Voyagers - The Drowning Land
()
About this ebook
For days the Voyagers' hot air balloon had drifted over a vast empty ocean. It was night when in attempting to land on a small island they crashed into the sea.
Having been rescued by four youngsters on a fishing expedition, they discover that the island is all that is left of Monydra, once a great and powerful civilization which now lies under the sea.
As over the years the level of the sea had continued to rise, flooding more and more of the country's precious land, most Monydrans had departed to found a new settlement in a far off land across the sea.
Now the island's population is divided. Those who live in the city of Tlaxcala, close to the Temple of Kaluna, the Goddess of the Moon, belong to the Cult of Kaluna, worshiping her in the belief that by controlling the sea she keeps them safe. Those in the village of Gargas have chosen to stay, to persuade the citizens of Tlaxcala, their fellow Monydrans, family and friends, to join them in leaving the doomed island before it is too late.
Keti, Shakata and Hal are swept up into what becomes a bitter and violent clash of opposing beliefs. They must confront the beautiful but wicked High Priestess of Kaluna who, in her ruthless quest for power and riches, will use any means necessary, including human sacrifice, to achieve her ends.
As complications ensue and the struggle intensifies, the three Voyagers and their friends race against time to complete their preparations to escape the looming earthquake which they believe will wipe what remains of once great Monydra off the map.
Christopher Jon
I was born in 1938 in Nairn, a small town in the Highlands of Scotland. I was schooled there and went on to qualify as an Architect in Edinburgh in 1962. Rona and I were married that same year and we are still together. We have three children, Mark, Sarah and Peter and eight grand children. For the most part I have enjoyed the practice of architecture and unsurprisingly, given the number of years I have been at it, my CV is embarrassingly extensive. In 1982, the sad end of the business my partner and I had established and run for ten years in the Scottish Highlands prompted my move to Umtata in the Transkei in the Eastern Cape Region of South Africa to manage the branch of a multi-disciplinary firm. Rona and Peter joined me soon after and Peter completed his education in Umtata in what, unusually at that time, was a multi racial school. I had accepted the job on the basis of a two year contract and then became a partner in the firm. In 1987 I resigned and moved to Maseru in Lesotho to run our own business and thereafter moved to Johannesburg in 1990 in time to be part of the exciting changes taking place in South Africa and to vote in the first democratic election in 1994. Since then I have lived and worked in most parts of South Africa and several other Southern African countries as an architect, a development consultant and latterly as a project manager. From 2006 to 2009 we lived and worked on a romantic desert island off the coast of Mozambique, experiencing cyclones and fires. In the late 1990s and the early part of this century work was slow and it was then I began to write seriously. Now, after having moved house more than thirty times, we seem to have settled at last in the outskirts of Durban and I intend to spend all my time pursuing this passion. My first two books, 'Missed Connections' and 'The Botticelli Angel' feature Andile Moloi, a private detective. I have written three books for youngsters (or children of all ages), 'Flight to Freedom', 'The Drowning Land' and 'Last Battles' and have begun the fourth book in the series.
Read more from Christopher Jon
Voyagers - Flight to Freedom Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVoyagers - Last Battles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Voyagers - The Drowning Land
Related ebooks
The Lost Tribe: Wisdom's Quest, #6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThrough the Whirlpool: Seeking the Jewel Fish, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCity of Dawn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hencha Queen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Goddess Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTempest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Colossus Crisis: Seven Fabulous Wonders, #6 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Red Dragon Awakens (Avana, book 3): Avana, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNightpool Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dragonbards Trilogy: Complete in One Volume Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRaven's Child Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Orphans & Outcasts: The Northland Rebellion, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Broken World Book Two: StarSword Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Swimming with the Dead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elodie: Kashani's last hope Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Saint of the Speedway Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Well of Souls Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTarragon: Dragon Bane Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsQueens of Mana: Heirs of Mana, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dagger-key book III: The Light of an Ancient Shadow Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeize the Storm: The Stormfire Legacy, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Hero's Throne Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love in the Face of Death Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEnemy of Man: The Chronicles of Kin Roland, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDead in the Water Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Almost Human Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Caeli: The Odyssey of Melamuri Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChantarelle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Fire in the Heavens Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cloud Cursed Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Children's Action & Adventure For You
A Series of Unfortunate Events #1: The Bad Beginning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Battle: The Chronicles of Narnia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Keeper of the Lost Cities Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dark Is Rising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Baron Trump's Marvelous Underground Journey Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Amari and the Night Brothers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fortunately, the Milk Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Island of the Blue Dolphins: A Newbery Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: The Chronicles of Narnia Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Indian in the Cupboard Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Over Sea, Under Stone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Horse and His Boy: The Chronicles of Narnia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unlocked Book 8.5 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Neverseen Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Into the Wild: Warriors #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Silver Chair: The Chronicles of Narnia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The School for Good and Evil: Now a Netflix Originals Movie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stellarlune Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Legacy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Julie of the Wolves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Three Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spy School Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lodestar Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Voyagers - The Drowning Land
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Voyagers - The Drowning Land - Christopher Jon
CHAPTER ONE
Splash Down
It had felt like an eternity, although it had been no more than four days since Keti, Shakata and Hal, unable to control their hot air balloon, had floated away from Mazuma.
