Blood Call

Blood Call

He could feel the molten earth moving past his tomb. It almost seems alive as it seeps by, he thought longingly.

For five hundred years, Xiuhcoatl had been kept prisoner deep within the earth. Even in the darkness, he was reminded of the treachery that had befallen him. The sacred amulet that had trapped him hung around his giant scaled neck, its glow reflecting dimly off the walls of his crypt.

He knew the time was near. Once each hundred years, he felt the spell weaken. This time he would break free. This time he would rejoin the above world, his powerful wings ripping through the cool blue air as he soared with abandon. He would once more rule above all others; the powerful would worship him and bring him offerings of fattened cattle and tender young goats.

Xiuhcoatl reached out with his senses. He was surprised by how far he had come. The land above was flat, although he could sense mountains rising high to east. The vast underground river of lava that he floated in had carried him thousands of miles southward.

A strange sensation began to flow through him, singing in his veins, as planets aligned and fluctuations in magnetic fields called to him. "It is time," he said, the sound strange in his ears, and with a mighty effort he began to uncurl, spreading verdigris burnished wings as he reached upward – toward light, toward freedom.

The moment passed but he knew he had almost broken the spell. "Next time," he rumbled, moving back into a trance-like sleep until his blood called again.

We interrupt our broadcast for the following breaking news. A wide array of Pacific nations, including the US, Australia, the Phillipines to Japan, are bracing for potentially devastating waves after a massive earthquake in Chile triggered a tsunami that is radiating across the ocean. The quake, with a magnitude of 8.8, has killed ...

Notes:
An entry for the 3/12/10 round of "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge"  [13+]
Prompt: Write a story that includes the words: amulet, ocean, giant

Xiuhcoatl: Aztec Nahuatl name meaning "fire serpent" or "weapon of destruction."

Word Limit: 300
Word Count: 300

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Ken