Next I was put into the care of the King of the Birds. He and his 
chirping, chattering army led me up into the mountains, up above the snowline, 
and I was sure that I would freeze to death. But as we continued up, it 
suddenly became warmer, which I did not understand until I realized that we 
were approaching a live volcano. We finally stopped at the edge of a red-hot 
lava flow half a mile wide. In the center of the flow, a tall black rock stood 
out like an island in the middle of a river.