Laugavegur, A Hinterland Journey

Chapter 20 - The Living Fires

Later in the afternoon, as Veld soared on the surrounding updrafts, Skari, Tokki and Anja finally pushed out beyond the mouth of the Valley of the Ancients. Behind them the enormous carvings faded to the horizon. Ahead of them, the sky had turned pinkish red and there was a low and persistent sizzling sound.

"What madness does Katla have in store for us now?" asked Anja, the struggle at the river crossing still fresh in her mind.

Skari smiled. "This surprise, I think you may like."

The group came around the nose of a ridge to see a small hill of fire spewing cinders gently into the air. Anja and Tokki watched the geyser of smoke and glowing red embers climb into the sky with fascination. The fire was small, beautiful and shimmering. Along with the cinders, balls of molten lava would occasionally be thrown from the hilltop. Tokki watched as one ball rolled sparking and burning down to the foot of the hill. There, to his amazement, the cobble of burning rock cooled and morphed into an unfurling arctic fox with pointy ears, inquisitive eyes, and a tail that flicked as it bounded away.

"Anja, did you see that?" Tokki asked, but Anja's mouth hung slack as she watched a glob of lava turn into a plover midair. At the base of the mountain a third block sprouted a huge set of ears that attached to the head and body of a hare. It pawed its ears to groom away the last bits of ash before it too bounded away. Through the early afternoon, they sat, watching the mountain pour forth the life of their island. Gulls and terns, puffins and ptarmigans, mice and mink. One particularly large block grew a full, velvety rack of antlers. "Reindeer too!" whispered Tokki.

"I don't understand, Skari," said Anja, finally, as she watched a puffin waddle off. "Are these fires not the same kind that burned Fjallabak? This is absolutely beautiful."

"That they are. These are all Katla's fires." The seer sucked in a breath. "If we curse her for the destruction that fell upon Fjallabak then we must also praise her for the good that comes as well."

"Must we?" asked Anja, her eyes hardening. "She did kill our parents after all."

Skari coughed and averted his eyes.

"A fair point and I didn't mean to be indelicate. My apologies. What I mean is that Katla is a bit of an enigma. She both destroys and she creates. She brings suffering and death, but she clearly gives life as well. All the land we walk on, all the soil in our fields, it is here because of Katla."

"This is amazing," said Tokki. "I never knew."

Anja was not so easily won. "They also say dragons are good mothers." She stood up, drawing her sword and thumbing the edge. "I still intend to stick Katla when I get the chance."

Tokki shifted uncomfortably and Skari cleared his throat.

"Shall we press on?" he asked. "The Bottomlands can't be more than an hour's journey from here. 

A vote for the lava-born animals of Iceland?

Whatever you are looking at, it is important to see it from multiple perspectives.