Search for the Extinct [Last of Elves book 2]

Thirty-Three: Aura

Aura

The Forbidden Mountains scared me. They scared Kura, too. And I think Vakt and Hunaja were scared. They stayed close to the horses. I think Ali was the only one who wasn’t scared, but I don’t even know if he knows where he is.

Kura’s worried for him. He’s not the same anymore. It’s like he’s not with us. I don’t know where he is, and I don’t think Kura knows, either.

I’m scared that he won’t come back.

For a moment, the quill stopped its work, shaking too much to go on. The sun had set, making the fire the only light to write by.

Crossing the mountains was scary. I couldn’t hear anything, and I think that made Kura even more wary. She had to look after all of us, because Ali couldn’t. He was too busy listening to something that we couldn’t hear.

I asked Kura what it was. I thought she wouldn’t tell me, because she looked at me for so long, but she did.

She said that something, or someone, was calling to him, and he was following the call. And that the call was why we were crossing the Forbidden Mountains, even though they are forbidden. I’ve heard stories of those who have tried to cross them.

They either came back mad, or didn’t come back at all.

Yet we’re fine. We camped in the middle of them, and we’re camping in the forest on the other side of them now. I don’t feel dead, or mad. Kura doesn’t look dead or mad either.

Ali doesn’t look dead, but … I’m not sure how he is. He doesn’t talk. He hasn’t told us any stories for a long time. I thought he liked telling stories. I miss them.

The stories were always about the elves, and how they lived, or how they thought Elseer was begun. Their stories are so different to the ones that my mother told me.

I think I like them better. Maybe it’s because I’m sort of an elf too.

A voice called a name, and the quill paused for a time.

He’s different now. Kura asked him if the call was less, but he didn’t answer. He just stared into the fire. We had rabbit for dinner, rabbit that Kura had hunted, and Ali had cooked. I hope that he teaches me how to cook at some stage.

I’d like that.

I hope that he is okay. I like him. I like Kura too.

But I still don’t really understand what they are, and what we’re doing on this side of the mountains. No one will tell me.

I don’t think Kura really knows, either. So that means we’re both following Ali, and he won’t talk to us.

I don’t know if I should be scared. I’m not, really, but I don’t know if I should be.

But Kura told me a name when she told me about the call. She said it was something called Åska. I don’t know who or what that is, though.

I guess we’re all going to find out.