My legs were beginning to ache. I couldn’t remember the last time I had walked so much, although Rick didn’t show any sign of fatigue. Dalton wasn’t slowing his pace either and remained ahead of us. I raised my hand to shade my eyes from the sun and looked ahead to the mountain.
“Please don’t tell me we’re going to have to climb that,” I groaned. Rick smirked.
“No, our home lies just beyond the mountain. We don’t have to walk over it, but we do have to walk around it. I’m sure you will find it to your liking though.”
“I hope we get there quickly,” Ellie said, glancing down at her water bottle, which was almost empty. The terrain wasn’t entirely a desert. There were vast stretches of plains where long grass swayed in the early morning breeze, and in the distance she saw a herd of animals galloping across the horizon. It was as though she had been plucked from the city and placed in a nature documentary. It was a world away from the one she had known all her life, and it amazed her that her parents had managed to get this far.
“So what do you guys do for fun around here?” I asked.
“We hunt, and we run, at least when we’re in our lion forms. When we’re in human form we tell stories, we paint and craft, we work the land, we do all the things that regular humans do, just without the use of technology.”
“Don’t you find it difficult though, especially now that you’ve lived in the city for a while?”
“This isn’t our first time in the city,” Rick said. I arched my eyebrows in surprise.
“It’s not?”
“No…I’m surprised Dalton didn’t tell you, but then again he does often find it difficult talking about the past. He never mentioned Sarah?”
“No,” I said, not surprised that Dalton had decided to hide something else from me, although now my curiosity was piqued about this Sarah. “Who was she?”
“That’s a story that Dalton will have to tell you himself, but it might allow you to understand him a little better. You should ask him when you get a chance, but, yes, we are always allowed to go to the city. There are no restrictions placed on our movements, but anyone who does go to the city must acknowledge the responsibility they take on, a responsibility to protect our secrecy. But to answer your original question we don’t miss technology at all. We have plenty to occupy our time and I’ve found that your technology only serves to isolate you from the ones closest to you. There’s almost too much to do in the city. When was the last time you simply sat down and pondered the nature of your existence? When was the last time you got lost in your own thoughts?”
“Actually I’ve decided that I’d rather not get lost in my own thoughts, because nothing good seems to happen to me while I’m in them.”
Rick found this amusing. “I think there’s something to be said for a more streamlined life, a life where we’re not always bombarded with information and entertainment, because it leads us to being distracted and we don’t get a chance to properly explore ourselves.”
“My parents thought the same thing, although apparently books were different,” I said ruefully.
My breathing became heavy and I wanted to take a break, but I also didn’t want to show any sign of weakness in front of the lions. I maintained a good pace and, thankfully, we came into the shadow of the mountain, which was wide and tall, and made entirely of red and brown stone. Its peak was jagged and rough, and I did wonder what secrets it contained. But we didn’t have to go up the mountain, only around it, and what awaited me made my mouth drop in awe.
The grassy plains rose up into tall trees and a small pocket of a forest. There was a large lake at the bottom of the mountain, into which a waterfall fell, and it was surrounded by vines and moss. In the distance I could see thin spires of smoke rising through the air, and I heard the chatter of voices.
“A long time ago we used to live in the mountain, long before I was born. The caves were our home then, and we stood atop the peak looking out over our kingdom,” Rick said with pride. These people had a long history and there was something sad about the fact that their kingdom had grown smaller as humanity had expanded. It was a miracle they had managed to stay out here, undiscovered, for this long.
There were more questions I had, but they were driven from my mind as we reached the periphery of the forest and a party came out to meet us. Most of them were strangers, but there were two I recognized; Mom and Dad, the parents who had abandoned me to go on their foolish quest in search of a myth, the parents who had left me unprepared to face life in the wide world, the parents I had resented for most of my life, yet now that I saw them, I was filled with happiness at our reunion. I ran up and looked at them in disbelief, and they showed just as much joy as they ran up and embraced me together. Our family was together again, and until that moment I hadn’t realized how much I needed them.
Chapter Eleven
I was sitting in a small hut, in the middle of a primitive village that looked as though it was directly from agricultural times. The huts were made of thick dried mud and stone, and they were dotted around a clearing where everyone gathered to welcome Rick and Dalton back. The two lions had left us with some privacy, and Mom and Dad took me to what they now considered home. It was a small place, but it was filled with books, just like the home I remembered had been. Mom and Dad looked happy and healthy. Their skin had a healthy glow and they were lithe, their muscles defined. Love still glowed in their eyes, as well, and I felt unfair for holding a grudge against them for so long. They had given me some water, which was served in a wooden bowl, and they looked at me with pride.
“We’re so glad they managed to find you,” Dad said.
“It wasn’t as easy as you might think,?
?? I replied. The conversation had a staccato rhythm to begin with, as we got used to each others’ presence again. Mom reached out her hand and squeezed mine gently. A flood of emotions crashed through me and I almost burst into tears instantly.
“What happened to you? How did you get here?” I asked, wanting to keep myself distracted so my emotions could remain on an even keel.
“That’s a long story, honey,” Mom said. Just hearing their voices again took me back to childhood and reminded me of what I had missed.
“But it’s a good one. When we left you we had nothing but the open road ahead of us and a few stray clues. At first it took us ages to get going, and there were more than a few moments when I thought we should turn back. It didn’t seem like we were getting anywhere, but your Mom reminded me why we were doing this and how important it was to get to the truth, so we kept going and eventually we had a breakthrough. We followed a trail of breadcrumbs across the state and let me tell you, it’s no wonder that nobody bothered to search for them before, because it was a hell of an ordeal and we had to go to some shady places to get the information we needed, and the less said about them the better, but then we pinpointed them to this location and we did it. We found them.”
“I’m surprised they welcomed you, given how much they like their privacy.”
“Well, it wasn’t exactly us, who found them. Apparently our efforts hadn’t gone unnoticed and they had been observing us for a while. They knew we weren’t going to be a threat to them, so they took us in and taught us all about their culture. It’s been amazing Ellie. They’re such a proud, wonderful people, and it’s such a shame what’s happening to them.”
“Yes, thank you for volunteering me for this by the way. It’s good to know you still think of me,” I replied dryly.