I looked away from her and thought quickly. Two conflicting emotions were going through me; on one hand, I wanted to help the Falaira kill the eurikaya, on the other hand, I did not want to cause any potential harm to come to Gleema Leeh, I had felt a connection to her as we had got to know each other, and she had been very kind to me.
I bit the bullet and told them what I had found from my magical research into the painting
I heard movement and voices around me as my thoughts whirled and tumbled and I spoke, some of the voices were raised and I sensed that I was the subject of the tension; small elements of recognition that came to me in tiny, miniscule pieces. They were angry I had spoken out too soon; they were also not convinced by whatever story Khalashaya had told them to explain why I had not been killed by the Eurikaya.
The wave of nausea hit me once more and I saw a silver film come over my eyes. I was upset, I was horrified by the death of the Falaira but I was also angry; the feeling burning its way through my stomach like the burning rain that had exposed my nocturnal excursions to my father.
Was this to do with what Khalashaya had said earlier in my chamber? If the Falaira and Gleema both believed I was dangerous, a liar or not to be trusted then I really did have no one, no one on either world.
Khalashaya put his arm around me fully and pulled me closer to him. I liked the feeling very much, despite my tumultuous feelings, and even allowed myself to rest in the crook of his arm a little bit. I liked his warmth and the way he smelt of fresh leaves. I also liked the way I felt safe around him, despite all of this.
I heard his voice in my head.
“You are aware,” he said, and I could feel his slight teasing laughter, “That I can read your thoughts oh frightened one”.
“I’m not frightened”. I replied in my head.
“Yes you are” he said, “And you should be”.
I felt him shift, he was looking down at me again, I met his gaze and looked into his green eyes.
“Use the fear, the fear of us, the fear of the Gleema and the fear you don’t talk about to find a way to help us Auriana.”
He gripped me harder and the room turned black around me.
The Queen of the Free Falaira
The sensation of travelling was there for a millisecond and then I was surrounded by dark and impenetrable looking forest. The air was cool but it smelt of wild flowers and wet leaves. Pinpricks of otherworldly moonlight forced their way through the tall, thick trees that seemed to huddle together in fear above me. These small lines of light showed me that I was not alone, that I had not lost my sight.
I heard a gruff utterance behind me; suddenly orbs of light surrounded our party. I looked around and saw the half lit faces of Khalashaya, Woodarch and the others. The sight of them in total darkness lit only by the otherworldly orbs was one that frightened and excited me at the same time.
I reached out for Khalashaya in my mind, sifting through the other minds inside mine and making sure they could not sense my presence.
I found him quickly in the darkness, his warmth sending off a unique luminescence.
“Where are we?”
“Just outside Lionor, our homestead, but we haven’t warned the others of our arrival”.
“You can use magic to do that”.
“Which is what Woodarch and Prenaslavka are both doing now,” he said; his voice sounding tense in my mind. After all, we had just fled the most powerful society on Deloran.
“What do we do now?”
He paused again.
“We wait”.
A few minutes passed very slowly as we waited. I felt achy and tired and found myself shifting my weight from one foot to the other and getting impatient. This impatience fed my fear of what was to come next.
Just then, I heard a cry from the trees above and saw a silver shining light that made my eyes feel like they had been burned out.
A huge bird, larger even than the ones we had travelled on with the Gleema, hung suspended from the dark sky above us like a large jewel. It was silver, like the light of the moon on New Earth. Before I had a chance to let out the gasp desperate to make its way out of me, I saw it descend rapidly.
It crashed through the trees and landed in front of us noisily. Sitting astride it was a woman with long blonde braided hair that cascaded down her back. Her green eyes shone with the light of the bird and she patted its head indulgently. The light penetrated my eyes and went straight to the back of my head, I had to squint to keep looking at her.
The buzz of happy voices both inside and outside my head told me this woman was a very welcome addition to our strange little group of outlaws and rejects.
She swung off the bird and started walking over to us, her facial expression fierce and her eyes narrowed. She appeared to be young, only two or three twelvemonths older than myself. She strode over to us, her dark robes moving as decisively as her footsteps. I felt a small knot of fear inside me as I realised her narrowed gaze was directed my way.
She was clearly very important as the band of travellers around me bowed and showed respect.
Khalashaya slipped his hand into mine.
“Stay calm” he whispered in my mind.
The woman came to stand in front of me, her green eyes meeting mine. I met her gaze just as fiercely. I was a friend, someone who wanted nothing more than to help my people. I was not the enemy.
“You are Long Lost”.
Her voice was older than her appearance and surprisingly deep.
“Yes”.
“I understand that your actions tonight impeded our investigation into the Gleema”.
“She did not-” began Prenaslavka. I was surprised she would defend me when she had been so angry before.
The woman bowed her head in respect to Prenaslavka and then to Khalashaya before looking back at me.
“You have been learning our ways.” It was a statement rather than a question and she did not wait to hear my response.
“Join hands with us…Auriana”.
