The Long Lost

by Rebecca Woods

  I decided to tackle this, I took a deep breath and tried to keep my voice level.

  “Have you considered” I began, watching him jolt out of his reverie, “That the reason I am always alone in the dream is because I am a pureblood Falaira born to generations of Earth humans?”

  He shifted position and looked closely at me for over half a minute. I was beginning to get nervous when he suddenly replied.

  “I did consider that possibility when you first told me about being alone in the dream” he said without looking at me. “But how do you explain the fact that I could always see you?”

  “You knew all about Falaira, the magic and this world!” I said, working hard to keep my voice neutral. I knew he would listen if I kept a lid on the emotions. “You spent your whole life trying to sense me, I knew nothing of you or this world until you rescued me from the Eurikaya”.

  He seemed to concede; nodding slightly and looking at me.

  “Exactly what danger do you think I pose?” I said, hoping this would get us to the bottom of things.

  He took my hand and looked me in the eyes.

  “I have no wish to betray you. I care for you, and keeping you safe is my number one priority. That has not changed. It is my concern for your safety that inhibits me from telling you or anyone else my exact suspicions at this time. I hope you can try and understand that I did not intend to betray you, I am trying to help you”.

  He had not revealed anything concrete but I did trust him and believe in him still, despite my hurt. It was maddening how much I did trust him, despite what I had overheard.

  “There is...something here” he said slowly, as if reluctant to admit to the suspicion. “Something hidden in the air that’s just out of my reach.

  He said the last sentence as if he were in a dream or trance. He then seemed to snap himself out of it.

  “You need to find out what your magical abilities are and try to use them to rid the world of the Eurikaya”.

  I allowed him to put his arms around me.

  “I…do not like secrets between us” I said, my face comfortable on his chest.

  “Neither do I,” he said. His arms went tighter around me.

  “I will look after you and protect you as I have always done. Our friendship remains unchanged”.

  “Am I in danger?”

  “No more than the rest of us,” Was his reply. He hugged me tighter, seemingly afraid to let go. I felt cocooned and safe.

  He drew away from me suddenly.

  “Want to learn something now?”

  Fire entered my belly at the thought of learning some magic.

  I nodded.

  He picked up a stone from the edge of the lake; it was a smooth pebble, the rounded edges clearly crafted from years of being in the water.

  He suddenly threw it at me! I jumped and put my hands up in a vain bid to protect myself but he was too quick. The stone hit me on the temple and I shouted out in anger.

  He picked up the stone from where it had ricocheted off my head and went to throw it back at me.

  I was ready this time, catching the stone in my hand.

  “You have always had quick reflexes?” he asked.

  “Not quick enough it seems”. I said, irritated and prepared to defend myself again.

  “You are quicker, you do it without realising. Earlier you dropped something and picked it up before it fell to the floor. Do it now”.

  He threw the stone at me. I flailed about in an attempt to catch it but it still hit me on the head once more. I picked it up and threw it at him before he had time to blink. It hit him on the side of the head.

  He picked it up and threw it at me again. I was fired up by the exercise and because I had been cooped up for so long as well as the fact that I was feeling a bit humiliated. Being out in the night air seemed to have reignited something in me; kick started some of the fiery spirit that had fuelled my nighttime walks through the city.

  Let me try and get the better of me, let him try. I thought angrily. No. No more.

  The stone hit the palm of my hand and then stayed there, literally in thin air. I knew nothing of why that was happening; only that watching the stone stop dead in thin air was rather unsettling. It was like my anger was holding it back.

  “Keep it there” said Khalashaya. “This is just a small thing but is something Falaira can do from a young age; sort of around the time we start talking”.

  I concentrated my efforts on protecting myself from the stone and watched it revolve on the spot slowly, not coming any closer to me. The effort was exhausting.

  I breathed deeply, trying to keep up the feelings of power that were coursing through me.

  “Now send it back to me”.

  What?

  “Don’t question it. Just do it”.

  Concentrating my anger at the stone, I fought hard to increase the strength of my feelings. I had to succeed at this. The thought of Woodarch and his naked hatred filled me with renewed ire and I used that to try and propel the stone forward.

  Nothing, it stayed where it was, mocking me by its slow movement round and round.

  “Push it to me. Imagine your mind as a large muscle, just waiting to do your bidding”. I heard him say. He was getting excited.

  “It’s been asleep your whole life and now it wants to wake up!”

  I focused harder. I thought of the enemy we were facing. I thought of Geebani. I had barely known him and yet the softly spoken Falaira had made an impression on me only that morning, now seeming like so long ago.

  I thought of Gleema Leeh and I forced myself to think of my father. Opening that door in my head once more filled me with pain. I almost dropped the stone but managed to just about hang onto it.

  It seemed to vibrate with the weight of the effort keeping it up in the air.

  I felt myself buckle and the stone dropped to the floor. I looked up to see a big smile on Khalashaya’s face.

  “Not bad!”

