The Long Lost

by Rebecca Woods

  He gave a lazy flick of a finger and their weapons flew out of their hands, landing with a clatter on the grass twenty metres away.

  “Enough” said Gleema Leeh, now there was something else in her voice. “You know the reason we come here”.

  Khalashaya nodded to the man and gave him a friendly tap.

  The man’s face broke into a grin and he flung his arms around Khalashaya who hugged him back like a brother. It did something strange to me, looking at that hug and the two comrades reunited after so long.

  “I cannot believe you have returned” said the man. He turned to me and his smile dropped.

  “You” he said. “You are…different”. His eyes narrowed and he looked me up and down quickly.

  “She is the one” said Khalashaya quickly, “The one we sensed”.

  He smiled again, “So you are, I should have recognised you. This one (he pointed at Khalashaya) described you exactly even down to the expression on your face at this moment”.

  “What expression?” I said, affronted.

  “A mixture of fear and excitement, faced with a new horizon. I know that look all too well”.

  He held out his hand to me.

  “I am Woodarch; I look after the interests of Falaira who wish to stay free and natural”. I felt the warriors and Gleema bristle as this and hoped we would be able to maintain the fragile peace.

  I took his hand. His eyes caught mine and narrowed slightly once more. Whatever his opinion of me was, he was unwilling to share it at present and seemed to have submitted to basic politeness, for which I was grateful.

  Gleema Leeh looked away. Woodarch looked at her for a second, a curious expression playing on his youthful face before it was gone and he was looking at me again.

  “Where are the others?” I said.

  “Here”.

  Woodarch flicked his finger again and twenty or so similarly dressed men and women appeared of varying ages. One slightly older looking woman ran over to Khalashaya and flung her arms around him. She then touched her forehead to his, smiling. He hugged her back, his expression tender and loving.

  I felt a curious sensation in my stomach I did not recognise and wondered who she was, this woman who clearly had such a close relationship with the man who had saved my life.

  She broke away from the embrace and turned to me. Her hair was black like mine and Khalashaya’s and she resembled us a great deal. She looked to be about forty years old.

  “This is my mother Auriana, my mother. Her name is Prenaslavka.”

  Prenaslavka’s mouth formed a perfect “o” of surprise upon hearing my name.

  “She is Long Lost?” she said, gasping. “She looks so like you, like us!”

  “I am from New Earth” I said. “You are so young!”

  “I have seen many more sun cycles that it often appears, as have you I imagine,” she said, taking my hand in her.

  She stared at me for a second, before remembering herself and where she was.

  “You must forgive me child” Prenaslavka said quickly, smiling at me. “We have waited for this moment for centuries, we have long dreamed of meeting you”. She reached out a hand suddenly and directed it towards my face. I flinched slightly but submitted to her.

  Her rough fingers grazed my forehead and then my cheeks and mouth. Her touch felt strange, almost familiar. My face felt tingly even after she had drawn her hand away, I touched it gently and looked at her.

  She smiled.

  “That is a very old way in which Falaira greet each other when no words need to be spoken, when their minds seek each other in the void and meld long before their physical bodies touch”.

  Gleema Leeh stepped forward and broke the spell. Prenaslavka’s smile faded and she stepped back.

  “We need your help. We have a common enemy, the most deadly enemy we have ever faced” said Gleema Leeh cautiously.

  “The Eurikaya” said Woodarch. “We sensed it through the weakness left by the Long-Lost. We sensed it stalking you Auriana”.

  “Khalashaya has told us of the situation” said Prenaslavka slowly, as if choosing her words carefully for maximum impact, “We unite under the banner of a common enemy fearsome in its appearance and malice. The free Falaira know much of this creature and know much of what drives it. We will help you”.

  I noticed that Gleema Leeh looked uncomfortable as Prenaslavka was talking and then smiled.

  “I am pleased, happy you have agreed to help us”.

  Woodarch stepped forward, looking cautious.

  “We shall see. We do not know we can trust you Dream Falaira”. He gesticulated as he talked and Khalashaya put a warning arm on his, which he shook off.

  “Let us return to the shelter and try to come up with a plan” said Khalashaya.

  “Would you like to brother?” Woodarch said to Khalashaya.

  Khalashaya nodded and waved his hand. I felt as if I had been yanked upwards suddenly as the forest melted into darkness for a second before new colours and scents hit me.

  I was in a large wooden rectangular outhouse surrounded by hundreds of Falaira who were sitting on benches that ran lengthways. We were standing at the top end of the rectangle; clearly the focal point of the room.

  I heard gasps from different parts of the room as the occupants saw the warriors and Gleema Leeh. Gleema Leeh looked shocked to have been transported magically and was checking her person to ensure everything was still there. She caught my eye and I gave her a small smile, this was very new to me as well.

  Woodarch and Prenaslavka held up their hands.

  “We unite,” Prenaslavka said in a loud, clear voice to the room. Silence fell as she spoke; she was clearly a figure of authority. I could not help contrast Khalashaya’s mother to the frightened figure of my own.

