Loretta of the Lamp - The Fallout

Mahuika (the Fire Bringer)

A gasp echoed through the valley.

It was followed by a sob, a soft whimpering cry that flooded the air.

Loretta was awake. She pushed herself up and walked toward the cry without thinking twice or looking back.

"Hey, it's okay, everything is going to be okay," she said as she made her way to the girl with the long black hair and wide eyes. She was awake and sitting on the edge of her bier, the chains that had held her lay splintered and shattered around her. "Where is my sister?" she asked, as her eyes took in the carnage Loretta had created around her.

Loretta sat down beside her. "I'm sorry. She's gone." It was a brutal awakening, but true. The girl cried for a while, and when the sobs subsided, she rubbed the tears away with clenched fists. Loretta watched her, unsure of what would happen next.

When the girl pulled her fists away, she was still crying, but she said, "She said you would look after me."

"She did, did she?" Loretta replied, blinking back a shock of hot tears. "What's your name?"

"Hien," she said, reaching out and touching Loretta's hand with her finger tips. There was no time to question how or why, because others were stirring.

Across the valley, an elderly man sat up, his chains melting away like water. He coughed loudly and struck his chest with his fist to clear it, and then he bent forward to his knees and began to cry.

"We are waking." Hien said.

Loretta nodded, "We should go and help him."

Hien nodded and stood as nimbly as any child her age should, despite the fact that she had lain in the one spot for over ten years. "I want to run," she said suddenly.

Loretta found a smile, "Soon," she promised.

They walked back down the valley, Hien's hand clasped tight around Loretta's, making their way to the place where the old man sat. As they walked, Loretta saw that another was stirring too. It was a bittersweet feeling.

"I hope he will wake," Hien said suddenly, as they reached the floor of the valley, she pointed to the far side of Misbah's resting place.

Akil's body lay on his slab, curled on his side as though only half of the space had been left for him to sleep on.

Loretta's heart jumped into her throat, and her knees collapsed under her. Hien didn't let go of her hand as she fell to the ground, she even tried to help Loretta stay on her feet but she wasn't strong enough. Loretta was hysterical, but she didn't care. She couldn't take her eyes off Akil's sleeping body for fear that he would disappear again.

"Princess, why are you crying?" Loretta felt a hand on her shoulder, both she and Hien looked up to see the old man they had been going to help, "We've all cried enough," he added in a soft, wizened voice.

Loretta nodded dumbly as the old man offered her his hand to help her up off the ground.

"I'm not a princess," she said, trying to stand for herself, though both Hien and the old man supported her.

Shakily, she made her way to Akil's side and crawled down onto the tomb to lay facing him, despite all that was happening around her. "Akil," she whispered to him.

He didn't stir. His lips were parted softly in deep sleep, his eyelids fluttered with rapid dreams, but he didn't wake.

Loretta kissed him, a soft, butterfly kiss, but he didn't stir. It didn't matter, she would wait forever for him to wake. She curled up into the curve of his body and shut her eyes.

She searched for sleep, but all around her she could hear the sounds of breathing, of waking. "If you never wake, I'll lie here with you forever," she whispered, resting her head into his chest, searching for solace.

His chest rose and fell with the rhythm of sleep, but then he stirred, putting his free arm around her. "That would be stupid," he whispered slowly in reply.

Loretta wrapped her arms around him, "I don't know what to say to you," she said after a long moment.

"I'm glad you were able to bring me back," he told her softly.

"Me?"

"Yes. We are two parts of the same whole, remember? It was only by you being here and awake that I was able to return."

"You were gone. I couldn't feel you any more."

"I know," he kissed her hair, "I felt the same when you left." He released her carefully and stretched out where he lay.

Loretta remembered everyone else in the valley and sat up, but the valley was empty except for Misbah and a few other tombs on which sacrifices still slept. Those who remained asleep looked like they would never wake — barely skin and bone with sallow, sunken features and wiry white hair. They reminded her of the Jin.

Akil sat up beside her and put his arms around her.

"Will the rest wake?" she asked him.

Akil shrugged, "They may eventually. It will take time, some of them may not realise they can wake, and some look like they are beyond waking."

"So they will still become Jin, and we will still have to find sacrifices to replace them?"

"I don't think we need to worry about that right now Loretta," he smiled ruefully, "the world is never going to be perfect. Happy endings never last forever, so let's enjoy it for a little while at least," his smile morphed into a cheeky grin as he stood and pulled her up onto her feet. "Besides, those who are awake have you to thank for waking them."

"I didn't–" Loretta began, but stopped herself short. Because he was right, she had. "I thought — I knew — it would kill me, to fight against the blood magic, but perhaps in hindsight that is the only reason I managed to stay awake, to stay alive," she told him.

Akil pressed a finger to her lips, "Don't worry over it." Then he shook his head in wonder and asked, "But what made you do it?"

"Hien, Hess' sister," she said.

"You only knew Hess for a heart beat," Akil pointed out.

Loretta nodded, "And I owe her for a lifetime," she inhaled a deep breath. Looking down at Misbah's sleeping form with a little sigh. "We should leave this place," she said.

Akil nodded, and kissed her on the forehead before grasping her hand and taking the first step.

At the mouth of the mountain they were met by Hien and the old man who had helped Loretta up. Beside them was another ancient woman, who stood proudly and smiled as she watched Loretta and Akil approach them.

Loretta could feel the eyes of the elderly man on her as they made their way together up the mountain, in silence. "I am Tama," he said finally, falling into pace beside her. "I know his name," he nodded to Akil, "because when I was a child he had already long been a legend among our people," he paused and Loretta watched his face, waiting for him to continue, "I have just met young Hien now, and I have long slept beside Arani. But you — I don't know you," he said, a questioning frown flickering across his wiry eyebrows.

"My name is Loretta."

He nodded and closed his eyes, turning his face up to the sky as though the warmth of the sun were beating down on him through the clouds of the smoke, though Loretta knew it wasn't, and there was no sun. They were upside down in the space between worlds. But he opened his eyes and smiled, "You will be a queen. They will give you a new name, the name your father would have given you. They will call you Mahuika."

Loretta's heart gasped a little at Tama's dedication, and his mention of her father and the whisper of that magic, but she shook her head. "I quite like the name Loretta," she told him, "I think I will stick with it."

He shrugged and took Arani's pale hand as they led the way up the face of the mountain. Loretta followed, looping arms with Hien, while Akil squeezing her other hand tight.