  I knew I could do better. I had no idea how I knew, I just knew I had to keep trying. I had to be ready for Woodarch the next day. If Khalashaya threw stones at my head then who knew what Woodarch would do to get my attention?

  Khalashaya walked over and picked up the stone. He walked about five metres away from me and stopped; twirling the stone in his hand.

  Without saying a word he threw it at my head. My hands went up to catch it; all the while I was willing the stone away from me. In that split second I urged my mind to repel the stone, to send it ricocheting off my hand and harmlessly into the soft grass.

  It stopped just millimetres away from my palm as per last time but I was ready for it; using my fresh batch of determination I willed it away from me. I pushed it away.

  The stone span on its axis furiously for a couple of seconds and then, yes! It flew away from me towards Khalashaya who wasn’t ready and received a knock to the head.

  I sat down beside the lake, my head hurt from the impact of the first throw and the effort it had taken to avoid the others. He flopped down next to me and put his hand on my shoulder. His scarred and lined face creased into a grin and his green eyes sparkled in the moonlight. It struck me how alien he was and how alien I was. Here I was, sitting on a distant world conducting what could only be described as sorcery.

  However, unlike the young girl that had sat and watched her mother strangled, I was learning to defend myself. I was taking steps to ensure, like my mercy towards the women in Zafiya, the end of suffering. I hadn’t let the Defenders win. I would not let the creatures that had killed my father win either.

  “Again,” I heard him say.

  When he escorted me to my rooms an hour later I was bruised from being hit by the stone but deliriously happy. I had sent the stone back at Khalashaya four more times, each better than the last. He had also taught me to strengthen the shield that had stopped the stone in the first place.

  I waved him goodbye with a much happier heart than when he had first come to find me. True, I stil
l did not know why I was supposed to be in danger and Khalashaya was keeping something big from me but I had regained some power tonight and I was happy.

  Sitting on my bed I looked around the room for objects to practice on. Exiting the bedroom and moving through to the seating area I noticed a wicker basket of fruit I did not recognise. I was familiar with apples but nothing more. This fruit was orange in colour and round. I was hit with a sharp scent on my initial investigation of the fruit that lingered on my skin. I decided that I rather liked it.

  Picking up the bowl I moved back into the bedroom. I laid four of the orange balls onto my dresser in a row. I sat on the bed and began to focus on the first one.

  I tried to use the strength inside me again, not to repel the fruit but to bring it to me. I was unprepared for how tired this made me immediately.

  I filled myself with a longing. I wanted the fruit, I wanted to feel its rough scales against my skin, I wanted to breathe in its scent and immerse myself in it.

  The object seemed to vibrate slowly and then shot back towards the wall, bouncing to the floor. I focused my attention on the second of the four; I had learned lessons from my previous attempt. Yes, I wanted the fruit but only strength would move it.

  I tried another tactic.

  Looking at the fruit, I filled myself with the same longing and want as before but also imagined arms stretching out from my mind. I saw them in my minds eyes as transparent, elongated limbs that were mine but alien. They reached…and reached…and reached…found the supple rough skin of the fruit...and pulled.

  The object shuddered and moved an inch towards me. I focused the arms more, they were prodding the back of the object now, I could feel the bumps and ridges in its thick skin and its cool surface. I pulled until my head felt it was about to explode with the pain. I pulled…and pulled.

  It moved forward another inch, this was not going to be easy. It then moved another inch. I let emotion flood inside me and gave it one…last…try, willing the object to me.

  It came.

  I found a cutting knife on the table and feasted before I went to bed. I fell asleep with the scent clinging to my fingers.

  The Dream

  I was standing by the dream river, murky waters lapping at my feet. I peered across the wide river, yearning to see the shadowy faces on the other side. I was filled with a longing, a mad yearning to plunge into the river and attempt to swim to the other side. I had never been in water before so I knew not where the feeling came from.

  All I knew was that, as always, I wanted to get to the other side. The stick I held in my right hand was the only thing that stopped me slipping in the mud.

  It never felt like a dream, whenever I fell asleep and found myself here it was like the waking world was the dream and this was where I was supposed to be. My feet started to sink slightly more in the mud.

  Then the singing started, a tuneful chanting that carried across the darkness and made me want to join in so badly. Who were the people on the other side of the river? Why did hearing them make my heart so glad? I had sometimes woken up chanting the same words they used and wondered what otherworldly song of the dead they were singing.

  Khalashaya was here. I sensed him though I could not see him, like little fire traces in the murky air I sensed his mind reaching out to mine in the darkness. He wanted to connect to me in this place, this strange space. I sought him with my eyes and also with my mind but could not get a firm grip on him.

  I felt strangely comforted however. I was not on my own this time.

  I woke in the night wrapped in the sheets of my bed and savoured how comfortable I felt. I wondered what had woken me; my dream had been good and I did not remember dreaming anything unsettling afterwards. I shifted position so that I was lying with my face towards the balcony and was struck by the light of the moons and its brightness. The light pooled at the bottom of the thick curtains

  I remembered that I had actually had another dream. I had been sleeping in my bed and then felt myself floating towards the ceiling. I remember the knowledge that it was a dream and that I was not frightened. I passed through my ceiling and through another bedroom where a shadowy occupant slept in a bed and then hit a barrier. I was frustrated, there were more floors, at least one more, to this house and I had not explored any of them yet. However, something was telling me that my journey was over for now.