  “We unite against the evil of the Eurikaya. These people are our honoured guests and will be treated as such for the entirety of their visit”.

  I felt a sudden urge to sit down, the fear of the flight had taken my energy away. I was also feeling rather overwhelmed meeting all of these Falaira. The people I was descended from, I was one of them. I had been born on a planet that was not my ancestral home. Even now it was hard to take in.

  Khalashaya put his arm on mine and led me to the front of the group.

  “We will rest soon” he said in my head. His touch reassured me.

  The surrounding Falaira recognised Khalashaya and erupted in shouts of surprise and joy. Suddenly he was being hugged and having his face stroked by dozens of Falaira. So this was what it was like to come home and be loved. This was what it was like to belong.

  Then I was spotted; the first Falaira to notice me looked questioningly at Khalashaya who nodded and smiled. His expression changed to one that could only be awe and he just gazed at me for a few seconds.

  Then they were all on me; touching my face and hair, I heard cries of “It’s the Long-Lost!” and “He found her!” and I felt emotion hit me again. This time it was for a different reason. It was because I was happy.

  “Welcome home” said Prenaslavka, smiling.

  Betrayal

  I found myself led out of the tent and taken across a grassy clearing into another, equally large tent. Khalashaya took my hand in his and smiled at me. I saw a relaxation on his face I hadn’t seen in all the time I had known him. He smiled and talked easily; losing the cold guardedness he had always had before.

  In the tent was a long table set with plates and cups filled with food and a red fluid I had never seen before. The smell hit me and I realised how hungry I was. I was led to a chair and I hovered beside it, waiting to see if everyone else sat straight away or waited for a signal. I noticed that, despite the repressed hostility I could sense on both sides of the divide, the Free Falaira were restrained in their use of magic around the guests when arranging everything. This impressed me and I wondered at their consideration.

  Prenaslavka walked to the head of the table and gave a slight nod of the head. The tent w
as then filled with the sound of chairs being moved and then tucked under the table as everyone sat down.

  On the plate in front of me was a large portion of what looked like duck and some root like vegetables I had never seen before. Everything smelt delicious and I looked to see who else was eating, caring about getting it wrong. I felt strange at the moment, looking around the table and seeing all of these relaxed and happy faces that looked like mine.

  They looked at me like a Goddess and I could almost understand their awe. I was a relic from thousands of years ago, from a world where magic was practiced freely but the whole world was overrun by Eurikaya.

  I started eating, really enjoying the food but finding myself full after a couple of bites. Nerves filled me, leaving no room for anything else.

  Khalashaya turned to me.

  “How are you holding up?”

  “As well as can be expected really” I said, hoping it didn’t betray my immense nervousness.

  He smiled and started attacking the food on his plate.

  I ate a couple more bites and waited for Khalashaya to take a break. At last, he pushed his plate away and sat back, a peaceful look on his face.

  “We might be poor” he said, “but we are the best cooks on Deloran”.

  “You are different” I said, not knowing how to phrase it.

  “I’m home Auriana. I was on your planet for a long time looking for you. I left my home, my mother and the only friends I have ever had to walk through a hole in the universe and risk never being able to come back”.

  A pang of guilt hit me, he had risked so much in following the journey made by the Long Lost all those millennia ago.

  “How did you know to find me? How did you know who I was?”

  “The tribe spent years with the Orb working out exactly where the blue planet was and adapting ourselves to looking for that universe with its power, tuning ourselves so that we could retrace the path of the Long-Lost and where they had come out on your planet. Eventually we found the area and realised we could sense things about where the breach led to. Not long after that we started trying to sense other Falaira on the other side”.

  “How many did you find?”

  “Just you. There was no way to recreate the immensely strong magic that had created the hole but we could sense you from the moment you were born. In the hundreds of years we have been watching and waiting, we sensed no other until you”.

  He paused for effect and I could tell that he was enjoying being able to tell me more about his people, my people.

  Unfortunately we also sensed the other, the darkness that could only be one thing. Nothing that evil has been born on your world in the last few thousand years. It had to have followed the original Long Lost through. Like I said on New Earth, nothing except me had been through that crack in thousands of years so that Eurikaya has been there for years”.

  I shuddered. To think that creature had been simply biding its time and waiting for me. Why had it chosen that day to attack? Had it sensed Khalashaya’s presence?

  Khalashaya smiled wryly but I sensed he wasn’t telling me the whole story; like he was hiding something from me all of a sudden. I shook off the feeling; no, we were in this together. If I could not trust the man who had saved my life then I could trust no one.

  “You’re right” he said, reading me like a book as usual. “It must have sensed me. That’s why it was so important to find you quickly. I knew what you looked like and I knew you had magic but I didn’t know where on the planet you were living. I emerged near Zafiya but travelled for many months between cities until I found it again. Then I walked into the library and there you were.”

  “You must have seen much of my world”. I said.

  “You sense there are things I am not telling you”.

  I remembered I was not the only one in tune with the emotions of those around me.

  I nodded.

  He looked sad.

