The Last Druid (38 page)

More than once she wished it all really had been a dream, something she could wake up from and forget about
entirely.  Fate hadn’t been so kind.

She had turned seventeen while she was away—
after coming home everyone had to remind her of her age, that she was still young.  Calla certainly didn’t feel it.  She felt old, incredibly old after everything she had been through.  She didn’t say a word about the experience to anyone but her father.  She told Morlan everything: Mika’s true identity, her own identity, Hiran, Mai, the battles she had taken part in and the pain she endured.  She didn’t hold anything back from him, even the news that Elenia, her mother and his wife, had willingly cut herself off from this world and her mortal family.  He had wept over it, but otherwise agreed to keep his daughter’s secrets from everyone else.

After that she
was caught up in the fast current of life around her.  Kira managed to pull her back into her wedding plans.  It cheered Calla up a little until she was fitted for her bridesmaid’s dress.  Kira had chosen a fitted gown of pale green with a plunging neckline and no sleeves; it revealed every scar on Calla’s body.  It took little effort to convince Kira that her dress needed to be a different style.  And Calla did her best to smile as Kira and Marrin were married in that mid-summer.

The pace of life
picked up from there.  Calla’s father became the king’s new military advisor, Kira gave birth to twin sons a year after her marriage, Calla’s sisters grew up into beautiful but rebellious teenagers—everything proceeded as though the world hadn’t come dangerously close to destruction.  It all threatened to leave her far behind.

And now at nineteen Ca
lla was caught up in the past, and she couldn’t move on.  Some things she just couldn’t let go of.

She stared at the young willow, planted not far from the house.  Calling it a sapling was a bit of a stretch, really—it was still a seedling even after three years.  Cal
la had planted Mai’s Soul gem here shortly after coming home.  Maybe it was quiet because it was still young.  She frowned at it, as though her expression would make it speak with Mai’s voice.

She heard movement behind her, but it didn’t sound right to be footsteps approaching through the grass.  It sounded more of autumn leaves being blown around by the wind.  In the middle of an open field where there were few to no trees it was strange to hear, and alarmed those who didn’t know what it really was.  Tree spirits like the oak spirit drifting behind her had woken up and started appearing in the city and the surrounding countryside a few months after Cal
la’s return.  Everyone except her father thought they were some kind of ghosts or monsters coming to get them.

There were no more monsters now—they had all been sealed away in another dimension.

Calla kept her back to the spirit.  “Anything?” she asked the form of swirling leaves.

The spirit drifted closer to her,
the leaves coming together into the form of a woman just on the edge of her vision.  “The one you still seek has not been found,” she replied in a whispery voice.  “My sisters and fellows have searched tirelessly for you.  We have wandered far beyond the bounds of our forests and gathered others to continue where we must stop.  In these past few years we have found nothing; we believe there is little chance of the man you seek coming here now.”

Ca
lla bit back her disappointment.  Hiran…He was still out there.  In her heart she believed he hadn’t been caught in Elenia’s spell when she took her mountain, the city of Elenan, and most of the surrounding lands off of this world.  He had gone off on his own to think, everyone told her, to decide what he wanted of his new future.  She still wished that he had told her some of what was on his mind, or at least come to explain himself first rather than leave her without so much as a word.  But it did her no good to dwell on things that already happened.  She could only hope that she would see him one last time, no matter what he decided.

But what if he chose not to keep her in his life, and never came after her at all?  She felt her spirit sink at the possibility.  A piece of her was telling her to move on, to let him go forever.  She didn’t want to give up on that hope of seeing him again—not yet.

“Keep searching,” she said flatly to the spirit behind her.

“Lady, the chances of this friend of yours coming to find you after
all this time—”

“I said keep looking!”

The spirit herself was silent.  The only sound Calla could hear from her was the leaves that made up her form.  She sighed, rubbing at her eyes with her fingers.  She was being stubborn, she knew it.  Everyone around her saw it too, though only a few knew what that stubbornness stemmed from.  She just didn’t want to accept the idea that he might not be coming back to her.

The oak spirit drifted through the air to float just at the edge of Cal
la’s peripheral vision.   “Lady Calla,” she said, “there is more.”

Cal
la turned her head slightly to listen.  “Go on,” she said.

“One of my sisters wishes to inform you that the lilies down at the lake are concerned by this season’s apparent lack of rain as well.”

“I can’t make it rain,” Calla said.  “That ability seems to be beyond my power, and I think I would get in trouble with Kar if I even tried.  I don’t want to take that chance.”

“And there is a colony of bats that wish to move into the attic of your home.”

“That’s out of the question.  Creatures of the night have their place in this world, but not in my house.  I’ll try to find a cave or some abandoned structure for them.  I’ll answer them myself.”

The spirits shape wavered for a moment.  “May I return to the forest, Lady?” she asked.

Calla turned her head to look directly at her.  “Don’t forget what I said.”

She caught sight of the spirit’s face; she was uneasy, but otherwise
kept quiet.  “We shall keep you informed, my lady.”  The oak spirit drifted away from her and her shape started to shrink, the leaves blowing away with the wind in a long trail that wound towards the woods.

Cal
la sighed and stared back at the young willow.  “What would you do, Mai?” she asked.  She was met with silence, the willow’s small branches swaying gently in the breeze.  She stood up and walked away.  Three years and Hiran still was nowhere to be found; it was as though he had fallen from the face of the earth.  With a sniff she pushed the thought aside as she turned onto the road.