  I got out of bed, feeling awake all of a sudden. Pushing the curtains to one side, I opened the glass door and stepped onto the balcony. My hot bare feet relished the cool stone and my feverish forehead, the feel of the warm yet refreshing breeze that played with my hair.

  I needed to be well rested and alert for my training with Woodarch the next day, but I also wanted more than anything to just enjoy my surroundings without anyone else being there.

  Both moons were full and bright, looking at them made my unaccustomed eyes ache slightly but it was worth it. What did the small white moon of New Earth compare to this? Here I was, bathed in milky moonlight with a spicy foreign breeze on my skin and no one to punish me for being here.

  And yet, right at that moment, I would have given anything to feel my father’s arms around me again.

  The Training Begins

  I woke feeling very energetic and refreshed the next morning, despite my night waking. The bed was comfortable and I rested for a few minutes, enjoying the sensation and the feel of the soft cushion against my face. I was learning more magic today. My impromptu training with Khalashaya had given me some confidence and I felt more than able to cope with Woodarch today than I had in the night.

  I got out of bed and saw that some clothes had been laid on the chair by my dresser. The Falaira had not honoured my request to make my own clothes but I did not think of that then as I mentally planned out how I was going to approach the magic lesson.

  I saw that a washing bowl had also been left out with the clothes and a towel. I partook of these items before getting dressed quickly, not wanting to delay the inevitable. Delay made me vulnerable to the anxiety that ran as an undercurrent in my veins.

  I was going to be strong and capable. Woodarch was not going to be able to rattle or intimidate me. I would show him that I was not a person to treat with disrespect, he did not know me and he had not lived my life. He had no right to act so sneeringly towards me and I was going to let him know that if he carried on with the hateful comments.

  I opened my door and looked out into the hallway. Khalashaya was sitting outside my door. He smiled when he saw me and handed me a napkin with some buttered bread inside. I took it and smiled my thanks.

  “You ready for some magic lessons?”

  I nodded and told him about my little breakthrough the night before. He stopped and looked at me curiously.

  “How did you know to pull the object towards you?”

  “I’m not sure” I said slowly, “I just tried and it worked…eventually”.

  He smiled.

  “Very good, you’ll be ready for Woodarch!”

  He led me down the passageway as I ate the slice of bread. I had just finished when we got to another set of double doors that led out into the garden. It was in the opposite direction to the lake and I didn’t know it. Sitting on the wall was Woodarch.

  He got up as we approached and nodded to both of us.

  “I’m going to be here as well” said Khalashaya, looking from Woodarch to myself. I could sense slight apprehension from him.

  Woodarch nodded.

  “Here’s a good spot, the grass is springy; makes it easier to fall without getting hurt”. He gave a nasty smile.

  “Khalashaya tells me you can repel things that are thrown at you and send them back. It’s a cheap trick but something that every true Falaira can do”.

  He stopped and picked up a stone from beside the wall.

  He threw it at me, it hit my shoulder and bounced off.

  “Come on!” He shouted. “The Eurikaya aren’t exactly going to wait until you’re ready befo
re attacking you are they?!”

  He picked up the stone and threw it. This time I was ready. I focused on repelling the stone and it hovered in front of me for a second before I sent it whizzing back to him. He caught it and held it between his finger and thumb. I could not make out the expression on his face.

  “Why are you teaching me to fight using magic?” I asked, the question had been plaguing me since the day before. He hated me so why was he teaching me to fight when there were plenty of other magical Falaira more than capable of using their powers.

  He grunted.

  “You have potential. Besides, you should be allowed to fight your enemy like the rest of us. After all, you are a victim of them too”.

  He picked up another stone and threw it at me again. I sent it back far quicker this time. The feeling of using power was like lighting a candle inside my brain, I felt illuminated and free. This was the wildest thing I had ever done, I was wanton, a sorcerer. I was everything the Defenders would execute in a heartbeat. I found my fear of them had less of an impact at that moment.

  Khalashaya sat down on the wall and nodded at me approvingly. I breathed deep and tried to get a grip on my emotions.

  Woodarch threw more stones at me and I found it was getting easier to create a strong barrier between the stone and myself. Now, when the stone hit the barrier it made a loud clang.

  “Okay”, said Woodarch, “You should try and increase the strength of that barrier and expand its width. You want it to go all around you, not just in front of you”.

  He looked at me and almost smiled. I could see a grudging respect in his eyes and it gratified me.

  “Try and imagine a circle around you when you repel the stone. You’d better do it properly because I’ll be walking around you throwing the stone”.

  He started walking behind me.

  “You’ll have to use your mind to sense when I am about to throw the stone and then create the barrier”.

  I searched and immediately sensed his intent. I focused on repelling the stone as before and also imagined the circle around me.