Raven nodded reluctantly, her eyes narrowing. She turned and left and I followed.
Gleema Leeh turned her head to look at me as I left and I caught her emotions in that second. This was no trick or trap. She was desperate and had come to the only people she felt would understand and help.
A series of bridges, stairs and rooms later I was standing outside the Queen’s chamber.
Raven knocked and entered.
I was standing in a wide, cavernous room with a very high domed ceiling. Small carvings in the dome above allowed rays of sunlight to dapple the wooden floor I stood on and the effect was interesting.
The Queen was sitting on an ornate chair at the end of the room. Khalashaya was standing in front of her.
At the sound of the door, he turned and walked over to me looking anxious. He put his arms around me. I responded, surprised.
“Are you alright? You are unharmed?” he said quickly.
“Yes of course” I breathed quickly.
The Queen stood quickly, looking equally anxious, her large eyes troubled.
“She’s one of us” I said. “She has never been through the Dream and has hidden it from the Gleema her whole life. She fled when she thought she was about to be exposed. She also tried to protect us”.
The Queen walked back to the chair and sat down, Khalashaya gaped at me in shock.
“She showed you magic?” he said quickly.
I nodded.
“But how?” said the Queen, her beautiful face troubled. “This is a trick, any Falaira powerful enough to conceal herself so effectively from the Gleema would not have been working for them as long as she has”.
She breathed hard.
“Why would she work with them in the first place if she was magical?"
I was lost in memories, remembering the clothes and food Gleema Leeh had given me during my imprisonment. She had also taken my part many times, acts that must have made her feel as if she were putting herself in the firing line.
“This is no trick,” I said, feeling Khalashaya’s tension as the words left my mouth. “I saw inside her mind, she has come to us because she feels we can help her”.
Khalashaya suppressed what sounded like a growl and turned away.
“How powerful is she?” said the Queen. “Can we contain her?”
I replied that I did not know.
“We need to find out”, Khalashaya said quickly.
They exchanged a look and the Queen nodded quickly.
“Auriana” she said, seemingly to regain her regal composure. “We’re about to find out exactly how powerful the Gleema is.”
“How?” I said, in what I hoped was a respectful tone.
“By going Underground”.
I wondered what was underground and why I could sense apprehension from her at the thought of going there. She linked her arm with mine and we walked from the room, Khalashaya following. I found I liked the close contact with her. She gave me a reassuring smile and led me out onto the bridge and down a series of steps and bridges until we were at the stairs we had originally come up when entering the city.
I was suddenly grabbed by the weak and dizzy feeling I had felt when first I had climbed these steps. The Queen tightened her grip on mine and we walked down the steps together. The feeling was nothing like the weakness I had felt when the Eurikaya attacked; it was more like I was reacting to something in the air.
We reached the bottom but instead of going out into the fresh air, we stood at the bottom of the hollow tree and did not go outside. I had barely time to wonder why before I noticed Khalashaya and the Queen touching their palms together and seeming to concentrate hard.
I saw a glow between their connected palms that reminded me of candlelight.
They drew their palms apart slowly and bent down to touch their palms on the ground. The ground shimmered slightly before dissolving and leaving a trapdoor in its place.
The Queen flicked a finger and the door swung open to reveal some stone steps. Cold air hit me and I shivered. Khalashaya led the way down and the Queen followed.
I did not know why, but I knew that the source of my dizziness was down there and I did not want to see it. The Queen turned after she had walked down two or three steps and held out her arm, her face asking me to go with it and trust her.
I took her arm and followed. The steps were wide enough for us to be able to walk abreast.
We were in a tunnel. I tried not to let claustrophobia get the better of me and kept pace with her. The tunnel had a springy floor that appeared in the dim light to be earth. The scent reminded me of the forest we have arrived in when fleeing the Gleema.
I was desperately worried about Gleema Leeh, she was in the same position as I had been when I had been held prisoner and beaten by the Gleema for being magical. Did I not owe her the same kindness she had shown me. Yes, her efforts had been minimal in the beginning but they had made a difference.
She had not been duty bound to put me in a nice room, bring me fresh clothes and food or even talk to me at all. At the time I had seen her as one of the oppressors and mistrusted her. I had seen what the prisons were like on my explorations of their city and thanked The Lord daily that we had not suffered them.
I could see now that Gleema Leeh must have been trying to help and that she had clearly fought hard for us. For that I was grateful; and yet, the thought of the Gleema, especially Gleema Dan, finding us made my insides melt with fear. She would be merciless.
What were the Free Falaira going to do to the prisoner? I could imagine how she must have felt hiding her true self from the Gleema. But how had she done it? How had she hidden her magic, the Gleema had never told me how they had sensed the magic we had used to come to Deloran but it had been made clear that they could detect illegal magic.
I theorised that she must have pushed it so deep down inside herself that it was almost forgotten, even by her. Us arriving on Deloran must have reignited it in her, along with the stories of the Long Lost.
