Vulcan's Furnace, C. Starr [children's books read aloud .txt] 📗
- Author: C. Starr
Book online «Vulcan's Furnace, C. Starr [children's books read aloud .txt] 📗». Author C. Starr
whisper. Raven looked up at the tall man, and then at Carl. She drew a gasp as the uncanny resemblance flashed in her minds eye.
“You actually look like you father,” she breathed, then shook herself, “Well of course you do, you’re a boy.” She turned quickly from the statue and marched away, her eyes raw with dry tears.
Lupus looked up from the scroll as Raven came ambling towards him, she sat heavily on a chair and buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking.
“Raven? What’s wrong?” Lupus put the scroll down and pushed his chair beside hers.
“It’s nothing, don’t worry,” she croaked in a muffled voice. Lupus put a consoling hand on her shoulder.
“You know you can tell me,” he whispered. Raven looked up and Lupus stared at the damp trails her tears had left on her cheeks.
“Imagine you and someone were the same, everything about your backgrounds, the same. Then, one day, you realise you’re different from yo-, someone very close to you, but your friend was so similar, so alike to their… I’m sorry, I can’t speak right now.”
Then she paused as another flood of tears racked through her body. Lupus took her hand and pulled her into a consoling hug, which caused her to cry even more. They stood like this, a sobbing girl crying against the chest of her considerate friend.
They didn’t notice a silhouette watching them from behind pillar.
They didn’t see the person lean on the pillar in anguish. They didn’t see the son of Poseidon cry.
Raven jumped out of her bed and looked out of the window, it was still dark. She grabbed her tunic and pulled it on over her school regulation underdress. She grabbed her satchel and checked it quickly to make sure she had everything, nodding absently. When she was sure, she crept out of her room and ran through the corridors until she came to Carl’s room, she knocked gently on the wall next to the curtain.
“Password?” came Carl’s still sleep-drugged voice.
Raven sighed and rolled her eyes impatiently,
“I am the daughter of a god,” she answered, before thrusting the curtain open and walking into the room.
Carl sat on the floor in his unbelted tunic, staring at his amulet, “I never noticed it before, but look, it has our parents names written on it, look,” he handed his amulet to Raven who squinted at it and watched in awe as the names of Carls parents rolled onto the clear, shining surface of his amulet. “Wow,” she breathed, then took hers from around her neck and stared at the surface of hers until her eyes dried, she blinked quickly and hurriedly put her amulet back around her neck and underneath her tunic, hoping Carl hadn’t seen. She glanced at him quickly, and from the way he lowered his eyes, she knew he had. She sighed, remembering her earlier sadness at their differences and felt the tears creep up. But she hastily shook her head, as if it would shake the tears away. She clutched her satchel and walked out of the room, silently signalling for Carl to follow. Raven opened the door of the Hospitium and let Carl through before looking around the dark room for one last time, wishing she had been able to say goodbye to the doctor and his patients and family, especially Lupus, kind, generous Lupus. She shook her head again and closed the door gently behind her.
Raven turned to Carl who raised his eyebrows, asking her if she was fine. She smiled weakly and nodded, reassuring him that she was.
Carl turned to Raven and led her gently towards the shadows of a cluster of trees, where they would begin their journey to the new Emperor Titus who would know what to do.
Carl walked silently beside Raven, feeling her hostility and knowing that it had something to do with him. He stopped and touched her arm gently, causing her to stop and turn to Carl angrily.
“What,” she snapped.
“What? What do you think? Suddenly you hate me, and I don’t know what I’ve done wrong. OK? I really want this to work out for us, but if you hate me, we might as well die, because we won’t be able to live with eachother,” he snapped back. Raven rolled her eyes irritably,
“That’s the problem, you’re too perfect. You saw your father; he’s practically calling for you. Your amulet shows the names of your parents, and you even look like him. And then, you see me! I haven’t seen my father; he obviously doesn’t care. My amulet won’t even show a letter, let alone my parents names, and I have no resemblance whatsoever to him! And don’t even say I must take after my mother, because if you look at my father, you’ll see there’s nothing, nothing at all that is similar about us apart from our DNA, and our knack for chucking firebolts,” she stopped, and took a deep gasp of breath before defiantly glaring at Carl, and continuing her fast pace. Carl stood stock still, his mouth opening and closing like goldfish, and when he had gathered his bearings, he watched the shadow that was Raven, storm away.
He ran after her and catching up with her, grasped her wrist and whirled her around to face him. He looked at her carefully, before whispering,
“Raven, listen, I’m sorry if I made you feel… I don’t know, different. But I never meant to, I didn’t think my father was going to call me, and I didn’t expect the amulets to do that, and I can’t change my resemblance to my father. OK?” Raven watched him absently and when he had finished, looked disdainfully down at his hand, still holding her wrist, he hastily let go, and looked at her, hoping that it was smile that was creeping across her face. But it was a haughty grimace; she took a step back from him and raised her hand slowly, before bringing it down hard across Carl’s cheek. He staggered, rubbing his cheek and blinking as the stars danced before his eyes. As they faded, he felt a surge of anger rise up in him, and he grabbed his bottle from his satchel, he felt Raven watching amusedly, as he poured the water onto the ground leaving a quickly receding puddle.
