I was never a fan of camping, even though my Father had me go with him every year. Being stuck outside for two weeks was not enjoyable, and being stuck outside for two weeks with cousins was torture. Especially when they were Uncle Gregory’s kids.
Lance was 14, the oldest, and loved being the one “in charge”. He pictured himself as a mob boss, and his three little siblings were his minions. Janice was the second oldest, a twelve-year old who seemed to worship Lance and loved doing “his will”. Next was Jaylee, who was nine, liked to do things her way, and disliked that Lance bossed her around, but knew she couldn’t do anything about it. Last of all, there was Lucas. Lucas was at the bottom of the chain of command, and hated it. Although he was only seven, he was nearly constantly fighting Lance and questioning his authority. However, at the end of every fight, Lance won without fail, resulting in Lucas being at Lance’s beck and call.
Of course, the very oldest, and the only one of Uncle Gregory’s kids that I liked, wasn’t there. In fact, Uncle Gregory often pretended that his oldest daughter didn’t exist. I don’t know all the details, only that Uncle Gregory made some mistakes in college, but I knew that Elizabeth was my very favorite cousin, and the one closest to my age.
Today, day four of camping, something… unexpected happened.
Almost every year, we (my Dad and I) go to a different place to set up a campground and spend a couple weeks at, and in the summer of 2016, we picked a large island that was in the middle of a large lake. Naturally, as we rowed toward it, my Father made a joke about it being very Calvin and Hobbes and proceeded to say that camping builds character.
In any case, this morning, Dad and Uncle Greg got a fire started and sent us kids out to start fishing. I didn’t want to go fishing and instead, walked a few yards away into the forest, where I found a pond. Happy to be away from the others, I pulled off my socks and shoes, pulled up my pantlegs, and stuck my feet in the surprisingly clean water. I was there for less than ten minutes when Janice entered the clearing.
“There you are!” She cried. “You’re supposed to be helping us fish.”
“Yeah, and aren’t you supposed to be fishing?” I asked, still staring at the water.
“Lance told me to fetch you.” Janice said, crossing her arms. “Oh…” she said under her breath, and grabbed a walkie talkie that was clipped to her belt. “Lance, I found her.” Janice said into the device.
“Okay, where?” Lance replied.
“There’s a pond about three yards Northwest of the campfire.” Janice replied, and clipped her walkie talkie back on.
“You’re in trouble now,” she said, crossing her arms again.
“Oh, I’m so scared.” I replied sarcastically.
“He may be three years younger than you, but he’s bigger and stronger than you.” Janice retorted.
“Bigger, yes, but stronger can be disputed.” I replied.
Janice didn’t say anything, and in about a minute, Lance was also in the clearing. “Well, look who’s dumping the work on everyone else.” Lance said, and I could feel him staring at me, but I didn’t even fidget.
“Fishing isn’t work,” I said flatly.
“It’s work enough!” Lance replied. “Point is, you left when we had to catch fish.”
“Whatevs,” I said dismissively. As expected, Lance picked me up, set me down standing up, and turned me to face him.
After pausing a moment, he said, ”fine, if you wanna stay in this pond, go ahead!” He shoved me, sending me shooting into the cold water.
“Lance Jason Lockhart, you jerk!” I screamed at him, but he left, followed closely by Janice.
I never was a very adept swimmer, but something in the pond weighed me down, making it even harder to stay afloat. I tread water as best I knew how, but the more I tried to stay floating, the more I sunk. I kept staring at the sky, almost like I thought that that would bring me out of the pond, but instead, it just seemed to quicken my sinking. Too soon, I was seeing the sky through the surface of the water, and I’d forgotten to hold my breath.
Miraculously, I was still alive when I regained consciousness. I was laying on a glass platform that I could barely see, and although I could tell I was still underwater, I could breathe.
I slowly stood up, and realized that there was a glass staircase as well. I went up the stairs almost bouncing, since I felt lighter from being underwater.
It didn’t take long for my head to make it above the surface. When I came out of the water, I half expected to be magically dried, but (quite naturally) I remained wet.
The first thing I noticed when my face came out of the water was that I was definitely not still on that island. The water I was coming out of was a very large lake, with a beautiful river running into it, and several streams running out. I was coming out in the middle of the extraordinarily pure lake, and when my feet reached the top of the lake, I expected to fall through, but I didn’t.
