We had been eating a late supper in Khalashaya’s simply furnished but elegant chamber and sitting at a round table by a window that looked out onto the other side of the house.
“Can you do it?” I had asked them, expecting them to say yes.
Khalashaya and Woodarch had both shaken their heads, Woodarch more reluctantly than Khalashaya.
I wondered what made them think a Falaira brought up as a human for over twenty years with no prior knowledge of magic could do it if they could not.
Khalashaya had answered that question in bits and pieces while slowly eating his soup.
“Magic is innate, it’s like your blood and organs. It’s like being able to see to a Falaira; a natural function that conveys your connection to the spirits it comes from. You are a Falaira, therefore you have our power; untested though it may be”.
I replied that I understood that bit; however I did not understand why they thought I might be able to do something they could not.
“You’re actually very powerful” said Woodarch, raising his eyebrows when he spoke. I knew this to be a sign of earnestness, a signal that he was passionate about what he was saying.
“You picked up basic things far quicker than we expected you to and have come on in leaps and bounds in only a couple of weeks. You’re more on Prenaslavka’s level”.
Prenaslavka was by far the most powerful of the Free Falaira and being compared to her was slightly unsettling. However I took the compliment well and decided to live up to the sentiment as best I could.
Pacing my bedroom now in a state of tension and distress, I collected my thoughts and walked over to the picture.
Khalashaya had told me to first clear my mind and then to really think about the information I was looking for. This was going to be tough, I was trying to find out why the Eurikaya hated the Falaira, what the Eurikaya were, why the Falaira hated their own innate magic and the Eurikaya had (after being on Earth for thousands of years) decided to attack when it did.
It could have killed me as a little girl; it could have had me any time when I was younger and more vulnerable. Why had I survived long enough to find my way back to my ancestral home world and learn the magic of my people?
There were too many questions. I decided to focus on one question and break it down into parts if necessary; I focused on finding out what the Eurikaya were.
I cleared my mind and gingerly reached out to touch the painting; knowing that I was going to dislike the sensation of delving through the residue of someone’s mind but realising that this sort of thing was going to be essential.
As my fingers made contact with the cool, ridged surface of the painting I realised that Gleema Leeh might not know about the origins of the Eurikaya. I decided I would try anyway.
In my head are layers, thin and nondescript like the skin of an onion. I direct my question through them, watching them throb and move into each other but never collide. I asked the question again: “Who are the Eurikaya” and sensed rather than saw a reverberation to the right, underneath lots of layers. I imagine it to be like the pea in the story about the princess my mother used to tell me, the pea that the princess felt through the bed.
It’s there and I can sense it, shining like a beacon for me; fading in and fading out like the light of a candle in the breeze that might extinguish it altogether.
Gleema Leeh knows the secret of what the Eurikaya are and where they came from, I can feel that certainty reverberate through the paper-thin layers of memory.
I try and delve down to the information, aware that the layers above it are extremely fragile and that I could destroy the connection if I probe too deeply.
I probe softly, feeling my intention probe the top layer; it indents and then springs back like a bubble that could burst at any second.
I realised then that I would not gain any further information from this activity. I had learned something through; the secret of what the Eurikaya were and where they came from is known by Falaira alive today. For some reason, the knowledge has been a secret since the day magic was outlawed after the defeat of the Eurikaya thousands of years ago.
I sensed something else from the secret as well; I sensed shame and fear coming from that pocket of knowledge Gleema Leeh carried around with her.
Gleema Leeh knew about the Eurikaya, I felt the truth of this seep through the bubble like layers. I realised that I could not probe any further as the layers were thin enough to be almost insubstantial. I really wanted to know what she knew.
I heard my door open behind me and I felt myself pulled from my analysis. It was Gleema Leeh.
She looked worried and then relaxed when she saw me. Her eyes were red and she looked strained.
“Auriana, I knocked; did you not hear me?”
I felt very conscious of the fact that I had almost been caught but decided to go for it.
“Gleema Leeh, I suppose you knew about the latest death”.
She gulped and nodded.
“We’re holding a council meeting, please come. We are going to have to step up our efforts or evacuate. This has to stop”.
She spoke blankly, as if she were talking to herself. I did not respond, convinced this was not something she expected.
She left the room and I followed her.
A couple of minutes and three long corridors later, we arrived at the same meeting room we had been in when the Gleema had agreed to go and see the Free Falaira.
Everyone was already seated, including Gleema Neena. Khalashaya was not there, I felt fear bubble up inside me; did they know I had been there when the Gleema was murdered? Did they know the Eurikaya had decided not to harm me?
The faces of the Falaira around the table were as if carved from stone, they acknowledged my presence but said nothing. I sat in the nearest empty chair wondering what was going to happen. I recognised most of them except a thin, black-haired Falaira sitting next to Gleema Neena, she looked at me sternly, her eyes glittering with unexpressed hatred. I felt cold, wet fear inside me at the thought of facing her.
