Chapter 31
ERANN
He felt someone call his name, rather than heard it. It was a strange sensation.
‘I’m here,’ he whispered. He struggled to open his eyes, focusing on the voice. ‘I’m here, I’m alive.’
But his mouth was so dry it came out as little more than a harsh rasp.
He coughed, sending pain lashing up and down his entire body.
When it subsided, he opened his eyes and took in his surroundings in the small glow lighting the hollow he occupied.
The avalanche. The mountain of snow on top of him.
Was someone looking for him, or had he imagined the sensation? Would Sereh even be able to find him? He felt hope flare inside his chest, but it fizzled as soon as it came. No one was going to be able to find him, let alone dig him out.
He licked his lips with his parched tongue.
He needed water. He reached up and broke a piece of ice from above his head.
He tensed in anticipation of a further ice or rockfall.
When nothing happened, Erann brought it to his mouth and sucked thirstily on the frozen ice.
He wondered why he was bothering when there was no hope of survival.
He thought of Sereh. Of his last sight of her. At least, he consoled himself, she’d survived the avalanche.
He felt something brush against his mind. He tried to grasp whatever it was, but instead found himself once more spiralling down into blackness.
Erann felt something reaching for him. He batted at whatever it was with his hands. He wanted to be left alone. His dreams pulled at him as he replayed the events of the last few days. With a deep sigh, he was left alone, and he could sleep in peace.
He saw the land stretched out in front of him for distances he couldn’t grasp. He could see the peaks of the mountains shrouded in cloud and was amazed to realise he looked down on them and not up. The vision was awe-inspiring.
In the blink of an eye, he could see the Eastern Sea stretching out endlessly, and in another blink, he could see the far distant peaks of Odedahraun.
He could turn his head to look at Lang Jokull and turn it again to view the volcanoes of the south.
He looked directly down to see Vatna Jokull over which he’d been walking for many sunrises.
It all appeared no bigger than his father’s journal.
He knew he should hold on tightly to the images. Instead, he lost the pictures as once again, he drifted into blackness.