He closed his eyes, and focused his mind on the puddle and slowly raised his hands and felt the water form a tight ball and gently hover in his hands, he opened his eyes and almost started in shock as he watched the water swirl in patterns in its perfect ball, but he kept his concentration and directed the ball quickly at Raven, sending it surging towards her, she didn’t have time to dodge and the ball enclosed around her head, smothering her face, eyes, nose and ears in water. She hadn’t thought to draw at least a quick breath so she stood there silently, trying to hold her breath but she soon felt her lungs begin to pound, begging for some oxygen, so she opened her mouth and felt the water creep in, but it didn’t begin to dwindle, it had increased in size and was starting to cover her whole body and she looked across at Carl who was standing a few metres away from her with a madly determined look on his face.
She knew he wasn’t going to stop and she began to panic, screaming and screaming as the water finally entered her mouth and she felt her consciousness slip away. She opened her eyes one last time and tried to plead with him, but he wasn’t listening, so she closed them again and let the darkness take her, and save her from her pain.
Carl stopped and flopped to the ground and watched as the water surrounding Raven fell to the ground in a splash and Raven’s limp body fall with it. He crawled to her side and felt her neck, looking for a pulse and found none. The reality of what he done overwhelmed him, and he suddenly started choking. He had killed her, just because of a slap, just a stupid slap. He had killed her. Killed his only friend in this place. Carl heard a snap and jumped. He looked around fearfully and saw it was still dark. The shadows were becoming more poignant.
“This is Rome, what will they do when they find out that I drowned her?” he shuddered, then stopped as he realised he had been thinking of himself when Raven was dead. He looked down at her body and took her hand, and almost let go as he felt her already ice cold corpse.
Carl began to sob and sob, and sob. He had murdered his friend, the only friend he had in this unfamiliar place he realised. He held her hand tighter calling her name and watching the stars in the sky until he fell asleep, twisting and turning as his dreams punished him.
Raven was floating; she was flying up, up, up. She saw people standing with what she supposed where wings, not small and feathery, but big and strong. She saw gates not golden, but white, dove white. The kind that dirt had never seen. She landed at the front of the gate and it swung open, she stepped forward, ready to find out where it led, but suddenly, she heard a familiar voice calling her name, drawing her back to her life. She started to shout, clawing at the air as she began to fall, she looked up and saw the people smile and wave and felt two of them beneath her, slowing her descent, but she was still falling down, back to earth, back home.
“You actually look like you father,” she breathed, then shook herself, “Well of course you do, you’re a boy.” She turned quickly from the statue and marched away, her eyes raw with dry tears.
Lupus looked up from the scroll as Raven came ambling towards him, she sat heavily on a chair and buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking.
“Raven? What’s wrong?” Lupus put the scroll down and pushed his chair beside hers.
“It’s nothing, don’t worry,” she croaked in a muffled voice. Lupus put a consoling hand on her shoulder.
“You know you can tell me,” he whispered. Raven looked up and Lupus stared at the damp trails her tears had left on her cheeks.
“Imagine you and someone were the same, everything about your backgrounds, the same. Then, one day, you realise you’re different from yo-, someone very close to you, but your friend was so similar, so alike to their… I’m sorry, I can’t speak right now.”
Then she paused as another flood of tears racked through her body. Lupus took her hand and pulled her into a consoling hug, which caused her to cry even more. They stood like this, a sobbing girl crying against the chest of her considerate friend.
They didn’t notice a silhouette watching them from behind pillar.
They didn’t see the person lean on the pillar in anguish. They didn’t see the son of Poseidon cry.
Raven jumped out of her bed and looked out of the window, it was still dark. She grabbed her tunic and pulled it on over her school regulation underdress. She grabbed her satchel and checked it quickly to make sure she had everything, nodding absently. When she was sure, she crept out of her room and ran through the corridors until she came to Carl’s room, she knocked gently on the wall next to the curtain.
“Password?” came Carl’s still sleep-drugged voice.
Raven sighed and rolled her eyes impatiently,
“I am the daughter of a god,” she answered, before thrusting the curtain open and walking into the room.
Carl sat on the floor in his unbelted tunic, staring at his amulet, “I never noticed it before, but look, it has our parents names written on it, look,” he handed his amulet to Raven who squinted at it and watched in awe as the names of Carls parents rolled onto the clear, shining surface of his amulet. “Wow,” she breathed, then took hers from around her neck and stared at the surface of hers until her eyes dried, she blinked quickly and hurriedly put her amulet back around her neck and underneath her tunic, hoping Carl hadn’t seen. She glanced at him quickly, and from the way he lowered his eyes, she knew he had. She sighed, remembering her earlier sadness at their differences and felt the tears creep up. But she hastily shook her head, as if it would shake the tears away. She clutched her satchel and walked out of the room, silently signalling for Carl to follow. Raven opened the door of the Hospitium and let Carl through before looking around the dark room for one last time, wishing she had been able to say goodbye to the doctor and his patients and family, especially Lupus, kind, generous Lupus. She shook her head again and closed the door gently behind her.
