Descending the hill, she made towards a small cove, and standing there, she beckoned back the cloud. To my incredulity, the cloud obeyed, dissipating as it reached the island’s shore.

A moment she stood, perched on a rock, with

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