The Long Lost

by Rebecca Woods

  Now their old enemy had returned after thousands of years, it had located me on a distant faraway world, presumably waited for years and then suddenly tried to finish the war that had supposedly been started all those years before.

  Why?

  I reached out to touch the clear window, marvelling at its cool possession of my fingertips. At home, shutters kept the wind and rain from our dwellings; I had seen glass before in churches but never used in ordinary living space. Through the window I saw the garden I had admired from the sky; it was beautiful, possessing a myriad of plants in an array of colours and styles. Clearly these people loved nature as well as they loved showing their strength.

  A dark skinned Falaira tended one of the flowerbeds, about ten metres from the window and I noticed many large flowers of many different colours. It was a beautiful flowerbed, I’d never seen flowers like that in Zafiya; the burning rain killed anything that grew there and the ground was black and dead in many parts of the city.

  I had asked my father about the black earth in the garden when I was a very little girl and had been sewing by the window once.

  I had dropped a stitch and was very cross with myself, my lack of concentration had also caused me to prick my index finger with the sharp needle. As the small bubble of dark red blood emanated from the wound I looked outside to the small patch of earth we often tried to grow vegetables in and noticed the rain was falling furiously.

  I sat and watched the foaming puddles collect around the budding carrots and felt with a pang of sadness that they were doomed to die before they had reached their full growth potential. My mother had a strange love for that square of grassy earth at the back of our house. At night she would sneak out there and check on her growing charges, sad that they never seemed to reach maturity quick enough to withstand the rain.

  The water was provider and killer both. It would not kill straight away, but most people that could not afford other liquid would die from the acid. Most poor city people lived to two score and ten if they were lucky.

  My father had remembered my mother’s love of that crude little space for a long time after she was executed; the execution that had resulted in him being in enough trouble to lose his rank and suffer the demeaning demotion that had resulted in him being at home in the middle of the day when the black thing had made its appearance.

  A scream from the hallway brought me halfway across the universe and bang up to date.

  I ran to the door, of course it was locked. I stepped back from the door as I heard it being unlocked.

  It was Gleema Leeh, her calm expression still there.

  “Come Auriana, we must find Khalashaya”.

  I went with her, smoothing my hair.

  I was led through a previously unseen labyrinth of corridors into a small room with two chairs, Khalashaya occupied one and Gleema Leeh gestured that I should sit in the other.

  “What has happened?” I said, “Who screamed?”

  Gleema Leeh left the room without answering. I heard the now familiar sound of the door locking behind her.

  I looked at Khalashaya and opened my mouth to speak.

  “No” came his voice in my head. “I think they are listening outside the door”.

  “What happened?” As before I thought the question and sort of pushed it towards the part of Khalashaya’s mind that I could see in mine.

  “Eurikaya; killed Gleema Nikka”. Gleema Nikka was the one who had interrogated me in the courtroom.

  A stab of horror, they were here. I knew I had sensed something when we were in the forest, if they were here then what were we going to do?

  “We know this for sure?”

  “They say a dark thing came out of the wall and killed her where she stood before leaving the others alone. Does this sound like anyone we know?”

  I nodded, this was very bad.

  “This works in our favour” “said” Khalashaya in my head. “They have to believe us now, either that or they will conclude that it was our magic that conjured the creature and kill us”.

  “Your belief is?”

  Silence fell; I could sense his uncertainty as well as another, more primal feeling.

  I looked at him, curious; wanting to know what he was feeling. He looked away.

  I closed my eyes and allowed Khalashaya’s feeling to expand within me so that I could decipher its origin.

  It was familiar; I had felt this way before only twice – after the deaths of both my parents. It was fear and utter powerlessness mingled in with anger.

  “They will not stop” he pressed into my mind. “They will keep killing, imprisoning and mutilating us until not one drop of Falaira remains”.

  "Why?"

  "No one knows, although my people have our suspicions, all we know is that we defeated the Eurikaya after the Long-Lost left and then the Gleema took over and banned magic, banned the very thing that had saved us. It made no sense".

  I began to ask why but was interrupted by the sudden unlocking of our door. Gleema Leeh came in with two of the female warriors; their expressions fixed and indecipherable. We were made to stand and then led out of the room.

  I had always possessed a sense of direction that had got me out of trouble many times when on my excursions in the ancient city of my birth; a parallel lane here, a circular road there and many a labyrinthine maze of thin lanes needing to be captured to memory quickly; however I had no chance to try and plot a course in this house of a thousand corridors and even more rooms.

  Soon enough however, we found ourselves back in the courtroom, the stench of fear was unmistakable. Robed officials milled about, trying to instil order into the aftermath of Gleema Nikka’s death.

  Eventually everyone was seated and we were led to our now familiar chairs.

  The balcony before us that had previously contained Gleema Nikka and her cohorts was empty save one thin dark woman, a Gleema. She stood up and walked to the edge of the balcony, looking me in the eye.

  “Tell us of your experience with the Eurikaya” she said.