Raven turned to Carl who raised his eyebrows, asking her if she was fine. She smiled weakly and nodded, reassuring him that she was.
Carl turned to Raven and led her gently towards the shadows of a cluster of trees, where they would begin their journey to the new Emperor Titus who would know what to do.
Carl walked silently beside Raven, feeling her hostility and knowing that it had something to do with him. He stopped and touched her arm gently, causing her to stop and turn to Carl angrily.
“What,” she snapped.
“What? What do you think? Suddenly you hate me, and I don’t know what I’ve done wrong. OK? I really want this to work out for us, but if you hate me, we might as well die, because we won’t be able to live with eachother,” he snapped back. Raven rolled her eyes irritably,
“That’s the problem, you’re too perfect. You saw your father; he’s practically calling for you. Your amulet shows the names of your parents, and you even look like him. And then, you see me! I haven’t seen my father; he obviously doesn’t care. My amulet won’t even show a letter, let alone my parents names, and I have no resemblance whatsoever to him! And don’t even say I must take after my mother, because if you look at my father, you’ll see there’s nothing, nothing at all that is similar about us apart from our DNA, and our knack for chucking firebolts,” she stopped, and took a deep gasp of breath before defiantly glaring at Carl, and continuing her fast pace. Carl stood stock still, his mouth opening and closing like goldfish, and when he had gathered his bearings, he watched the shadow that was Raven, storm away.
He ran after her and catching up with her, grasped her wrist and whirled her around to face him. He looked at her carefully, before whispering,
“Raven, listen, I’m sorry if I made you feel… I don’t know, different. But I never meant to, I didn’t think my father was going to call me, and I didn’t expect the amulets to do that, and I can’t change my resemblance to my father. OK?” Raven watched him absently and when he had finished, looked disdainfully down at his hand, still holding her wrist, he hastily let go, and looked at her, hoping that it was smile that was creeping across her face. But it was a haughty grimace; she took a step back from him and raised her hand slowly, before bringing it down hard across Carl’s cheek. He staggered, rubbing his cheek and blinking as the stars danced before his eyes. As they faded, he felt a surge of anger rise up in him, and he grabbed his bottle from his satchel, he felt Raven watching amusedly, as he poured the water onto the ground leaving a quickly receding puddle.
He closed his eyes, and focused his mind on the puddle and slowly raised his hands and felt the water form a tight ball and gently hover in his hands, he opened his eyes and almost started in shock as he watched the water swirl in patterns in its perfect ball, but he kept his concentration and directed the ball quickly at Raven, sending it surging towards her, she didn’t have time to dodge and the ball enclosed around her head, smothering her face, eyes, nose and ears in water. She hadn’t thought to draw at least a quick breath so she stood there silently, trying to hold her breath but she soon felt her lungs begin to pound, begging for some oxygen, so she opened her mouth and felt the water creep in, but it didn’t begin to dwindle, it had increased in size and was starting to cover her whole body and she looked across at Carl who was standing a few metres away from her with a madly determined look on his face.
She knew he wasn’t going to stop and she began to panic, screaming and screaming as the water finally entered her mouth and she felt her consciousness slip away. She opened her eyes one last time and tried to plead with him, but he wasn’t listening, so she closed them again and let the darkness take her, and save her from her pain.
Carl stopped and flopped to the ground and watched as the water surrounding Raven fell to the ground in a splash and Raven’s limp body fall with it. He crawled to her side and felt her neck, looking for a pulse and found none. The reality of what he done overwhelmed him, and he suddenly started choking. He had killed her, just because of a slap, just a stupid slap. He had killed her. Killed his only friend in this place. Carl heard a snap and jumped. He looked around fearfully and saw it was still dark. The shadows were becoming more poignant.
“This is Rome, what will they do when they find out that I drowned her?” he shuddered, then stopped as he realised he had been thinking of himself when Raven was dead. He looked down at her body and took her hand, and almost let go as he felt her already ice cold corpse.
Carl began to sob and sob, and sob. He had murdered his friend, the only friend he had in this unfamiliar place he realised. He held her hand tighter calling her name and watching the stars in the sky until he fell asleep, twisting and turning as his dreams punished him.
Raven was floating; she was flying up, up, up. She saw people standing with what she supposed where wings, not small and feathery, but big and strong. She saw gates not golden, but white, dove white. The kind that dirt had never seen. She landed at the front of the gate and it swung open, she stepped forward, ready to find out where it led, but suddenly, she heard a familiar voice calling her name, drawing her back to her life. She started to shout, clawing at the air as she began to fall, she looked up and saw the people smile and wave and felt two of them beneath her, slowing her descent, but she was still falling down, back to earth, back home.
Text: 2010 Copyright of CocoaStarr CocoaStarr asserts the moral right to this work
Publication Date: 11-24-2010
All Rights Reserved
Dedication:
You know who you are...
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