“You should stop expecting things, Kira.” I whispered to myself, and decided it best not to move forward.
I didn’t have to stand on the surface of the lake very long before I saw two or three horses with riders coming toward the lake, and so I started waving my arms to attract their attention, but after a couple of seconds, I thought better of it, and immediately sat down, hoping that they didn’t see me, and that they were taking a route that didn’t pass near me.
However, the three saw me and were taking a route nearly exactly where I was.
When they reached the lake, the three men, most likely warriors, since they carried many swords, stopped at the edge of the lake and stared at me for a moment. The three men looked Asian.
“Hi,” I said nervously.
One man started speaking a language I didn’t recognize, pausing every now and then, as if waiting for a reply. Every time he paused, only to get no verbal response, he seemed to get more upset, and eventually, he made a hand gesture that I understood. He was asking me to walk towards him. I stood up, but shook my head, afraid.
“I’m frightened,” I told the man. He just gestured more widely. I sighed, and started walking towards him. I took the first step very slowly and carefully, but upon moving my first foot forward and finding it land on a hard surface reassured me. As I moved closer, I moved more confidently, and thus, quicker. When I reached the end of the lake, I shouted for joy, and jumped into the air.
When I shouted, all three of the men flinched, and one grabbed the handle of his sword. “Sorry,” I murmured.
The man that had made the hand gestures dismounted his horse, picked me up as though it were one of the easiest things he’d ever done, and set me on a horse behind the youngest of the three men, who was possibly twenty.
I wrapped my arms around the man and had my right hand grab my left wrist, locking myself. Suddenly, I was blindfolded, and the horse promptly took off again.
I was on the horse for possibly 10 minutes before it slowed down, and eventually stopped. The man slipped off the horse, and I sat on the horse alone. A few seconds later, I was carried like a sack of potatoes, and gently set down somewhere, most likely inside, since the light didn’t shine as brightly through the blindfold.
Suddenly, the blindfold was pulled off my face, and although it wasn’t very bright, I still had to squint until my pupils adjusted. I was in a small room, with two doors, a man, and a girl. The man was the strong older man I saw at the lake, and the girl, who was standing on the man’s right, looked no older than thirteen.
“Your daughter?” I asked the man, head gesturing at the girl.
The little girl said something quietly to the man, the man shook his at me, and said one word. The little girl looked at me and said, “no.”
I straightened up. “You speak English?” I asked the girl.
The girl whispered something to the man, then nervously said, “talk to him, I’m only interpreting.”
“Oh,” I said, then looked at the man. “I’m Kira Lockhart.”
The girl translated, then the man gently said something in return. “Hello, Lockhart. My name is DeLane Jon. How did you float on the water?” The girl said, translating for me.
I didn’t argue the name, not thinking it was a big deal. “Wow, so direct,” I whispered to myself, which the girl translated before I could stop her. “I don’t know, it just happened.” I told the man.
“I am sorry, I should have been more welcoming. I am the leader of this small tribe of Kelats, and since we found you in our lake, you are more than welcome to stay here for as long as you need. You do not seem to have much.” The man replied, through the girl.
“Thank you, but I really must be getting back.” I said.
“Back?” The man asked. “To the lake?”
“Yes. Please?” I replied.
“No,” the man answered. “It is safer for you to stay here. Good day,” he said, and promptly left, leaving the girl.
When DeLane left, he closed the door immediately behind him, making it impossible for me to leave, although I had tried to follow him as closely as possible. After he had left, I sat at the door, and stared out the window.
“I’m sorry I did the names wrong,” the girl said nervously. “This is my first time interpreting English.”
“You did a marvelous job.” I told her. “Where did you learn English?”
“I didn’t learn it,” the girl replied. “I was born with the talent to understand any and all languages.”
“That’d be nice,” I said under my breath. “So what’s your name?”
“Lyanna,” was the reply.
“Well, what’s your last name?” I asked, then paused. “Or… your first, I guess.”
“Lyanna is my first name. I don’t have a last. I was adopted by this… very small tribe.”
“It isn’t really a small tribe, is it?”
“I must go,” the girl said, leaving through the second door, the one I wasn’t leaning on.
“But–” I said, reaching out, but it was too late, the girl had already left.
