by Ky Lehman
“Just wait until I get my hands on Zach,” Uncle Craig seethes.
“Josh is Zach’s idol too, Arthos. He probably thought he was doing the right thing by bringing Josh into the Bloodstones protection,” says the always diplomatic Tallulah. “But, regardless, I want to strangle him too,” she adds.
“I don’t think you’ll get the chance,” Avira interjects.
“What?” we all ask in unison.
“I assumed you all knew,” she says. “The Sylphs reported back that Zach jumped from the helicopter as it flew over the water,” she tonelessly explains.
“Or maybe he was pushed,” Uncle Craig suggests.
“Hopefully by Josh,” Mike snarls.
“Josh would never-” I try and add before being cut off by Avira.
“Maybe he did,” she interjects.
What Mike wants for Josh and what Avira thinks she knows about him are completely delusional: Mike has always wanted Josh to fight back, but deep down he has to know that will never be his style, and Avira shouldn’t be putting in her two cents worth about someone she clearly knows nothing about. I go to tell her so, but my Mum, the wallflower of the Three Roses, unexpectedly steps away from our little huddle, circles us and the mound with her arms raised to get everyone’s attention, and when all eyes are on her, she loudly addresses the many hundreds of Tor People filling the Clearing. “Why are Joshua and my daughter once again living on Earth together, here and now in the twenty first century?”
“To remind the world what was, and what can be again,” yells an older female Hamadryad seated in the North corner of the Clearing. I am reminded of the unique relationship the Hamadryads have with nature, of how their soul is shared with a tree from their region, and when the tree dies, so do they.
“To show lost how to find the light,” little Lavindi from the Fay sings out.
“To even the balance, as they tried to back then,” Salvina, a pretty winged Shimmerling from the East calls out.
“To believe, as they once did,” shouts Tre, the Triton Clan Leader from the West.
“To love, as they once did,” calls out his wife, Diane, a Naiad Princess.
“Because they are the salt and the light,” hollers a Salamander sitting amongst the flames of the bonfire raging in the South corner he thankfully took upon himself to light.
Mum stops, stills and asks the great Fire being, “Are they? Are Josh and Ren the salt and the light?”
“Of course they are. They were then, and they are now,” he states.
A man wearing the traditional ice-blue hooded robes of the Zephyrs of the East stands, and in a clear and booming voice I know all too well, he rhetorically asks the crowd, “What does it mean to be the salt and the light?” throwing back his hood to reveal the wise, thoughtful face of my father. “Like the Earth, our bodies need salt to live and thrive. Too little can leave us weak, too much, even weaker. And, like the Earth, our bodies and our souls need light to live and thrive. Too little can leave us weak, and too much takes away the darkness for it to shine and be seen.” Continuing to direct his words at everyone, but with his eyes locked on me, he says, “The moon can only be seen through Earth’s night sky because it mirrors the light of the sun. A fact we discovered after Joshua and Shoshanna’s time on Earth.”
“And the light of our origins should no longer be found in death, but in life,” my mother loudly and passionately adds, “This life,” she whispers as she circles past me.
I gawp at her in awe as the lady I thought was introverted and timid projects her voice so she can be heard by everyone with ears to hear: her animated actions reflecting the meaning of her words, and her words reflecting the believe in her heart. Watching her I am reminded of the teacher I once was, and who I learned this divine art from all those lifetimes ago.
“Even after another two thousand years of evolution, the Four Corners of the Earth and its people are still discovering new ways to seek out the truth and the light. And, they are getting better at it, looking to the past for the answers, trying to decipher an ancient language they don’t fully understand, but what they don’t see is that truth has to be retold in today’s language for the lost to truly find their way.
“And so, as bringers of the truth and the light, we need to help align the past with the present, our failures with our successes, our hopes with our fears, and our salt with our light to help balance a changing world on the cusp of a new age…a new age the Bloodstones can see coming, and taking Josh is just the beginning of their plans to stop it.”
Murmurs for and against my mother’s word’s buzz around the Clearing like an unsettled swarm of bees, until Mike stands up and cut’s through the whirr by announcing in his no-nonsense way, “We have got until midnight tonight to get Josh back, and to start what it is we all came here for. If you don’t want to join us in this, turn and walk through your Arch and back to the Tor Realm. But, if you want to stay and help, to fight if it comes down to it, we welcome you, and we thank you.”
Our small group standing on the mound in the Clearing’s centre move to stand beside Mike showing him and the Tor our assent and our support, all of us except Avira who stands in place, straight faced and silent. “Let’s send those Bloodstone bastards back to the Dark Ages,” yells a very wound up Tallulah as she throws her arms around Mike.
“Avira?” Mike questions her, looking confused and hurt as he extends his hand, inviting her to stand with him, with us.
The odd few Tor men and women run for the Arches and back to their realm, and without a regretful word or an apprehensive motion, so does Avira. However, she does stop and turn before stepping through the Arch and back to her atmospheric realm, and throws me a look so filled with hatred that it forces me to suck in my breath.
The vast majority of Tor stays standing with their arms in the air, bellowing and cheering their support. The six of us left on the mound head straight for the clan members from the East who have chosen to stay and welcome them into this newly formed band that is older than time, consisting of kin, clan and corner, neighbours and friends, allies and adversaries, all here to plan the return of a man sacred to us, and a world sacred to us all.
About the Author
KY LEHMAN is a teacher of swimming and water safety, a children’s author, and a novelist. She lives in the Yarra Ranges, Victoria, Australia with her husband and their three children where she is currently working on the second book in The Rosefire Trilogy,
The 13th Rising