  I looked at Khalashaya who spoke suddenly.

  “If you please Council, may I be permitted to speak?”

  “Under the circumstances, I think…just this once,” was the reply.

  Her expression when looking at Khalashaya was similar to the suspicion I had subjected him to while he was initially trying to rescue me. However, that was because I knew not of the magic or of Deloran or the Falaira. These Gleema lived in a universe where this knowledge was part of their fibre, part of their being and yet they still feared and distrusted him.

  “Exalted Gleema of the fair city of Glen Fair, my name is Khalashaya Lee.”

  Recognition crossed across the Gleema’s face.

  “Khalashaya Lee of the forest?” She said.

  He nodded.

  “Before you seize me, hear my tale and open your minds to this young woman beside me; an innocent creature that has lost everything she has ever known”.

  “And Auriana,” said the Gleema, “What of you? Who are you?”

  “I am from New Earth and reside in the city of Zafiya; the city lies beside the sea and is just below our holy Capital”.

  “And…this other world you speak of, how am I to believe you are from there? You look like a Falaira and use magic like one of the Old Kind.”

  “Show them” said Khalashaya in my mind.

  “Show them what?” I shot back at him. I couldn’t do any magic.

  I felt a wave of emotion from him that almost knocked me over. It was pity. All of a sudden I knew what he referred to. He must have seen somehow.

  I put my hands up to the buttons that fastened my tunic and began to unfasten them.

  “Stop!” shouted the Gleema, “What is the meaning of this?” Khalashaya looked at me and gave me a brief smile.

  I blocked out the furious murmuring I heard from all around me and focused on my task.

  Once the buttons were undone I opened the garment and began to pull it dow
n to expose my chest and back. My modesty preserving instinct kicked at my stomach the whole time but this had to be done.

  # #

  I watched Auriana bravely unfasten her dress and pull it down so that at first her shoulder were exposed, then her back and breasts. I gasped in horror at the sight that emerged before us.

  Scars, deep and penetrating, were engraved into her milky white skin. These were not merely scars from an accident but carefully placed, deliberate wounds designed to inflict the maximum pain without causing death.

  The court was stunned into silence as I fought hard to keep calm. I had been exposed to torture as well but nothing like this. This explained so much about her initial fear of me. I thought back to her shamefaced countenance in the library during our first encounter and was filled with rage.

  She carried on pulling the dress down until her whole body was exposed and she stood naked before us. I saw a tear form and then slither silently down her face at her shame. Yet she raised her head and looked the Gleema straight in the eye. She had been degraded but she was not broken. I felt something for her then that had been bubbling away since we had met, respect and immense camaraderie. We were fused, Auriana and I, our star charts met and melded and had done so from the very moment I had fought to be the one chosen to rescue her.

  I saw something circular on the small of her back, it looked unlike the other scars and then I heard a man’s voice shout “No!” and realised it was me.

  She had been branded. Branded like a common animal.

  Auriana looked up at the Gleema, who had horror splashed all over her face.

  “The Defenders of the New World Faith strangled my mother three years ago because my father had wronged them. I was also to be killed until they decided that I was of far better use serving as both a pleasure vessel to them and example to others.”

  Silence reigned in the court as I watched her brave speech.

  “Now my father is dead. He was murdered by the creature you call Eurikaya. He was murdered because it came looking for me. He is dead because of me”.

  Her voice broke in her last sentence and she pulled her dress back on.

  I went to help her fasten it but she rebuffed my attempt.

  “Magic is blasphemous to all Falaira; however, please allow me to use it just this once to help you see that we speak the truth. The murder of Gleema Nikka is testament to that truth. Her body lies in your morgue because of this creature, the creatures we came to warn you about. You defeated them thousands of years ago but some survived”.

  “What magic is this?”

  “Just visual magic Gleema, I have not the powers of description needed to show you what must be seen”.

  “Let him show you Gleema” Auriana said.

  She seemed to freeze and then gave a faint nod.

  # #

  Khalashaya sprang out of his chair and looked up at the Gleema.

  “With respect Gleema, I would like to use the upper balcony to tell my story”. The Gleema stood and went to the back of the balcony and out of view. Seconds later I saw her come down a small set of steps underneath. She came to sit beside me in the chair Khalashaya had recently vacated.

  I caught her eye and her expression was of shock with a faint thread of sympathy. I felt residual shame from what I had exposed to these people but felt it ebbing away like the tide in the moonlight. I would be strong. I would be brave. I let that iron feeling seize me as I prepared myself inwardly for what Khalashaya would show the Gleema.

  I had exposed my naked pain and deepest shame, Khalashaya was about to expose himself too; in a different way but in a way that could put us in even more danger. Still, it seemed to be the only option. I had caught wisps of his intention as he sprang out of his chair and his hand had brushed mine.

  Khalashaya walked quickly up the steps and resurfaced on the balcony where he stood still and held his arms out to the sides with his palms facing upwards. His head went back and his mouth opened.

