Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

porters were pawns, just as the insects and
     monkeys had been. Glee and triumph poured from the ground.
    Tremors continued, the rain forest shivering constantly. Riley didn’t wait to see
     if Miguel took her at her word—they all had to know an eruption was imminent. She
     began to run up the narrow trail leading up the mountain. She wouldn’t make the entry
     to the cloud forest, but she’d get close enough. She glanced over her shoulder to
     see the men hesitating.
    “Go now,” she urged. “Run.”
    “Riley, it’s too late,” Gary called after her. He reached down and caught up her pack
     and raced after her. “You can’t be on the mountain when it goes.”
    Riley didn’t slow down or acknowledge his concern. If she couldn’t ease the pressure
     in the volcano or redirect the blast, not even the archaeologist and his students
     would be safe. The explosion would be similar to a nuclear bomb going off, devastating
     everything for miles. She could hear Gary’s boots pounding up the trail after her,
     and then those of a second man and a third. It didn’t matter. She couldn’t stop them.
     Each one had to make their choice at this point, and hers was to try to save everyone
     and make a last effort to keep whatever evil thing dwelled in the volcano trapped.
    With every step she took she judged the shivering, trembling ground. How close? How
     much time? She had to make it as far as she could, yet still give herself time to
     connect with the volcano and perform the ritual. She would try to seal the evil within
     the mountain even as she calmed and directed the building volcanic eruption away from
     the travelers. She could only pray there were no other people on the other side of
     the mountain, because if she couldn’t stop the blast, she’d try for a smaller eruption
     as far from them as possible.
    The ground shook hard, the sound like a thunderclap, throwing her off balance. Gary’s
     hand caught her arm to steady her and they ran together, Jubal right behind them.
     She wished they hadn’t followed her, but a part of her was glad they had. She was
     fairly certain she wasn’t going to make it off the mountain alive and their presence
     helped to give her determination and courage. She wasn’t just fighting for herself.
    The next tremor, much stronger than the one before, lasted a long minute, warning
     her she had run out of time. She stopped abruptly and flung her mother’s pack on the
     ground. “It has to be here. We’re not where we need to be, but if we’re lucky, I can
     do this.”
    “We can help,” Gary said. “We’ve participated in a couple of rituals. Tell us what
     you need us to do.”
    Riley wasn’t going to ask how they knew what to do when she barely knew herself. There
     just wasn’t time, but if by some chance she managed to pull off a miracle, both men
     were going to answer a lot of questions. She yanked open her mother’s pack and removed
     a small handheld broom made of bunched willow tied tightly together. Hastily she began
     to sweep out a circle large enough to hold herself and the three men. She moved counterclockwise,
     brushing the debris free while she whispered her prayer to the four elements, calling
     them to her as she worked.
    Riley had seen her mother perform the ritual of holding the volcano many times, but
     now that it was her turn, there was so much she didn’t know. She had to undo the strands
     of the evil power permeating the entire volcano and weave powerful strands of her
     own strong enough to keep the evil contained, holding it within its own constraints,
     and not allowing it to go free.
    “Use the salt,” she instructed Gary. “Follow the circle. Jubal, there’s sage . . .”
    “Got it,” Jubal said. He lit the sage and walked the circle three times, cleansing
     the area as he chanted softly under his breath.
    “What the hell are you people doing?” Ben demanded. The ground shook continually,
     the tremors growing longer in duration and much stronger. “We have to get out of here.”
    “Try to catch up with Miguel and the others,” Gary said without looking up. He continued
     to form the circle with the salt.
    “No, whatever you’re doing, I’ll help,” Ben said. “But this is insane.”
    “Can’t you feel the evil?” Riley hissed. She could feel him now, real and powerful,
     coming at her in waves—his malicious triumph in the murder of her mother. He thought
     himself safe with her mother dead, and so