  “We have to go on this journey together. There are thing you must know and things that I..” He trailed off and I wanted him to finish the sentence.

  “Was it…that bad?” he said, changing tack and losing his sad expression, locking it away like a bad thing.

  I was thrown by the topic change.

  “New Earth?” I said, “I saw but a tiny part of it. You must have seen more”.

  He nodded. “Your city is the least of it I’m afraid. I saw craters the size of this forest gouged into the earth, trees blacker than night and just sickness. I’m sorry Auriana, I’m so sorry”.

  He looked away.

  “There are parts of the planet where no one can live, where only the dead are housed. It shocked me”.

  I had grown up with death and sickness. Screaming babies were sometimes delivered in the dead of night and then rushed away, never seen again. The mothers were never seen again either. The man was punished and never allowed to marry again. He did of course get sizeable compensation, which meant he could afford the bride price for another wife. It was never questioned because it was Divine Law and no one could contravene the laws of God.

  The destruction of the Old World had made everything die. We were being punished for our wrongdoing thousands of years later.

  “You are not sick?” Khalashaya said, as if only thinking about this for the first time.

  “Not at all, in fact I’m extraordinarily healthy. I have never had an illness in my life. These strange bouts of weakness are the only times I have ever been less than at full strength. I’ve always felt as if I have too much energy for the life I am bound to lead”.

  His face darkened.

  Then the talking started around the table once the things had been cleared away. I attempted to help but was rebuffed and asked to sit quietly.

  The Gleema wanted the Free Falaira to come back to the city but there was considerable resistance to this idea.

  “How can you ask us to walk into a city we would normally be killed for trying to enter?” said Woodarch, his eyes flashing but his tone attempting restraint.

  “Do you want them in our city?” said Khalashaya. “With our children?”

  This caused more of a stir around the table as the Free Falaira resisted that idea.

  Gleema Leeh stood up, the light of the candles around the table reflected on her dark hair.

  “Free Falaira, though we disagree, we have to work together to remove this creature from our midst. I realise that I cannot order you to cooperate with me or come back to our city but I can promise you that we have worked hard through the night to come up with a solution where you will feel safe and we will also feel safe”.

  “You have nothing to fear from us Gleema” said Prenaslavka, also standing up.

  “We are not the ones who kill” said Woodarch, Khalashaya put his arm on his friends hand as Gleema Leeh shrank back.

  The angry voices of the Free Falaira threatened to get louder until Prenaslavka held up her hand. They simmered down quickly.

  “We will select a group and come with you to your home”.

  Woodarch looked at her but did not openly express his obvious anger at this. Prenaslavka smiled at him.

  “It is for the good of our city my friend” she said.

  It was settled, I would be living with magical Falaira. The talking continued for what seemed like hours as both sides decided the terms of the truce, then at last it was over.

  At that moment I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Woodarch, he smiled mischievously.

  “Come and see this” he said to me.

  “I’ve missed this” said Khalashaya, giving Woodarch a playful punch.

  Once again I allowed myself to be led out of the tent. The sky had darkened and the stunning tapestry of multiple moons and massive stars was being sewn before my tired eyes.

  The Falaira had lit a bonfire and were sitting around it, making themselves comfortable. Gleema Leeh and the warriors hovered on the edge of the circle nervously. Khalashaya led me to where Woodarch had settled himself
and sat down, beckoning to me to do the same.

  The grass was dry but clean and comfortable, I watched the flames dance mightily feeling a little less nervous and enjoying the warmth on my face and on the palms of the hands I held out.

  “So” I heard Woodarch say. I turned and realised he was speaking to me.

  “Our resident Long-Lost has never been through The Dream. I imagine this means you have…untapped potential”.

  Woodarch smiled in a way that I did not like and I felt afraid of him and his intentions. He did not like me. I was used to this feeling but it did not make it easier.

  “I’m to train you starting tomorrow. Don’t let us down Long-Lost”.

  With that he laughed and started talking to a female Falaira sitting on his other side.

  I was to spend time with this man with the eyes of a hawk and the smile of a devil learning something I was not sure I had the talent or power to learn; the thought did not please me. I tried to push it out of my thoughts and think about the wonder of my current situation.

  I looked up at the stars and admired how many of them they were, they were like large studs of precious stones and there hardly seemed to be an inch of black/purple sky in between them, although I knew the distance between them had to be much greater than that. I was struck with a renewed feeling of nervousness as I realised once more just how alien this world was. I recognised no plant, leaf or custom in my surroundings.

  What if I had no magic? What if it had died years ago from disuse? Then I remembered Khalashaya telling me I had the power and asking me if I had ever made things happen or sensed things before they happened. He seemed to think that the fact that I had the Falairan dream made me the same as them.

  I was unused to having expectations set upon me and wanted so badly to show these people that I was one of them.

  I thought back to the way I had sensed the evil emanating from my house just before I found the remains of my father. There again, most people would have known there was something different, the door hadn’t been shut properly for a start. No one in Zafiya would ever leave a door ajar, no city in the New World was known for the trustworthy nature of the majority of its citizens or caretakers.