We carried on walking, the Queen keeping hold of my arm. I felt sick and dizzy again and realised as the tunnel started to slope that we were clearly getting nearer the entity or force that had affected me ever since we had arrived.
Footsteps came to greet us and to my relief I saw Khalashaya, Prenaslavka and Woodarch. They must have gone on ahead. Woodarch gave me a wry grin but Prenaslavka looked troubled. Khalashaya squeezed my shoulder, which gave me a strange feeling in my stomach and gave me a friendly smile.
“Are you ready to see it?” He asked.
“What is it?” I asked, “Why does it make me feel…” I couldn’t finish the sentence because I did not have the word to describe the feeling.
Prenaslavka looked at me and smiled.
The Orb makes us all feel that way at first but you do acclimatise”.
Khalashaya gave the Queen a bow and turned and walked into the tunnel. We followed.
A few minutes later we arrived at a fork in the tunnel, which was lit by glowing circular lights in metal grates. The shadows cast black bars across us as we took the left passage. We passed Falaira on the way who all bowed. I noted that one young woman looked like she was about to be sick or faint. This must have been her first time.
Soon, we came to a wooden door that had a metal knob. Khalashaya placed his staff upon it and it glowed so brightly that I had to narrow my eyes.
The door swung open and I saw a large cavernous room with a high ceiling. We must have travelled deeper than I had thought.
The rough stone walls on either side were covered in pictures of Falaira. Falaira in battle, casting spells and defeating black creatures that looked like Eurikaya.
Another door lay at the end of the room, we approached it and it was Prenaslavka’s turn to use her magic to access the room within.
The heavy door opened with a creak and I suddenly knew why I had felt so sick and dizzy.
A large circular orb of light hung suspended above the stone floor by about a met
re. It took up at least half of the large room and I felt myself gripped by that nauseous feeling once more. I concentrated on not being sick and gazed at the orb.
It was compelling, I had a sudden urge to reach out and touch it but I sensed this would cause something serious to happen.
“What is it?” I managed to gasp through the nausea.
I noticed then that the orb was connected to the stone floor by a thin luminescent cord of light. This seemed to pass through to the floor to an unknown area below. There was yet another door on the other side of it. I tried not to let the sight of it blind me but it was so bright.
“When our ancestors found this, thousands of years before the Eurikaya, we did not know what it was”, said the Queen in a low, quiet voice that seemed to suppress some emotion I could not ascertain.
Khalashaya looked slightly awestruck.
“I have not seen it for a long time”.
“What does it do?” I said, wishing someone would answer my question.
“It is the source of the magic of the Falaira”, said Prenaslavka slowly, her green eyes fixed on me as if watching my reactions carefully.
A warrior coughed meaningfully and she stared her down. The exchange puzzled me, why were there still secrets from me at this point?
“It’s…where we get our magic from?” I said.
Silence. Prenaslavka shifted her weight from one foot to the other and looked at the Queen.
“We know this because we can see its cords of light around each Falaira in this camp”, said the Queen.
“It’s stronger around more powerful Falaira”, said Prenaslavka, “It’s more easily seen when we are in its vicinity”.
A question popped into my mind and I resolved to ask it before I forgot.
“What do you see when you look at me?”
The Queen put her hand on my arm again.
“It’s extremely strong around you” she said. “You are very powerful, just untrained”.
I was powerful, I had never been powerful.
There was a silence of around a minute where we all looked at the orb, I could see that the light differed in colour subtly if you looked at it closely; fire yellows competed with a purple, phosphorous collection of strands and a reddish mist.
The Queen walked to the orb and put her the palm of her right hand to it without touching it. Her hand was about an arms length away. She closed her eyes and I saw Khalashaya grip his staff out of the corner of my eye, his knuckles whitening and conveying tension.
“I need to be sure”, the Queen murmured, closing her eyes as if to concentrate. At that moment she reminded me of an angel, her long beautiful hair cascading down her back and her face serene looking.
Then something happened that made me jump in surprise, causing Woodarch to grip my shoulder.
The air in front of the Queen shimmered and the ghostly outline of a human form appeared. I had jumped because it reminded me of when a Eurikaya first appeared, this human though, shimmer and seemed to dissolve into a familiar figure; Gleema Leeh.
The Queen opened her eyes and examined the shade of Gleema Leeh closely, her face not betraying anything. From the way she reached to touch something a hand’s width from Gleema Leeh’s head, it appeared she was surveying something I could not see. I looked at Khalashaya and Woodarch to see if their faces would be more revealing; no such luck.
The Queen waved a hand and the shade of Gleema Leeh dissolved into nothing. The Queen pointed at the floor to her right and a wooden chair appeared. She sank into it gratefully.
She looked at Khalashaya, her expression troubled.
“We will not execute the renegade...yet. She will help us get to the bottom of our biggest riddle”.
Khalashaya’s scarred face registered slight confusion before it melted away and was replaced by a look of shock that changed his face slowly. I did not like that look; if Khalashaya was affected by this then it must be bad.
