Labyrinth of Fire (Island of Fog Book 2) by Keith Robinson

Author:Keith Robinson [Robinson, Keith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Unearthly Tales
Published: 2009-11-13T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Into the Chasm

Blacknail looked grumpier than ever the next morning when he started the engine of the six-wheeled iron buggy. It hadn’t moved since being parked in the alley a couple of nights earlier, but a team of bartering kids had done a good job cleaning it up in return for a promised ride around the village.

Those kids looked on with envy as Hal and his friends climbed the ladder and took their seats, ready for the journey to the chasm where the network of lava tubes formed the Labyrinth of Fire.

Hal felt rested. The inn was extremely comfortable. Despite his worries about the dragons, and what Charlie had told him of the previous dragon shapeshifter, Hal had eventually managed to enjoy a hearty dinner and a good night’s sleep. That morning they had all met once more for breakfast, including Fenton, who had finally managed to sleep off his transformation.

Freshly scrubbed and cleaned, Hal was as ready as he ever would be to meet the dragons. He was pleased—or perhaps relieved—to see that both Robbie and Fenton had also had a good wash! He wasn’t certain, but he thought Lauren was hanging a little closer to Robbie today.

“Kids,” Blacknail complained, as he backed the buggy out of the alley. “Washed every seat ’cept mine. Typical.”

The morning was already hot, and Hal longed for a respite. A spot of rain, perhaps—or even a patch of fog! He leaned into the shadows of the overhanging roofs as the buggy inched down the street, and then sighed with disappointment as they left the buildings behind. Out in the open once more, the sun was relentless.

Blacknail steered the buggy up a slowly curving road that led in the opposite direction to Harpy Hill (as Abigail called it). They passed a number of steaming pools, from which thick pipes and machinery sucked greedily. As they left the village behind, short metal towers came into view, where workers—men and goblins—used wheelbarrows to move glowing orange rocks from the entrance of a mine to waiting horse-drawn carts.

The huge iron wheels dug into the dry landscape and threw up plumes of dust. As they crested a hill, a new landscape opened up before them, and Hal gasped.

On the way to Louis they had seen some pretty substantial chasms. But all paled in comparison to this one. It stretched across the entire eastern horizon from one end to the other. The earth had split open, leaving a gaping wound. The air was filled with the dark smudge of steam or smoke. Hal couldn’t see the lava itself, but he knew it was there, deep in the chasm. And just beyond the chasm, almost lost in smog, was the mound of a volcano. Hal was pretty sure he didn’t want to go anywhere near the place.

Only . . . part of him was drawn to it. Some dragon part of his brain welcomed the idea of intense heat and tunnels below the ground.

The journey to the labyrinth, Blacknail snarled rudely, would take about two hours.

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