The boys were forced to kneel, naked except for a white, linen loin cloth. The Honora, who were lottery-chosen, stood a stoic guard over them. Nodoroc was an evil place, a lake of boiling, blue mud that plopped and fitzed continuously while blue flames burned and raced across its surface. Its sulfurish stench was caustic and caused all to cough. The boys and their Honora were out in the lake on a stone landing, sweating from the heat.
The medicine man lit a smudge bundle from the lake’s flames and began a chant. Out from the mud rose a howling.