However, relief was throbbing through me in waves after hearing that Gleema Leeh was to remain alive at least for the time being.
“My Queen,” Khalashaya said slowly, I could see he was choosing his words carefully. “This renegade is not to be trusted. She has even betrayed her own people”.
The Queen nodded slowly, not seeing offended by the words.
“The renegade is not a danger to us. The danger lies in setting her free or killing her. Setting her free is dangerous because she knows how to find us”.
She looked troubled, her beautiful face furrowed.
"So why, if you will pardon the question your majesty, do we just not kill her and be done with it?"
"Because she is a Molecha. She will help us more than she realises. Because we are the only people on Deloran who will help her."
Murderers
Khalashaya's jaw dropped and I felt myself struggling to stay upright, the shock hitting me like a wave of burning rain.
Flashbacks, the words on the wall when I found my father dead, the screaming of the creature as it came for me. Gleema Leeh was half Eurikaya, half Falaira.
“I need not tell you that this troubles me greatly Khalashaya, very much. However, how did she find us? How was a Eurikaya able to evade detection for so long?
The Queen then looked at me as if expecting me to say something. I fought the nausea and my dry mouth and swallowed.
"I do not think she knows what she is".
I could see that I had the floor so I carried on.
“Gleema Leeh was very kind to me when the others were not”. This was true obviously but I did not know why I felt the need to reiterate the point further.
“I am sorry my Queen, I speak out of turn”.
The Queen smiled at me, her first proper smile of the day.
“I am aware of your friendship, and also understand how difficult it must have been for you to go in there and beg for her life.”
I looked back at the orb, the shade of Gleema Leeh having now faded so that no trace of it lingered.
“We draw our power from...this?” I said.
Khalashaya saved the Queen from opening her mouth.
“It is not as simple as that. Falaira are born with their power, you were born with yours a whole universe away Auriana”.
He paused for breath.
“It’s just connected to us somehow, to every Falaira on the planet - and off it, if you turned out not to be the last Long-Lost”.
I felt that urge to touch it once more, I yearned to feel the tips of my fingers on the light like the Queen had. The light made me feel dreamy, as if I could just walk into the light and be embraced by it. Khalashaya put his arm around my shoulders and I felt myself jolted back to reality.
I realised my right foot had made a step forward.
The Queen put a hand on my arm and said quietly:
"We speak to Gleema Leeh. We make her help us. If she has any idea what she is then she will already know how".
She then said even more quietly, so quietly that it was as if her soft voice brushed my ears like soft wool.
"We must keep her true identity secret from the populace".
"Help me Auriana, help me save our people."
I nodded, wanting to prove to her that I would do whatever it took to do just that.
I looked back at the orb, feeling it's brightness swamp me.
"Is there something beyond the Orb?" I asked, the words leaving my mouth before I had a chance to assess them.
"Yes," said the Queen. "But we have not been there for many thousands of years."
She looked at me and I was again reminded of the steel I sensed running through her veins, like sharp thorns that studded the most perfect of flowers.
"Every Queen before me, and I rule the Free Falaira across the whole of this part of the world, has made it a crime punishable by death to go beyond the Orb."
"Can I ask why?"
She seemed to pause a long time before she answered, and I felt the others shift uncomfortably.
Sud
denly, two Falaira ran into the room. They looked worried. I saw that one of then was Larcen.
"The prisoner is dying, my Queen," she said. "We must take you to her."
The Queen swept out of the room before we had time to process this information. We followed and made the trip back to the treetop settlement. I barely had time to enjoy breathing fresh air again before my arm was taken by Khalashaya. He looked worried.
“We will go to her”, as he saw my mouth open to ask what was going on.
“She-” I began before being interrupted again.
“Will wait for you” he said grimly. I did not have time to wonder why he said this before I felt myself led in the direction of my bedroom.
We got to my room and he followed me in, sending a servant away.
He looked at me and closed the door.
He then turned and looked at me.
He smiled and sat on my bed.
"Auriana, I must ask you for some information."
I nodded my assent quickly.
He reached over and touched my arm, his fingers hot against my cool skin.
I realised he did not mean that he wanted me to tell him anything.
I tore my arm away.
"What is so delicate that you cannot just ask me".
He stood up and walked over to the window slowly. His voice when it came was controlled and measured.
"What I want to see, only your memories can describe perfectly."
"Tell me what you wish to know".
He turned to face me slowly.
"I wish to know what happened in your dream of the river."
"You know!" I almost shouted. "I have told you everything".
He made what he must have thought was a soothing noise and grabbed my arm. He had walked over to me without my even noticing.
The dream, the mist rising in tendrils from the ground, the freezing cold, and bog like mud.
I heard his voice in my head.
"Just imagine the dream as it usually is, let me see it."
Sharp memories of the last dream came to the surface of the pool and floated there. I realised I could shut him out here before he got any deeper.
"Let me see and help me understand," he said.
The Long Lost Page 22