  A heard the stir of frightened conversation around me. The Gleema held up a hand and the chatter ceased quickly.

  The balcony began to change; Khalashaya disappeared and was replaced by a rectangular screen that was black. Suddenly scenes of my life in Zafiya appeared – not of my life before meeting him (that would have been worse than what I had exposed. In no way did I want these women witnessing certain elements of my life) but of the world he had discovered upon arrival.

  One minute we were watching the screen, the next second saw everyone in the room including myself get pulled in quick as lightning. We are watching the scene but we are living it, breathing it.

  Khalashaya is shown materialising in a wood, the hole behind him that shows stars eons away crackles for a second; spewing fire and rage and then closes again. His path through endless, stunning galaxies was closed off. I sense his fear that it will never be reopened and his sorrow at leaving his people. He looks sadly at where he came through to this world, the lines on his prematurely aged face seeming harsher than I have ever seen them.

  It hits me what this remarkable man did for me in that instant, the man who travelled through the stars to the other side of the universe for one person; for me.

  The weary traveller rests on his staff and looks around, removes his hood and looks up at our singular moon in awe and wonder; its light reflected in his big green eyes and dancing on his scarred face. I sense his fear at beholding the earth that was burnt millennia ago but still bears the mark of billions of deaths; the destruction of the Old World by God has left an indelible mark that has shocked this newcomer.

  Then we are in the streets of Zafiya and a man leads a chain of dirty women past street stalls, boys playing and street preachers. They are chained together by their hands and feet and all have brand marks on their faces.

  The boys stop playing and look scared; the women look at the floor and do not dare to interact with the boys. One boy hides behind a similar looking bigger boy and cries as the party walks past.

  The scene moves to the city’s café district where robed officials sit and discuss the matters of the day; all wearing their Defender badges with honour. The room is adorned with a luxurious tapestry in stark contrast to the city streets we have just seen.

  Then we are in the library and I gasp to see myself behind the desk. What a beaten down, thin and weary creature I am. We move towards me where we can see the patron cards on the desk with their different colours. My shade reads the cards by touching the colours like a blind person reads lumps and bumps.

  She looks up and now we see the fire in her eyes that hides behind the beaten façade. She stands and there is authority in her stance though she knows it not.

  “Auriana, I have no time to explain”. I hear Khalashaya say.

  “You must come with me. You are in the worst kind of danger”.

  I close my eyes at the next scenes for I know what they will convey but I hear my screams and they open up fresh wounds of pain inside me. The feel of Khalashaya’s mind reaching out to me in comfort stops me blacking out altogether but I feel myself shaking like I will never stop.

  The screaming – my screaming – stops and I open my eyes to watch again. Khalashaya is telling me of my destiny.

  “You are descended from a group of magical people who forced a hole in the universe and came to Earth to escape a fearsome enemy; an enemy that would have completely decimated and murdered them”.

  “You are special”.

  The scene ended and we found ourselves back in the courtroom.

  The only difference was that the Gleema were now looking at me very differently. The head Gleema beside me looked at me and then dropped to her knees.

  The others followed until only Khalashaya and I were standing.

  “I think they believe us now” he said with a small smile.

  The Council

  The room I was shown to was stunning. It was so beautiful that I almost gasped when the door was unlocked by Gleema Lee. A huge four-poster bed st
ood in the middle of the room, which had a wooden floor, engraved with elaborate carvings. This floor was covered by a stunning white rug, which stretched from one side of the room to the other and also ran under the bed.

  To the right of the bed and on the left wall stood two huge windows with thick red curtains and white lace netting.

  Rested against the wall to my right was a large wooden dresser complete with a looking glass and drawers. Next to this was another door.

  I looked around, trying not to show my amazement. I’d never seen, let alone slept in a room like this one.

  “It is…sufficient?” said Gleema Lee, looking around. “It’s not been used for a while but it is yours to call home for as long as you would like it. We’ll find you an apartment in the city when we have…dealt with these monsters but I’m sure you'll be perfectly happy here at present”.

  I noticed she did not call the Eurikaya by name; it was as if she did not wish to acknowledge the fact that their ancient enemy had found a way back to them. She did not have to acknowledge this openly though, I could sense rather than see the horror and realisation that gripped the Gleema like a vice; they knew exactly what they were facing.

  I thought of my bedroom at home with a pang of sadness; the bedroom I would sit in while I waited for my father to call me to his study, the bedroom I had called home my entire life.

  Still, I was here on this other world and now had the support of the Council. This meant Khalashaya and I could get their help in trying to destroy the creatures that had blighted the lives of the Falaira for so long.

  I realised I had forgotten to reply to Gleema Lee who was looking at me expectantly.

  “It is sufficient”, I said, my voice hoarse from crying earlier. I dared not say any more as I was starting to feel overwhelmed.

  Gleema Lee put a hand on my arm and looked at me. I saw understanding in her large green eyes.

  “I will have some clothes made for you and bring you some books”. She carried on talking but I was stuck on the word “books”.