She held her right hand to her right and her left to her left hand side. The Falaira obeyed quickly. Soon, we had all linked hands and were standing in a circle with the beautiful silver bird in the centre. The bird seemed to be pecking at something, possibly a non-existent worm.
“Close your eyes” said Khalashaya in my head once again. I felt little waves of warmth coming from him, he was happy to be home and amongst his people without the shadow of the Gleema.
I obeyed.
I felt myself jerked upwards and opened my eyes.
We were rising into the air as if weightless, the bird stayed on the ground until we had risen to the top of the trees. I had much experience climbing high walls and having to hide in seemingly inaccessible places when navigating my city by night; I was not however, prepared for the sensation of being up in the air without being on a bird.
I fought a wave of nausea and focused on the sight in front of me. The moons looked even more luminous and large than ever and their silver light made the dark purple sky seem very regal, very majestic. This was insanity, this was beauty.
The bird stretched out its glittering wings and flew below us but further out. I saw the circle of Falaira break apart at the front and we then flew forward, following the bird.
“We did not have to do this when we came before” I thought, hoping Khalashaya would pick up on my thought and answer the question there.
I heard him laugh in my mind before the answer came. I felt that wave of strange anger again. How dare he laugh at me?
It was forgotten quickly as I soaked in the luminescence around me. I remembered my first experience in Deloran before we had been captured by the Gleema. I had stood and looked up at the moons and stars on this beautiful alien world and my belief in Oblivion had been shaken to its core. How could there be no other place for half the humans on my planet if such beauty existed?
The light of the bird mingled in with the light of the moons and lit the forest eerily, making
the trees below seem like gnarled creatures of the darkness waiting for the right moment to grab my ankle and drag me into the depths of hell.
I felt myself lifting my feet up to protect myself and waited for Khalashaya to laugh at my superstitious nature. Again, nothing came.
Just then, we started to go downwards into the trees, my stomach threatened to rebel as we landed in a clearing; Khalashaya tripped over my foot as we righted ourselves.
I helped him up and felt rather than saw Prenaslavka’s piercing gaze on me.
I turned to meet her eyes and she smiled before looking away.
“Have we arrived?”
“Yes” she said, without looking at me.
I heard the soft pitter patter of feet landing behind me and saw the other Falaira landing.
We were standing in a circular clearing. Thick tall trees surrounded us. Not for the first time, I marveled at how tall the trees were; so much taller than in the forest I had seen briefly in my world before leaving for Deloran. They rose up like the tall imposing pillars that held up church roofs on New Earth. I felt myself shiver inwardly but knew somehow that I should hide this.
I was now an outlaw and had escaped from the overarching authority on Deloran, I was completely and utterly at their mercy; not just from the Falaira I already knew but the ones I did not.
A strange bird called from deep inside the forest, frightening me out of my reverie. I felt the warmth of a hand in mine, Khalashaya’s.
“Wait”, his voice reverberated softly in my mind and acted like a salve to my frenzied thoughts.
Suddenly there was noise coming from the trees in front of us and from each side.
Faces appeared from behind trees, some men but mostly women. They eyed us briefly before coming out of the trees.
The blonde woman who had greeted me before came to me again. This time, she seemed more relaxed and less suspicious.
She had a friendly, pretty and strangely regal face, which was framed by her long braided hair. She wore a long hooded black cloak. Her eyebrows arched dramatically like I knew mine did but whereas my black eyebrows made my pale skin look eerie, hers made her look beautiful and otherworldly. I found myself liking her instantly and wondering why. Perhaps it was the fact that I sensed nothing but goodness from her, mingled with steel determination.
“So, you’ve brought the guest of honour,” she said. Her voice had a deep but pleasant lilt to it and she smiled at me. I knew from looking at her eyes and toned arms however, that she was strong. I sensed again that she was powerful amongst this group.
“Auriana stands with us against the Eurikaya”. Khalashaya’s voice boomed out confidently in the darkness.
“As you knew she would”, said the woman.
I looked from one to the other, trying not to move my head too much; there was something between them, something teasing and affectionate but cautious. I sensed excitement from the blonde woman but something underneath that I wanted to analyse when I had more time.
The woman raised both arms and immediately, any whispered conversations behind me stopped.
She smiled.
“Welcome home”.
She lowered her arms, turned and walked into the forest, I found myself wanting to both keep Khalashaya in sight and keep up with her. I wanted to talk to her and find out more about her.
We walked into the forest and I noticed the air cool considerably as we moved deeper and deeper. The ground felt earthy and springy and the forest smelt rich, moist and very alive, I felt revived by the scent of so much growth and life.
We walked into another clearing and I saw something that took my breath away as the blonde woman stopped walking and we followed suit. Up above us, way above us, we're huts of some sort built into to the tops of the trees and connected by what looked like bridges with ropes running alongside them. There were lots of huts, hundreds, as high as my eyes could see.
The village was so high that I struggled to focus on it properly even with my superior eyesight. The stars shone down with a ferocity I had never seen. They were plentiful tonight as well, clustered together in the blackish purplish sky and gleaming like many mischievous eyes. I felt that they knew me inside. I felt naked.
