Taming the Volcano

By Cassandra Hamm

Auahi is angry.

He burns molten hot, his flanks shaking, gray clouds billowing. I adjust the scarf over my mouth and continue hiking up the volcano.

After one hundred years of peace, Auahi is finally awake. Now, his fury will destroy my village—and those who are unable to escape it in time.

Gritting my teeth, I haul myself onto the summit. The main vent, from which Auahi will spew his fire, gapes in front of me.

Sweat beads on my neck and back. I grip my ta’ota, the instrument I use to calm the snakes that torment my village. As I look at the yawning hole, I wonder if I’m just a reed shaking in the wind.

“Auahi!” I shout. “I’ve come to speak with you.”

Rock fragments hurtle into the sky. I flinch away from the flying tephra.

“Who are you?” Auahi’s voice sounds like stones scraping together.

“My name is Vaihere of Heimanu.” My own voice cracks. This is for Matahi, I remind myself. My mother and brother will be safe, but my dear grandmother cannot outrun the lava. Nor can many others.

“Ah. You are the water they sent to quench my flame.” The volcano shakes with Auahi’s grim laughter.

I sway, barely staying upright. My name does mean “water,” but I feel more like the ash that surrounds me—fragile, blowing away with a breath.

Peering down the volcano’s throat, I catch a glimpse of eyes like twin flames. My breath comes hot and fast. How can I charm a beast such as this—a creature so great in size, I couldn’t hope to see the end of him?

Foolish girl, a voice inside me says. You should’ve saved yourself when you had the chance.

“Why are you angry, great one?” I tremble like the volcano’s flanks.

“I was awoken from my sleep!”

The rock beneath me starts to crumble. I jump backward. Who could have been so foolish as to wake the great dragon?

Pushing aside the impertinent question, I lean forward as far as I dare. Heat blasts my face as I meet Auahi’s fiery gaze. Then, I blow into my ta’ota’s mouthpiece. A low croon emits from its wooden frame.

“What are you doing, human?”

Auahi’s mouth moves––vast and gaping, lined with teeth like harpoons––and I falter. Only the thought of my grandmother’s tired, wrinkled face restores my conviction.

I place my fingers over the holes, altering the sounds, crafting a melody to soothe even the fiercest reptile. Movements graceful and hypnotic, I sway from side to side, heartbeat quickening as I play––

Lava shoots into the ashen sky. I throw myself away from its path, heart thumping. My hands are empty.

Breath coming in gasps, I crawl to the rim. I must’ve lost my grip on the ta’ota––the instrument I’ve had since childhood. My only hope for stopping the magma dragon.

I cannot charm him. I cannot calm him. My matahi and I will both turn to ash.

“Your magic will not work on me, human,” Auahi snarls. “My vengeance must be satisfied.”

Coals glow in his cavernous mouth. When he lets them loose, I will be no more.

“Please, great one, allow me a moment to speak!” I swallow. “Who did this to you?”

His flaming throat dims. “A boy. He threw rocks and spears and”––Auahi takes a great, shuddering breath––“water.”

This morning, my brother Enoha awoke with the sun––a rarity––a bucket in hand. I remember how he’d giggled at our mother’s panic instead of helping her gather supplies for the trek, how he’d seemed excited to see Auahi’s fire. My foolish, ridiculous taea’e with no sense of danger and no love for a village that never understood him.

“I know who woke you,” I say. “He is my kin.”

Auahi shifts, the movement slow and viscous, like lava creeping down a mountainside. His scales reflect the magma’s glow, nearly blinding me.

“If it pleases you, great one…” I force the words out. “I would take on his debt.”

For Matahi. And not just for her, but for my village too.

“You would offer yourself in his stead?” Auahi says.

“If I can keep my village from burning… I will do what I must.” I blink back tears. My entire life, I have defended Heimanu with my ta’ota. What is this but another way to show my love for my people? “Promise me you will spare them.”

Auahi’s eyes glitter. “I will, Vaihere.”

In that moment, we are almost equals.

I jump. Heat sears my flesh as I hurtle toward the lava.

The world flies by in a blinding, violent orange. Liquid fire drips from the volcano’s walls. Sweat soaks my skin, and a savage wind whips at my skin—

I slam against a metallic surface. Head throbbing, I blink hard.

I’m on Auahi’s claw.

I maneuver myself around the scarlet scales to face Auahi’s eyes––bright as the magma, fierce as the sun’s rays. Then, the long, elegant snout; spines protruding from his head and thick neck; torso submerged in lava. Wind issues forth with each powerful breath.

How could I ever have thought I could charm a beast such as this––one with such majesty, such power?

“I did not think humans were capable of such acts,” he says. “Yet you would have burned for one who has given you naught but trouble.”

“Some trouble.” I focus on the memories of Enoha laughing with Matahi and me. “But many good things too.”

“Hm.” Auahi blinks his molten eyes. “I suppose humanity has done much the same for me. Both good and evil.”

My reddening skin cracks under the heat. I can’t muster the moisture for words.

“Come see me again, Vaihere of Heimanu.” Then he lifts me from the volcano’s throat into the coolness of the gray sky. I tumble against the rocky lip, skin scalded, curls sparking. My matahi will live. And so will I.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cassandra Hamm is a psychology nerd, jigsaw puzzler, art collector, and hopeless romantic who spends most of her time lost in another world. She loves mothering her two kittens, Keefe and Chase, named after her favorite middle grade heroes. Her work appears in various anthologies, including Havok’s collections, Warriors Against the Storm, When Your Beauty is the Beast, The Depths We’ll Go To, Aphotic Love, Exquisite Poison, and The Lady in the Tower.

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