Dwellers of the New World Chapter Fifteen ( Pt 2 ) Broken Dreams

It was still early morning when Liora opened her eyes, the first thing she observed was a mound of fur beside her, Jay was concealed beneath the cover his breathing deep as the pelt shifted with his rise and fall, even his head was obscured reminding her of a grizzly bear curled up and deep in slumber. Smiling she turned and manoeuvred herself without disturbing him.

Looking around the chamber bodies lay everywhere, some snoring while others twitched still lost in dreams. She had never seen so many people here in her world and wasn't so sure whether to be happy about it. There was something unbalanced in the atmosphere, but Liora couldn't put her finger on what it was, other than the arrival of Addie and his men.

Stepping between the sleeping children, she made her way over to the pool, stepping in she quietly immersed herself in the cooling water, which immediately invigorated her mind and spirit, awaking every muscle in her body ready for the day ahead. As she swam thoughts went through her mind as to how everything was back at the camp. Turning over on her back she floated staring at the ceiling, there were cracks that looked like stick people surrounded by a flaming giant, they reminded her of the camp as she thought of all the trouble Bracus had caused, she hoped that Brigs had now taken the leader prisoner and that once more the children could be returned home.

She swam towards the waterfall, then out across the lake to the shore where she needed to relieve herself. Some of the water creatures could be seen dipping and diving, feeding on whatever they could find, while land creatures foraged. 'I wish that catching my next meal was all I had to think about.' She reflected, but then worried the children would be hungry.

The Citrine birds were nowhere to be seen, Liora presumed they were somewhere on the other side of the mountain, so remembering there wasn't time for hanging around, knowing she had to make a long trip back to Bracus's camp, Liora decided to swim straight back to the cave before anyone woke. Diving down under water and negotiating her way skilfully, she was soon back at the chamber.

Despite the fact everyone was tired and could have slept long into the day, Liora woke them and told her men to prepare some food. The children were cosy and warm, snug in their furs; sleep was still on their minds, but remembering the excitement from the previous day they all stretched, yawning and prepared to get up.

Jay turned on his side, leaning his cheek on his hand and watched as Liora dressed. This was a woman he wanted to wake up with every day, his feelings for her were growing stronger even though he'd not said anything yet.

Once clothed, she took a wooden flute from her pocket then sat down cross-legged and began playing a tune. While the others listened and dressed themselves, the music lifted the children's spirits, it had been so long since they'd heard the sound of a tune being played.

Addie came to standing and made his way over to Liora...he sat down beside her and waited for the woman to finish playing, lost in the melodic sound. As she finished he spoke. “I hope you don't mind me asking, but we really need to come with you and speak to Dawson, I don't understand how he came to be on your world, but he won't survive without our help.”

Liora understood completely and welcomed the company back to the reality of the camp. “You understand that you must heed everything I tell you.” She declared looking sternly at Addie.

The man grinned frankly. “To be honest it will be good to hand over the duty of leader to someone else...it gets a bit tedious taking charge all the time.”

“So you promise to do everything I tell you and not question my motives?” She voiced staring closely at his eyes to make sure he understood and meant what he said.

“That's fine...I promise to abide by all your rules and so do my men.” He declared putting his hand up  and giving a cheeky grin.

“Then it's agreed you can come with us.” Liora began to explain about the beam of light and how they needed to tread carefully in order to stay alive.

Addie was fascinated and thought that the beam of light was something really special, almost spiritual in fact. He thought of his wife Lena and son luke, wondering how they were, not having any idea of the devastation back on Obsidian, with the cloud that hung over all the occupants. For the first time in ages he felt sad and missed them desperately. Changing his thoughts back to the present day, he spoke in a light-hearted way. “Well...I can't wait to enter this beam and see for myself what you are talking about.”

Jay still lay on the sleeping fur watching Liora and Addie in conversation, they were in very close proximity, he didn't understand why he was consumed with jealousy, and pondered what the man's motives were for spending so much time in conversation, wondering what they had to talk about.

Liora came to standing and made her way over to Jay, she noticed his expression of annoyance and couldn't understand what was wrong at first. “Are you al right Jay?” She enquired, the lines of her forehead rippling as she spoke, concerned at what was wrong.

He closed his eyes then opened them as if thinking on what to say next. “I was just wondering what you and Addie had to talk about...you seemed in deep discussion.” As he spoke he began to come to standing, reaching for his clothes.

The woman knew immediately what the problem was, she could feel his resentment and started to explain. “We were just discussing Addie and his men coming with me back to the camp...he wants to see Dawson and find out what's going on, and how he got to our earth in the first place.”

Jay wasn't happy at all as he finished dressing. “Well in that case me and the children will come too...in fact I think we should all go back, the sooner we leave here, the quicker we'll get this mess sorted out and the children returned to their families.” When he turned to look at Liora, she was grinning.

“Jay I do believe you're jealous...I don't know why, because I love you.” There she'd said it...opened up completely, expressed at last how she was feeling and there was no going back. She didn't have time to say much more, for as she was about to agree and call a meeting, there was a rumble from outside the chamber and the ground beneath her feet began to quake.

“What going on?” Shouted Addie, looking around at the others.

“It feels like an earth tremor,” replied Liora. “But I don't understand why this should be happening here, it's never happened before.” Looking at the fear in the children's faces, she knew they would have to move fast. “Quickly children...there's no time to waste, we need to leave here immediately.”

The children began dressing in their clothes and wrapping furs around their shoulders. They muttered amongst themselves unsure of what would come next, some with tears in their eyes as they feared for their life.

Liora could see the light shimmering from the entrance, as her men rounded up each child into groups of two in a line, then proceeded to lead them towards the radiance.

Addie and his men stepped away so as not to be in the way, while Liora explained what they were required to do next. “I need you to stay behind me...the children are aware of the dangers of stepping outside the light, so remember my warning I gave you earlier. Addie nodded in agreement, as the trembling became stronger, then ceased.

The woman started singing and stroking the light with her feather, when the quake started up again. Everyone wavered unsteady on their feet, then fell back grabbing whatever they could to steady themselves, waiting to see what would happen next. All of a sudden the beam of light went out as if like a living body in fear. Children ran around panicking and screaming as the tremor became stronger.

Dwellers of the New World Chapter Fifteen ( Pt 3 ) Time To Leave | ABCtales