Gleema Neena looked even more strained than Gleema Leeh and she gave me a curt nod.
She cleared her throat and looked at me and then around the rest of the Falaira sitting around the thick wooden table.
“We all know why we’re here,” she said.
“Enough is enough” said the new Gleema, looking around the table. She seemed to be in a position of authority; it radiated from her in waves and was also apparent in the way the others - Gleema Neena included – deferred to her in their body language and the emotions that I could sense.
“Auriana”, she said, looking at me. I saw fire in her dark slanted eyes. “It seems as if we are going to have to take action after what has happened tonight”.
I looked at Gleema Leeh, wondering if it was permitted that I speak. I concluded that I could, due to the fact that the new Gleema had spoken to me first.
I opened my mouth to speak and realised it was dry. I licked my dry lips and spoke.
“Gleema, I, and the other magical Falaira have been working day and night to improve our strength”.
I gave what I hoped was a respectful bow of my head after I had finished speaking. She did not seem impressed by either my words or gesture.
“I decreed”, she said, “That the Gleema of this district were permitted – in these extreme circumstances – to contact the so-called Free Falaira and use their magic (she spat out this word in disgust) to eradicate the enemy. I have not seen anything to prove that my gesture was worthwhile”.
Her tone was stern and angry, yet her expression did not reflect this. She kept her face still and unemotional. The only clue to her inner feelings was the anger I sensed emanating from her in fiery waves and the sparkle in her eyes.
The other Gleema shifted slightly in discomfort.
“Well, what have you to say Long-Lost? Should I continue to allow these sacred walls and my safe city to be defiled by your animalistic magical tricks?”
&n
bsp; She gave a small smile that in any other context would have been interpreted as almost friendly. Here, it was terrifyingly evil. I gulped and was determined not to show any fear.
“Are your magic tricks up to the challenge of defeating this enemy once and for all? Or do we need to think of something thing else?”
I thought back to what we had learned in the training and the immense magic that the Free Falaira had. They had only scratched the surface of their talents when finding things to train me on. Woodarch and Prenaslavka could do marvellous things at the flick of a finger. This new Gleema would underestimate their potency at her peril.
I found myself imbibed with a renewed sense of fiery loyalty towards these magical outcasts that had become my trainers and friends.
“Well”, I said, hardly believing I dared to speak, “The question is, what do we know about these Eurikaya that will help us defeat them?”
I looked her in the eye and then caught Gleema Leeh’s nervous expression in the corner of my eye. I turned to look at her directly. These people knew something about the Eurikaya that they had not told us, maybe they hadn’t even told the wider Falairan population. Gleema Leeh looked at me curiously and then looked away quickly, directing her gaze to the wall behind me.
“We know nothing!” said the Gleema angrily. “These monsters almost destroyed our population thousands of years ago and have never been heard since until now, until – I must add – you and your criminal companion were found in the woods using magic”.
“Khalashaya rescued me and brought me to Deloran to meet with you” I interjected, feeling heat in my face as I spoke. Must we tread over old ground just to cover up their lies?
“Yes, yes I have heard the whole tale,” was the reply. There was a pause of about half a second before she said “tale” and it was not lost on the other Falaira, who shifted uncomfortably once more in their seats.
“Gleema Dan”, said Gleema Leeh softly, “Auriana is the last remnant of the Falaira that crossed the stars to escape the Eurikaya, she has never been through The Dream as a result and is incredibly powerful”.
“I have heard this from my sources Gleema Leeh!” Spat Gleema Dan angrily, “What this does not tell me is how this Eurikaya came to be alive and well on the Blue Planet after all these millennia”.
“Who are the Eurikaya?” I said.
The Gleema around the table looked blankly at me except three or four that fixed me with a hard gaze, Gleema Dan included.
“We don’t know,” said Gleema Leeh.
“So thousands of Falaira leave this world, flee an enemy so terrible that they pool their magic together and cut a hole in the universe and no one writes down who the enemy is? Where they came from?
I realised I sounded impertinent; at this moment I cared less than usual. I was tired of being gifted bits and pieces of information about the creature that had left me an orphan. I was tired of being the object of suspicion. I had asked for none of this.
The buzz around the table and the hard look in Gleema Dan’s eyes both indicated that I had spoken out of turn. She held a hand up and the talking stopped dead.
She gave me a smile that was as cold as ice and spoke slowly, each word calculated to convey her ice-cold anger.
“You think you know about us? You grew up on a backwater of a world from what I hear. You yourself bear the marks of their depravity and you dare to insult us!”
I bridled at the insult and found myself talking again, feeling anger bubbling up to match hers.
“Why did you ban magic? Why did you kill anyone who used the very thing that had saved you? Why do you all hide from the subject?"
I was very angry now.
"I think you...yes you Gleema Dan, know what the Eurikaya are".
She did, there was that spark of something underneath the layers, the same as with Gleema Leeh. I could not sense it from anyone else around the table.