They had searched for somewhere to land but there had been nothing below them except a seemingly endless expanse of ocean.
In the darkness Keti reached for fuel for the firebox. If the fire went out their voyage would end in the sea. It was the heated air in the envelope which kept them up. She was weak from lack of food and dehydrated. There had been no provisions on board when they had left so unexpectedly. It was lucky that fuel had been provided.
Shakata was slumped against the side of the basket. He had fallen into a sleep from which Keti was determined not to rouse him. The giant warrior had not slept for days. Hal had been unconscious for some time and Keti and Shakata were afraid that without water their friend would slip away from them forever.
She blew the dying embers into flame. The little fuel which remained would keep them aloft for a few more hours. The envelope flapped against the rigging. How much height had they lost? Keti peered down. They were still safely above the waves. Moonlight shone through a gap in the clouds and she thought she saw land – wishful thinking? No! Waves were breaking on a strip of sandy beach gleaming wetly below a line of high cliffs. Land – at last!
‘Shakata. Shakata.’ Her throat was so dry that her words were little more than a whisper. She shook the big man awake. ‘Land, Shakata. Land!’
Unable to sleep, Quetal rose from her narrow bed and crept out of the airless, cell-like, dormitory to seek the cool breezes of the night.
To a novitiate of the first rank no part of the temple, other than those rooms occupied by the high priestess of Kaluna, was out of bounds. She was free to wander the familiar corridors and terraces of what had been her home for much of her life. From the highest terrace, where she paused for reflection, the moon, at an early stage in its monthly cycle, was just visible as a thin crescent of light.
She was worried. On his last visit her father had seemed unhappy. Quetal knew that he would have preferred her not to serve Kaluna, but until then he had accepted the situation. Why should he feel differently now? What had changed? Was it because soon she would take her final vows. Surely not, she thought. He must know there was no going back now.
Just then what looked like a huge bird passed before the crescent moon gliding perhaps in search of prey. Quetal followed its flight until she could no longer distinguish it from the distant darkness. Sensing a familiar presence, she turned to her only friend in the temple.
‘Did you see that giant bird, Tula?’
The wise, old, white haired, female monkey, the last of its kind in Monydra, looked up at her. Tula could not speak but, unknown to anyone except Quetal, she could read minds and communicate without words. Tula did not believe it was a bird.
Tonight, of all nights, inspiration had failed him. The fine phrases, which usually flowed so easily from his pen, had dried up. The words with which to accept the proconsulship of Tlaxcala refused to come. The parchment on the desk was as virginal as when he had sat down to compose his speech. His problem was that he could think only of the High Priestess Astarte. Her captivating smile, her long lustrous hair, golden glowing skin, her beautiful face, her perfect figure, her thrilling hypnotic voice. She was enchanting, mesmerising – and not for him. Kukulcan groaned. She was not for any man. Her life was devoted to the service of Kaluna, the Goddess of the Moon.
In frustration, the portly, middle-aged man, soon to become secular master of the island state of Monydra, second only to the high priestess, laid down his pen. He would write his acceptance speech in the morning. At his study window he breathed in a draught of the cool night air and abandoned himself to dreams of his fruitless passion. What was that moving in the sky above the temple? A bat? Surely it was much too large to be a bat. A bird, then. It was huge, frightening, sinister. Kukulcan closed the window to shut out the night. What had it been? An evil omen?
Overshooting the land, their craft skimmed beyond the shore. As the basket struck the water, Keti was afraid that they would be trapped beneath the rigging and the voluminous folds of the deflating balloon. Fortunately the envelope carried beyond the basket before it flopped onto the surface of the sea.
‘Cut the ropes, Shakata. Cut the ropes,’ she croaked.
The air in the balloon would escape after which, heavy with water, it would sink like a stone dragging the basket down with it. The warrior’s sword made short work of cutting the basket free and, as it righted itself the sodden cloth and rigging disappeared under the waves. The basket was now filling rapidly with icy seawater and Keti tried vainly to haul the unconscious Hal upright. They would have to swim for the shore and dry land.
‘Help me, Shakata. Please, I can’t do it alone.’
For an instant, in the moonlight, Keti saw the helplessness in his eyes. The big man could not swim.
‘Help us,’ she cried in desperation. ‘Someone. Please help us.’
CHAPTER TWO
Saved
Preparing to sail to the fishing grounds, the four youngsters were stowing food and water aboard their small craft. Catches were often better in the early morning and they intended to reach their destination before the sun rose. Many changes of course were needed to navigate the twists and turns of the narrow channel which followed the line of the old riverbed under the sea. Although buoys marked the passage to the open sea, it was a real test of seamanship, which few would attempt at night. However, they had no misgivings. From early childhood they had swum, dived, sailed and fished the waters around the island. Each was a skilled pilot capable of guiding ocean-going vessels.
