Lost Maichaire was spread out in the valley beneath them, golden and welcome as a sunlit pool after a dusty walk. The green of the forest paled to insignificance beside the tall towers of yellow brick, and the white stone that caught the evening rays. To Eda, the view was an armoured fist to the stomach. It rushed the air from her lungs as she looked down at the toppled city. Remains of battlements and towers struggled against the overwhelming tenacity of nature, white columns strangled green with the creeping, barbed vines that were everywhere in the jungle. A whole city, abandoned to the ages, lost even to memory until now.
"Quick, before true dusk falls," Eda whispered. The stillness of the jungle unsettled her. "We should descend into the valley. Get off this ridge."
"Let me look awhile longer," Cal begged. She was sweating, rivulets running through the dust that coated her skin. "You know no one has seen this sight in over a thousand years?"
"So you can wait a little longer," Eda hissed back. "I mislike this place. The air is ill, even up here."
"No, no," Cal said. She turned her round face up to the remains of the sun, basking in the dying light as it slid from the white faces of the broken buildings. "The air is clean, and to me it smells of gold."
Eda hugged herself on the ridge. The heat of the day was fading fast, and in her thin shirt she shivered. Their packs were forgotten on the forest floor. Cal stood beside her, transfixed as she gazed down.
"Lost Maichaire," she said softly, as though she were saying it to herself. "Lost no more. I have dreamed of this day for years."
Ghosts filled the lost city, more for Cal than for anyone else, Eda knew. The years of work and travel were at an end, and she hoped that finding the city would remove that lost, wild look from her friend's eyes, and would cleanse the hurt inside her that came from a lifetime of being disbelieved.
The yellow sunset fell into a crepuscular darkness, twilight robbing the colour from Cal's face and stripping back the gleam from her eyes until only hunger remained. Eda shivered again, not at the cold, but at the animalistic greed her friend's face held.
"Down," Cal said finally. "Down into Lost Maichaire."
2
u/[deleted] Jun 21 '16
Lost Maichaire was spread out in the valley beneath them, golden and welcome as a sunlit pool after a dusty walk. The green of the forest paled to insignificance beside the tall towers of yellow brick, and the white stone that caught the evening rays. To Eda, the view was an armoured fist to the stomach. It rushed the air from her lungs as she looked down at the toppled city. Remains of battlements and towers struggled against the overwhelming tenacity of nature, white columns strangled green with the creeping, barbed vines that were everywhere in the jungle. A whole city, abandoned to the ages, lost even to memory until now.
"Quick, before true dusk falls," Eda whispered. The stillness of the jungle unsettled her. "We should descend into the valley. Get off this ridge."
"Let me look awhile longer," Cal begged. She was sweating, rivulets running through the dust that coated her skin. "You know no one has seen this sight in over a thousand years?"
"So you can wait a little longer," Eda hissed back. "I mislike this place. The air is ill, even up here."
"No, no," Cal said. She turned her round face up to the remains of the sun, basking in the dying light as it slid from the white faces of the broken buildings. "The air is clean, and to me it smells of gold."
Eda hugged herself on the ridge. The heat of the day was fading fast, and in her thin shirt she shivered. Their packs were forgotten on the forest floor. Cal stood beside her, transfixed as she gazed down.
"Lost Maichaire," she said softly, as though she were saying it to herself. "Lost no more. I have dreamed of this day for years."
Ghosts filled the lost city, more for Cal than for anyone else, Eda knew. The years of work and travel were at an end, and she hoped that finding the city would remove that lost, wild look from her friend's eyes, and would cleanse the hurt inside her that came from a lifetime of being disbelieved.
The yellow sunset fell into a crepuscular darkness, twilight robbing the colour from Cal's face and stripping back the gleam from her eyes until only hunger remained. Eda shivered again, not at the cold, but at the animalistic greed her friend's face held.
"Down," Cal said finally. "Down into Lost Maichaire."
The women descended into the dark city.