Interlude 4 - Earth
Summer 4987, Stiudal
The wagon swayed as it rolled its way through the well-formed grooves of the trade road. Sasha flowed with the motion, keeping her needle steady as she finished the hem on her current project.
"Almost there..." the nearest guard mumbled to himself, taking a water skin and pouring some of its contents down the back of his neck.
"Hey! Don't waste the water. Looks like rain anyway." the driver of the next wagon behind Sasha's shouted, pointing to the sky ahead.
She had just started to follow his finger when her mother called from the front, "Baby girl! I can see the town. Come up here and sit with me."
Already fourteen and hardly a baby anymore, Sasha smiled at the term of endearment and scrambled to the front of the wagon with her mother and their driver. There, just below the hill they crested, was a quiet village that was the trade caravan's destination. But beyond that...
Turn back...
Sasha grabbed her head at the shooting pain that accompanied the voice, barely hearing her mother saying, "Tonight, we'll get to sleep in a real bed..."
Stop... Turn back...
"Baby girl? Is everything alright?"
Sasha had to squint past the pain, but when the dark clouds let loose a bolt of purple lightning, her eyes shot open. "Stop!" she shouted, even reaching for the driver's reigns to pull the wagon to a halt, "Oh please, we have to turn back."
"What the... Let go, girl." the driver started to swat her hands away but was forced to pull tight on the reigns as the horses reared.
A rumble, deeper than thunder, rolled over the caravan.
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Field birds took flight, and all up and down the long train of wagons, the horses fought against their harnesses. The air was still, and Sasha wrapped her arms around herself, her eyes fixed on the clouds until another bolt of lightning, this one red, struck the road miles ahead.
Another rumble, and then she was tossed into the air as the earth itself rolled like the ocean.
Sasha screamed, crossing her arms over her face, and landed in a patch of sand that had once been stone. She had no time to worry about the show of power she was supposed to keep hidden. Spitting out sand, Sasha tried to crawl back to the wagons, but the earth, usually so solid and dependable, continued to roll.
"Moma!" she shouted over the continued growl of the earth, curling into a ball as horses bolted and wagons tumbled. Some even thrown into the air by the rock waves as she'd been.
Something warm and soft wrapped around her, shielding her from the falling debris, and Sasha managed to open her eyes to see her mother's soft blond hair dangling in her face as she whispered, "I've got you, baby girl, I've got you..."
Gripping her mother's arms tightly, Sasha fought to stand again, pulling her mother with her, "We have to get away."
More lighting of every color she could imagine struck the ground around the town they'd been heading towards. But even their defining cracks couldn't block the next rumble as Sasha and her mother fell again to the rolling ground.
Something was happening, she had to see... Sasha turned, and as she did, the ground split. Land that had previously been below them in the distance rose over their head. The sheer cliff face already starting to crumble into the new canyon.
Buildings tumbled into the abyss as the ground continued to roll and shake. They had to get away. But how could you run from the earth itself when it decided to swallow you whole?
Her mother didn't stare as long as Sasha did. The practical woman lunged for a passing horse, grabbing it by the broken harness and nimbly dodging its flailing hooves. Wretched back by the waist, Sasha was forced onto its back but held her mother's arms, refusing to let go.
"I'm not going without you!"
"You are." Her mother tried to slap the already panicking horse to get it moving again, but Sasha growled, clenching her fist and punching it into the air. The already rolling earth heaved again exactly as she dictated, throwing her mother into the air and over the back of the mount, which neighed in wide-eyed panic and started running for dear life.
Sasha hooked her feet around the harness to stay seated and pulled and twisted her mother upright. The two women were unable to do anything but hold on. And hope the horse could get them far away from the earthquake reshaping the landscape around them.