Red Cliff
part 2: Land on fire

As the water came up, they drifted on top of it, wildly trying to keep their heads up from the bubbling, stinking, muddy water. Wilfryd stayed calm, swam around, and finally pointed out to where he was going: up, up with the water to the ceiling, and in the ceiling they saw another hatch: a way out!
“Femke pointed to it,” Wilfryd said. “We thought she was pointing to the heavens that will have taken her soul up by now, but she showed us the way out!”
The hatch in the roof opened easily and they escaped this way. With a last glance they hailed Femke's blood drained body in the reddish and brown spoiled water. The body of the young woman sank away, and tears filled the eyes of the escaped.
Above the prison was the kitchen of Castle Cunre. Nobody was around, and through the windows only the night could be seen. Stars were hidden by dark clouds, and a pouring rainstorm blew over the Southern Sea. It was an excellent opportunity to escape the castle.
So they ran away from the hated Castle, covered by the night itself, unseen by guards. Screams and whispers came from the Castle as the slashed body of the lord was found in his room, but by then, the four fleers had already reached the wilderness of Lemster Wood.

In the morning, the sky was coloured a deep red. Dark clouds hung heavy on the horizon of the Southern Sea. Not a ship was in sight, but a flock of seagulls circled the Castle as if to accompany the foul soul of Henric to Hell.
“What did Femke say, again?” Wendelmoed asked, “We should go to a cliff?”
“Yes, the red cliff,” Gijs answered. “But I don’t have a clue where that may be.”
“I once heard there should be some cliffs in Fryslân, up north,” Wilfryd said, “But they are a place of evil. The devil himself is said to live there. I reckon we try to find a ship and sail up north, to Femke’s homeland. Maybe we will hear more about the red cliff and its whereabouts.”
So they walked along the seashore, mourning over Femke, and thinking about what to do. What would they find at the red cliff if they ever found it? Why was it so important that Femke mentioned the place when she was dying?
As the sun reached its top, they walked into a small village on a high mound. It was nothing more than a few farms scattered around a small square, an inn that was so small it had no name, and a wooden temple, long neglected. As they asked around, the inhabitants told them the place was called Fulnahoe, on the mouth of the River Isla. The village, small as it was, provided them with food and a small boat. They paid for it with gemstones. After all, this was on the Frysian side of the border, and they were in fact enemies. But the people of Fulnahoe dreaded the war, mourned over the young men who died in the war, and just wanted a quiet time to repair their fishing fleet, to tidy up their houses, and to love each other.
As the day went by, Gijs told the Fulnahoe-people about his God, and they listened to him as he gave them hope for better times. They prayed together for the dead, and then, for a future, and hope. Gijs blessed his listeners and told them to do good. They asked him to bless the old temple as well, and they said they would make it a church. The priest had been gone a long time ago, and the gods of old had left with him, it seemed. Gijs did as he was asked, and promised the people to send a priest to Fulnahoe to live with them. Then he rejoined the others in the village inn.

The next day they sailed over the Southern Sea. They followed the border as far as they could, they sailed along the islands of Nakala and Oric - now no longer raided by the pirates of Cunre, who lost their leader and their initiative.
As they left the islands behind, something emerged on the horizon: a high mound or dune rose up from the Frysian coast. The sun sank below the horizon, sending its warm golden rays over the sea, and it coloured the water and the land in a haze of blood red. It was as if both water and land were aflame.
They made for the shore, and now the high mound looked even higher, and it edges were steep enough to call it a cliff. It glowed red in the last light of the day.
“So, this could be the red cliff,” Wendelmoed said, as she steered the boat to the sandy coast.
“A place of evil, so they say,” whispered Gijs, a little scared and ready to make a prayer if the sayings were right about the evil things.
“Oh, come on,” Maike said, “We don’t have to believe everything the people say. Maybe it is just a place to stay away from, maybe it is a dangerous place because you can easily fall down the cliff, drop dead and drown.”
“You drop dead, or you drown, not both at the same time,” Wilfryd told his sister as he pulled the boat high up on the land, free from the clawing hands of the high tide.
They set up camp in sight of the red cliff, and made themselves ready to sleep. The night was quiet as they lay down. They hadn’t seen a village nearby, nor any kind of fire. They discussed if someone should be on guard, and were about to vote against it, when the strange light flickered from the red cliff.
The red was red hot, and looked like the biggest fire they had ever seen. It was still a long way away, but it looked big none the less. In the flames, shadows shimmered dark and quick like burning ghosts. One of the shadows grew bigger and bigger, and rose higher in the flames until it escaped the heat and flew away, faded away in the darkness of the night. The fire lost its power and soon after, it was dark again on the red cliff.
Gijs was so scared he even forgot to pray, but lay kneeled on the grass, his eyes wide open.
“What was that?” gasped Maike, turning to her brother and holding him so tight it hurt him.
“I don’t know if I want to know what that was,” Wendelmoed whispered. “I say someone should keep guard this night.”
“I say, two of us should keep guard at the same time,” Wilfryd said. “This strange sight is very frightening, at least till we know what it was, we should be very careful and very armed.” He held his sword and held it tight. Whatever might appear in their presence that night, he was ready to kill it at first sight.
So Maike and Wilfryd guarded the camp while the others slept restless. They changed guards somewhere halfway the night, and Maike and Wilfryd assured the others that nothing strange has happened. During the other half of the night, the red cliff stayed an normal dark shape in the night. Nothing was to be seen, and nothing was to be heard.