‘Stow the water forward, Assur.’ Cloris, the only girl in the crew, enjoyed her role as so-called skipper. Her brother Chanes and his friends, Lobus and Assur, older than her, played the game.
‘Aye, Aye, Captain,’ Assur responded. The burly youngster clasped the clay amphora to his broad chest and made his way to the prow.
‘Lash it down tight, Assur.’
On the jetty, Chanes prepared to cast off. Some instinct made him look at the sky above the roofs of the cottages around the small harbour. Some sort of flying creature was headed for them, looming out of the night. ‘Get down,’ he yelled. ‘Get down!’ They felt the draft as it flew over them. Chanes, first to recover, ran to the end of the jetty. He heard cries of distress. He pulled off his tunic. ‘Follow me in the boat,’ he called to his companions. Plunging into the water, he swam towards the sound of people in trouble.
Reaching the basket just before it began to sink, he realised that it was an aircraft of some kind which had crashed into the sea. His companions had rowed the boat close. Assur and Lobus leaped into the water to help two of the survivors. Cloris pulled them into the boat.
Chanes was fighting for his life. The survivor had frustrated all Chanes’ attempts to help him and they had sunk, limbs entangled, below the surface of the sea. They had come up only to sink again until, lungs bursting, Chanes had managed somehow to subdue the big man. It took all of them to get him into the boat. By the light of a lantern Cloris examined the survivors. The boy lay in the stern, hardly breathing. ‘This one’s close to death, Brother. Leave him for Toltec. We may do more harm than good.’
‘This one’s all right.’ Assur knelt by Keti. ‘Who are you? Where do you come from?’
Keti did not know what he was saying. She assumed that he was asking who they were and where they came from. She tried to speak but all that emerged was a croak.
‘This isn’t the time for questions, Assur. They’re in a bad way? Some water, girl?’ Chanes held out a cup of water. ‘Not too much now. Sip it, don’t gulp.’
‘Please give some to Shakata.’ Chanes guessed what she was asking.
‘Of course,’ he replied, turning to the giant who lay gasping, on the bottom of the boat.
‘Let’s get back to shore.’ Cloris was worried about Hal. His fair skin was cold to the touch. His lips were blue. He was barely breathing. ‘Come on boys, put your backs into it.’
‘Aye, aye.’ Lobus and Assur were at the oars. Chanes took the tiller.
CHAPTER THREE
The Scholars of Monydra
Toltec believed that the earthquakes, which had devastated Monydra, were caused by pressure from below the earth’s crust. When the pressure grew too high the earth’s surface split apart along a fault line under the sea, creating huge waves. Most of Monydra now lay below the sea. A small island was all that was left of what had once been a vast area of fertile land, home to a great civilisation.
Toltec knew that disaster was certain to strike again and he had seen the slow flooding of more and more land as the level of the sea rose. Of late there had been less loss of land, which the devotees of Kaluna attributed to their worship of the moon goddess, controller of the tides. Toltec feared that the forces which swelled the waters of the ocean, forces beyond his comprehension, were only temporarily inactive. The sea would rise again. The pressure, which had caused the last earthquake and the overwhelming wave, was building again.
A desire to understand these natural disasters had become an obsession. His pupil, Cerebral, an awkward young man, shared his enthusiasm. Cerebral had developed ways to measure the pressure below the earth’s surface. He had determined where it would fracture the surface below the sea. He predicted that the next quake could strike soon.
They worked by the light of oil lamps. Toltec was tired. At times like this he felt his age. His wife was dead and his grandchildren, Chanes and Cloris, were his only living relatives.
Cerebral was working on his latest calculations. ‘No! No! No – Oh - No!’ The youngster jerked upright, upsetting his chair. He fell backwards, arms and legs comically outthrust. One foot collided with his desk, knocking over his inkwell. Toltec set it upright.
‘Thank you, Sir.’ Flat on his back, Cerebral looked up at Toltec, a bewildered expression on his face. Getting to his feet, he pitifully rubbed his head.
‘What’s the problem?’ Toltec inquired.
‘We need to take more measurements.’
Toltec frowned. ‘How many more?’
The youngster sat down, still rubbing his head. ‘Not too many, Sir.’
‘I’ll speak to Chanes, tomorrow,’ Toltec decided. ‘He’ll take you. What the -’
They heard someone taking the stairs two at a time.
‘Help, Grandfather. There’s a boy. I’m afraid he’s dying.’ Cloris, burst into the study. ‘Please hurry. Lobus and Assur are carrying him here from the boat. Chanes is with the others.’
‘Who - who - who are they? Where - where are they from? Is – is it a shipwreck? Are – are there – are there more survivors?’ Cerebral’s stammer was more pronounced when he was excited. ‘Is it one of our – is it one of our ships returned from - ?’
‘First things, first.’ Toltec interrupted the stream of questions. ‘Let me attend to this boy. Then we’ll find out what’s happened.’
When the day