She heard a loud scuffing of feet on the dirt lane behind her.  She listened to its rhythm—three beats against the ground, heavy, the last beat following the first two after a half-second delay.  She knew who it was, but right now she really wasn’t in the mood for Lina’s company.  She didn’t even slow down as the Tri-tail ran up to her.

There you are
, Lina said. 
I was wondering where you might have got to.  Some of your friends are looking for you Calla.

“I’m not in the mood Lina,” Cal
la said.  She just wanted to be alone right now.

Kira is begging for you to come see her.  She says she thinks it is important for the two of you to talk.

“She told you as much?”  Calla was only slightly surprised by that.  Kira had believed that magical feats were just stories to entertain young children at night, that such things could never happen in the real world.  She had been shocked when Calla created some very real white doves from a large wisteria for her wedding.  Between that and Lina herself, Kira seemed to be gradually changing her mind about the subject.

Word for word
, Lina went on. 
I think she wants to talk about…him.

“I don’t want to talk about it, especially today.”  Ca
lla shook her head.  She had mentioned Hiran—though not by name—when she told Kira a shortened version of what had happened to her.  Since then she seemed to sense what Calla had chosen to leave out about him.

Cal
la, you have been wearing that same scowl on your face for the past three years.  Kira is supposed to be your best friend—you are supposed to share your feelings and secrets with her in such a relationship are you not?

They were standing at Cal
la’s front gate.  She stopped with her hand on the latch and thought over everything for a moment.

Yes or no, Cal
la
, Lina said when Calla continued to be silent. 
He was not just a friend to you.  You liked him as more than a friend.  Am I right?

Ca
lla chewed on her lower lip.  “I just…” she began.  “I would’ve been happy if it went that way.”  She picked at a wooden splinter with her fingers in agitation, her throat growing tight.

She had been so lonely years ago and never found anyone who could fill that void.  Kira told her once a long time ago that if she gave time a chance the right person for her would find their way into her life.  Thinking back, Ca
lla was so sure that Hiran could have been—would have been—that person.

But she had let him slip away.

I know you have been looking for him,
Lina went on.
I have heard the tree spirits and birds complaining about how you cannot seem to let this go.  But you cannot live the rest of your life like this. 
She rose up on her hind legs as she pawed at Calla’s leg with her front foot. 
Just let it go.

“I can’t do that, Lina.”  Ca
lla lifted the latch on the gate.  “I’m not ready to give up on him.”

Will you at least see Kira about it?

“We’ll see.”  Calla started up the front walkway.

The Tri-tail took a couple steps after her and suddenly stopped.  She raised her head up straight and looked off further down the road, her ears standing up.  She flicked her three tails. 
Someone comes
, she said walking back into the road. 
Strange…they smell familiar.  I do not think we know that many people outside of town.  So who could this be?

Cal
la came back to the gate and followed Lina’s gaze.  A single figure walked down the middle of the road coming towards them.  She could see the person was tall even from this distance, and well-built.  Their clothing was in tones of green and blue.  They wore a long dark green cloak with the hood thrown back to reveal a head of long white hair.

White hair…

“It can’t be...” Calla whispered.  She knew of only one person with hair of such a shade.  She leaped over Lina back into the road and ran towards the figure, deaf to her companion animal’s startled cries.  She kicked up large clouds of dust as she raced to meet the newcomer.  When she was only a few yards away from them she could see their face—
his
face—more clearly.  For a moment she faltered, unable to believe her eyes.  She knew very well who he was.

With a loud cry she charged towards
Hiran.  At first he stopped and stared at her in confusion; he didn’t realize at first who was running at him.  He leaned forward slightly to try and see her better and then a wave of recognition passed over his face.  The bag he carried on one shoulder he dropped in the middle of the road as Calla jumped into his arms.  Her momentum carried her hard into his chest as she threw her arms about his shoulders and her legs around his waist.  She buried her face in his shoulder as she started crying in joy and held onto him as tightly as she could.  Hiran said nothing and just held her, sliding one hand up and down the space between her shoulder blades and holding his other arm securely around her lower back.

“Ssshhh…”  He lowered his head and kissed the side of her neck.

Gripping his shoulders hard Calla lifted herself up slightly as she unwrapped her legs from around his midsection and lowered herself back to the ground.  She pushed herself back to look him over.  Hiran was a little paler now than when she had last seen him, and she could see a couple of new scars showing from under his shirt that hadn’t been there before; he was also missing the tip of his left ear—he must have lost it in that final battle three years ago.  He seemed a little thinner as well.  His hair had grown out a bit and no longer hung in dingy gray dreadlocks but in smooth, shining strands that reached past his shoulders, some of it pulled back along the sides of his head in narrow braids.  She twirled one small section of it around the tip of her index finger.

Some things about him had changed, but everything else had stayed the same.

He smiled at her and ran his thumb along her jawbone.  “Gods,” he said quietly, “I had forgotten just how beautiful you were and still are.”

Ca
lla’s cheeks started burning at the compliment and she dropped her gaze to the ground.

He stared at her, confused.  “Why do you hang your head?  I meant it—you should not be ashamed by it.”

“No, it’s not that,” Calla replied quickly, trying to hide her embarrassment.  She let her hand drop from his shoulder.  “I missed you Hiran.”

He moved his hand to stroke the outer edge of her ear with his fingers.  “I made a promise three years ago, Cal
la, to return to see you regardless of how I chose to spend the rest of my life; even then I knew for certain that no matter what I decided, I didn’t want you out of it completely.  Did you think I would forget that?”