Very carefully they made their way to the red cliff, leaving the boat behind, and walking slowly, awaiting things that might happen. In the bright morning light, the red cliff was not as scary as it was with sunset, even as the cold water of the sea was covered by shrouding layers of fog. The red cliff seemed to rise from the fog. The air was cold and damp too, and the low mists silenced the noises that usually drifted over the land on a bright morning.
Soon, they found their selves climbing the cliff. As they looked to their right, they could see the water of the Middlesea shining pinkish in the morning light. It was till far away, but the cold air made it look nearby. They even saw some mounds with houses on them, and felt a little better now that they knew humans were around this place. But the cliff itself was deserted. It looked as if nothing grew on it at all, it was a large rock, made of a yellow kind of earth, sometimes so dark it was a reddish brown.
They wondered why Femke had wanted them to go there. What could be here that she had wished them to see? They reached the bare top of the cliff, and heard the surf slowly fall on the shore, down below.
The soil of the top was different, it looked burned, but there was no trace of a real fire: no ashes or charcoal. Deep holes sank away into the body of the cliff, but it was unclear what they were. The doors to Hell, Gijs thought, and made the holy sign. The place was somehow hideous, and the air felt bad. Maybe it was a portal to hell, and the portal had opened the night before, so Gijs continued his thoughts as the others looked around them for a trace to connect Femke's word to this bare place.

And suddenly, a deep rumble was heard, from below the cliff. The noise got louder and louder, and soon they realised it came from the holes in the cliff. They stepped back, ready to flee. Smoke appeared from the holes, and a nasty smell accompanied it.
Then, the earth burst open and water spouted up, up to the sky. The water was warm and filled with an awful smell. The noise was enormous.
“Oh, god have mercy, the earth has broken,” Wendelmoed screamed, “The earth is drowning! The end is near, the heavens will fall on our heads!”
“Run!” Wilfryd screamed even louder, “Run for your lives!” And he caught his sister and the young priest, and took them with him, running down the cliff, running for their lives. Wendelmoed followed them, looking behind her every now and then, to see how the water spouted up and darkened the sky, and how it rained down again, raining fishes and frogs with it, and then flushed over the cliff, as if it was after them.
They ran and stumbled, fell and got up again to run once more. This way, they made it from the foul rain, and exhausted they suddenly stopped to pant and rest. They were save, they thought. They sat in the grass, and relived the horrors they just went through. It was a miracle they were still alive. But it was still a riddle to them why Femke had told them to go to the red cliff. Never would they return to that place - they would continue their journey to Griint and then try to return safely home. The rest was useless, and they longed for their home in Castle Uttiloch - safe and a far away from the bogs of Blato and the evil thing from the red cliff.
“When I got some money, I will make a church right here, to honour god for saving our lives on this day,” Gijs vowed. “I will-” he stopped talking as he heard something in the bushes nearby. His eyes turned in that direction, and the others followed his gaze, Wilfryd with his hands on his sword.
Something was coming their way. Something that wasn’t scared and just walked to them, something human. They heard voices, words in the Frysian language, but with a raw bite on them.
What could they do? They were to tired to run again. And although they had a sword, they were to tired to fight with it. So they sat on the grass and stared at the oncoming danger, like rabbits in front of a fox.
And in this case, the fox was a tall man, with red hair, and dressed in a strange fashion. He saw them, frightened sitting in the grass, and smiled.
“Peace to you, travellers. May I introduce myself? My name is Cliff. I am an... eh... trader from Haithaby. They call me Red Cliff around here.”

[To part 3]