I stood up and looked around the table. I was going to have to be very careful in how I played this – too angry and I would show weakness and potentially fear, too calm and they would not take me seriously.
I took a deep breath and said, “I travelled across the stars to find my people and warn them their enemy roamed the galaxy still. I little expected to be met with beatings, imprisonment and now this. I will help you when you help me”.
Shock registered on the faces of every Falaira around the table except Gleema Dan who looked at me with hatred glittering in her hard eyes like broken glass.
“I need more information on this enemy to be able to kill it. Good evening to you all”.
And with that, I turned and left the room, my heart thudding in my chest like it was about to burst out.
The City of the Free Falaira
I found myself walking not to my room but to find the Free Falaira. I needed to speak to a magical person about what to do next? Were we all about to be rounded up and removed from the city or worse? After my outburst in the meeting, anything could happen.
I reached a corridor I knew lead to the chamber Prenaslavka shared with an older woman who seemed to defer to her a lot. I had forgotten her name.
I reached the door and raised my hand to knock but pulled my hand back as the sound of angry shouting crashed through the old wood.
The door opened before I could pluck up the courage to knock and Khalashaya stood there with a mixture of anger and pride on his face. He put his arm around me and drew me close to him. I saw that the large chamber was filled with the Free Falaira including Woodarch and Prenaslavka. She looked at me but did not smile. Her expression was neutral but I sensed a river of fire underneath that calm, pale visage; she was very angry with me.
Somehow, using my powers so successfully did not make me feel good as it usually did.
She looked towards the centre of the room and I followed her gaze; several of the Falaira were standing in a circle holding hands with their heads down. In the middle of the circle was the room I had just exited in anger.
I looked at Khalashaya; he pushed his thoughts into mine.
“We were trying to protect you by keeping watch”.
Then why was Prenaslavka radiating anger right now?
“She isn’t angry with you” countered Khalashaya.
I could feel she was and I told him so in my thoughts. He appeared to defer to my opinion, I felt rather than heard his realisation that I was right.
“How did you know?” He asked me in my head.
“I felt it in waves as soon as I saw her. That ability has been getting stronger since I started learning magic – but I’ve always been able to do it to an extent”.
“It’s not something every Falaira can do well” he said. “Can you imagine the chaos that would create in a society as rigid as the one the Gleema would have us all live in?”
I could not.
Khalashaya led me to the circle and I could see they were watching the Gleema in there. The Gleema seemed to be discussing me, Woodarch amongst them.
He detached himself from the circle and walked up to me. Even after our relative truce I expected him to be angered by my disobedience in the council meeting. I could barely believe I had done it myself.
To my immense surprise, he smiled and clapped me on the back.
“You have really set those birds aflutter my dear Auriana”.
He must have read my expression because he laughed.
“Relax, you’ve done us a favour – well, me anyway. I’m dying to get home and begin phase two of our task”.
There was more than one phase?
“While we’ve been training you, we’ve also been using our natural advantage over the Gleema to do a little training of our own – and a little spying”.
“He couldn’t help himself” said a voice behind me. I turned to see Prenaslavka standing there, a guarded expression on her face.
“You were stupid in there, incredibly careless,” she said. “I thought you had better sense than that”.
Now I rea
lly felt bad, my peers had been watching me ruin their undercover mission. I, once again, wondered why I had not been told of it.
To my surprise, she looked a little guilty and actually smiled.
“I felt you had enough to be worrying about. Plus, you have been doing a little detective work of your own and not telling us!”
Her tired face relaxed properly and a naughty glint appeared in her green eyes.
I wondered what she meant and suddenly felt sick when I remembered what I had done before the meeting.
“You…have been watching me in my chamber”.
She had the sense to look ashamed, a good move considering I was about to get very angry again. What was wrong with me today? I put it down to being shocked by the death of the Falaira earlier in the evening; shock at being left alive by the rotten, stinking thing that had emerged from her twitching, decimated body.
I shuddered and tried to tear my thoughts away from what I had seen.
I turned away from her as nausea swept over me.
Her hand landed on my shoulder and her touch was friendly, comforting. The apple clearly did not fall far from the tree. I turned and looked at her.
“What are we going to do? They doubt me, us!”
“We do what we have always done, we leave the Gleema to it. We’re going home where they cannot harm us”.
I felt Khalashaya approach me from behind, his presence casting a warm glow over me. His warm hand gripped my shoulder and I looked up to see a reassuring look of relaxation on his face.
“You only did what we had been planning to do once we had found out the truth about the Eurikaya. You just did it a little early”.
"They know, Gleema Leeh and the new one, Gleema Dan". I said.
Khalashaya looked at Prenaslavka and something unspoken seemed to pass between them. Prenaslavka then looked at me.
"Gleema Leeh is a strange one, we do not know what her true motives are."
"You felt it too?" I said.
She nodded.
"We've been trying to find proof of our suspicions for some time but not coming close. Your detective work revealed nothing?"
The Long Lost Page 18