Mother Nature Takes a Break
acacia wattles quickly eaten by the ravenous blaze. A mini
inferno licked the trunks of ghostly gum trees. Acrid, black
smoke rising until the group in the sky cried stinging tears.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
A thin trail of smoke reached toward the cloud. The first to
notice the tang of smoldering grass and gum leaves was
Yelhsa. He jumped to his feet. The others looked at him
startled. “Fire!” Yelhsa shouted, pointing at the desert.
Ellechim directed Enyahs to head to the fire front and blow
back the flames. He got as close as he could, and created
a strong breeze, trying not to disturb the ashes and
obscure vision any more than the smoke had. The flames
laughed at him and changed direction; Enyahs had to
move to head them off again. This went on while Atteir
was trying to get the rain to extinguish the flames.
The others looked to where Yelsha pointed. They could
see the split boulder and several craters in the red dirt.
They could also see the fire, and it was spreading quickly.
“Yelhsa, rain on It.” cried Ellechim.
“I can’t,” he whimpered, “I need Atteir. Someone go and
get her. Hurry!”
The animals of the desert ran for safety. A dingo
dragging a pup by the neck, pulling him along the dirt,
trying desperately to save his life while the other one was
left in the burrow. Kangaroos and wallabies hopped over
rocks and boulders, one falling and skinning his shin, as
they fled the deadly flames. Birds screeched and
squawked as they flew below the cloud trying to see
through the smoke. Lizards, snakes, scorpions and
spiders all made an exodus from the area. It was a mess
down there and Atteir was sobbing as she tried to get the
rain to fall harder and faster. Many of the burrowing
animals stayed put. Instinct told them that although the fire
was huge, it was of low intensity and they knew they
would be safe buried beneath the ground.
Enyahs flew off to Naturalis to find Atteir and take her back
to Earth. She was reluctant to go, afraid that trouble could
only follow if she did.
“Please Atteir. There will be no trouble for you,” pleaded
Enyahs.
“We really need you to help put out the fire. There are
animals involved,” he added appealing to her sensitive
nature.
She hesitantly agreed . Enyahs dragged her to the portal
and then carried her on a swift breeze to where the other
three were waiting. The fire had spread at an alarming
rate while he had been gone.
Ellechim directed Atteir to cover a clutch of Mulga trees
and Witchetty bushes. They were more vulnerable to fire
than the other plants. She poured rain on the encroaching
flames and managed to douse the fire before any harm
had come to the fragile trees.
Yelhsa looked tired, Wehttam had tried to cause rain by
hurling a couple of lightning bolts into the cloud. They
hoped the heat would cause the water droplets to become
heavy enough to fall of their own accord.
“It doesn’t work that way,” said Atteir sadly, “You all know
that.”
Finally Wehttam turned up with Nina and Arbynd. Nina
went straight to Atteir, who explained that she needed the
water droplets frozen into hail. Nina set to work.
She frowned at them wo