It’s time for this week’s Song Title Challenge.

Write a short piece of fiction, around 300 words, using the song title as your story title but don’t listen to the song.  You can pick your own genre or use the one suggested to me.  Remember to link back to this post so I can find yours.

If you would like to suggest a song title for a future post, you can do so from the challenge page.  You can also leave a suggestion on the Facebook page.

This week’s song is Tuva.Rock (yes, that’s a full stop in the middle of the title) by Yat-Kha and the genre is action.  Thanks to bumblepuppies for the suggestion.

Tuva.Rock

Yanto moved as fast as he could along the dry riverbed, Tuva close behind him.  He glanced back.  Her eyes were fixed on the ground before her, determination on her face, but he could see she was exhausted and close to tears.  He couldn’t hear their pursuers anymore, but didn’t want to risk stopping here in the open.

They reached a huge boulder that must have tumbled down during some earlier flood.  Yanto ducked behind it, pulling Tuva with him.  For the first couple of minutes neither spoke as they tried to get their breathing back under control.

“Do you think they’ve given up?” said Tuva.

“Maybe,” he said.  “But I won’t rest easy until we’re out of this damn canyon.”

Sheer walls of two-hundred feet stretched upwards on either side.  Not Yanto’s first choice of escape route, but he had walked straight into the Vizier’s trap.  By sheer luck he had managed to get Tuva out, but he knew they weren’t safe yet.  He had lied to her.  The Vizier’s men would rather throw themselves off those cliffs than return without them.

“Yanto, what’s wrong?”

Yanto realised he had been frowning.  He forced a smile.

“Just angry at myself.  We’ll be okay.  I promise you, Tuva.

“Rock!” she shouted.

Yanto looked at her, confused, but she was already ducking.  Without thinking Yanto imitated her and a rock smacked into the boulder where his head had been moments earlier.  They scrambled around the boulder as more rocks rained down from above.

Yanto peeked out and up.  The Vizier’s men were on the canyon walls, ahead of them.  Shit!  They were pinned down.

“What’s that sound?” said Tuva.

Yanto listened.  A dull rumble came from further upstream.  This time he did not hide the panic on his face as he turned to Tuva.

“The dam.  They’ve broken the bloody dam!”

Copyright © 2014 Herman Kok

• Fiction
• Song Title Challenge