“Is this where you live?” I sought out Khalashaya’s mind and found it amongst the others, shining like a beautiful beacon across a dark sea.
I felt rather than heard his confirmation and wondered what was occupying him. I looked for him; he was standing to my right slightly behind me.
His face was turned up towards the stars, the village and moon and his large green eyes were filled with tears that reflected the glittering light of the many worlds above.
I took his hand and he looked at me. I saw the same longing to trust me that I had seen in his eyes many times before. After the strange events of tonight and the conversation I had heard between him and Woodarch on the bird the day Geebani was killed, I was starting to worry if I could trust myself. However, that was a worry for another night less beautiful than this one. That Eurikaya could have left me alone for any reason; it was intrigued by me perhaps as I was a Falaira who had grown up off world.
I tore my thoughts away from that and onto the immediate situation.
Khalashaya kept hold of my hand and led me forward to the base of a tree. He looked at me with a curious look on his face.
“Touch it with your palm” he ordered.
I held up my palm, curious as to what he was asking, what sort of test this was.
I rested my palm onto the rough bark gently. Nothing happened. I felt the tension in Khalashaya spike suddenly. Then it happened, after another second the bark started to shimmer and dissolve into sparkly dust.
Khalashaya smiled down at me.
“It’s usually instantaneous if you are magical, but it opened for you and that’s important”. He looked slightly relieved.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I have less to worry about than I thought”.
He smiled at me as a light breeze played with his long black hair.
“Well, go on up then!”
I was just about to ask how when I saw that a flight of steps had appeared inside the tree where the inner trunk would usually be.
I looked back at him, he must have caught the uncertainly in my mind because he nodded reassuringly.
I walked inside the tree and immediately sensed something so powerful it almost made me sick. I doubled over and clutched my throbbing stomach, feeling afraid and like my heart was going to pound out of my chest.
Khalashaya was next to me in a second. He helped me stand properly; when my vision cleared and the pain started to fade, I saw him grinning. This made me angry, very angry actually. Why was he laughing at my discomfort?
He stopped when he saw my face.
“I’m sorry”. He put a hand on my shoulder.
“I didn’t think you would react like that, but it proves one thing”.
“What?” I managed to say through short, painful breaths.
“You’re definitely one of us!”
Like that needed proving; I said nothing more and started walking up the steps, which twisted inside the tree. I realised the tree must be a lot wider and higher than I had originally thought. I was just starting to feel a pain in my chest when I saw starlight and we were at the top. An arch was cut into the tree; through it was the blonde Falaira, Prenaslavka and a few Falairan women I had not met properly but recognised from when we had been met in the forest.
From the way Khalashaya, Prenaslavka and the blonde woman looked at each other, I gathered that I had passed some sort of test.
I attempted a smile, though I was gasping for breath, and stepped through the arch into the blinding starlight. Khalashaya touched my arm and sent me a message warning me not to look over; there was no immediate danger of that. I was feeling disorientated enough as it was at the thought of meeting the rest of the Free Falaira.
Trepidation stabbed me and mingled with the linger
ing pain of my exertion; would they welcome me or treat me with suspicion, unkindness? Such a thought was unbearable after all I had been through to get here.
I realised I was standing on a wooden bridge; it was very wide and had support on each side. It felt very sturdy.
I glanced at the blonde Falaira I had taken an instant liking to, what was it about her I could not stop myself from being drawn to? She took a step toward me and smiled; she was certainly very beautiful with her long straight hair and gleaming eyes. She was very slender and had a wide smile with even white teeth.
“Welcome Auriana, to our city” she said. “We have heard all about you over the last few weeks”.
She held out a hand and I took it gratefully, I was glad she had greeted me kindly again as she had done before because I was certainly in a very vulnerable position at the top of a hundred foot high tree.
She had removed her cloak and I could see that she was wearing a long white dress tied at the waist, her feet were bare. I had noticed over the last few weeks how much the Falaira liked bare feet – even the Gleema. I had too many memories of burning rain to be able to do this without worrying but had noticed the lesions on my feet starting to heal since leaving New Earth.
“I am…honoured to meet you,” I said; feeling the steel in my voice. I had been very vulnerable with the Gleema, not now. I was amongst my peers; even looking at the blonde woman reminded me of that. I thought I would eventually get used to the fact that I was so like the Deloran Falaira in appearance but that was yet to happen.
I still started in surprise when I saw Khalashaya, Prenaslavka and even Woodarch as they shared such similarities with me with regards to their features and colouring.
She squeezed my hand and I felt the weight of Khalashaya’s hand on my other lift. He must have been slightly comforted by that as well.
“I am Racella,” she said. “I am the Queen of the Free Falaira”.
The Queen of the Free Falaira, there were no female rulers on New Earth.
I did not know how to acknowledge her sovereignty so bowed my head and then smiled back at her.
The Long Lost Page 19
