Lost in the Wilderness - The Forest of Evergreen Book 1 (10 page)

“I’m sorry, Mom! I’m just trying to explain.” Philippe defended himself as they laughed at him in full blast.

Not to confuse his group anymore, Philippe moved his left index finger. He illustrated the
Bible
by shaping a rectangle in the air. Rectangle could mean a lot to them so they guessed the following:

“A door?”

“A window?”

“A flag?”

“A refrigerator?”

Philippe was already getting frustrated. He widened his eyes and looked at his hands as if he was holding a book.

“A book?” Bea guessed.

“Yes, Auntie Bea! It must be a book,” Sophia synchronized. “But what book?”

“Okay, let us guess a title of a book!” Bea told her groupmates when their opponent was already doing a countdown.
 

“Eight, seven, six, five...”

“Oh, no!” Sophia and the rest screeched, quite dismayed.

“Okay, time’s up! You were not able to guess it,” Grandma Lucy told them. “It’s the Bible!” she then smiled.

“Oh, okay!” Philippe’s group reacted.

Nadine abruptly yawned and everyone noticed it. It was supported by the drooping of her eyelids.

“Honey, you’re already sleepy. Time for bed now,” Elizabeth said and allowed Nadine to lay her head on her shoulder.

Hence, all of them decided to stop the game although some were still at the peak of their enjoyment.

They ended the bonfire, laughing, saying that it was a night to remember.
 

The night carried on, and Sophia was still up at the terrace looking for some cell phone signal. Giovanni was probably incensed now, trying to reach her. The sky was shimmering and the tall trees were dancing when she suddenly heard a flock of birds nearby. On impulse, she looked at the source, hoping to see a disturbed flock of wild birds, but as she kept on staring, something seemed to hit her head. It was a gigantic pair of white wings! And, oh so beautiful!

What a heart-stopping moment!

Hands still shaking, she realized that her senses could have deceived her, and she tried to believe so. Then, she returned to the lake house and ran to bed, still troubled by those gigantic white feathers.

Chapter 5

The Resemblance

In the wild Forest of Evergreen, the Kravenas were still reined by Datu Ilak. His son, Abanir, was hailed as the tribe’s first sepe. He was trained for any form of fight, providing an accolade to his masculine emergence. His wings were so fine and white that could outshine the clouds at day. His eyes were so splendid for they changed colors, depending on his mood, and they were shielded by thick and long eyelashes—the features that discredited him as mere, ordinary Kravena, and dubbed him as the apple of every female’s eyes.

He was roaming around one night, away from his tribe, when he was distracted by a flame coming from a distance. His senses were very sharp so that he perceived it instantly. At first, hesitation controlled his thoughts. But as he noticed the flame slowly cease, out of extreme curiosity, he approached the place.
 

There, a bizarre house was revealed. Hiding from the shadows of tall trees, a horrifying bolt from the blue seemed to strike him in the head.
 

A creature! There was a creature he hadn’t seen before! Something without wings, that made him gawk, completely!
 

He lingered, scrutinizing, wondering what it was.
An enemy
,
he thought.

As the peculiar creature endured standing at the terrace of the lake house, Abanir’s enchanted eyes never blinked, wondering why it didn’t have those gargantuan wings to ascend into the air.

He persisted in observing it and flew back. Only then, when he was up in the air, did he realize that the peculiar creature could have seen him.

He came back to Kravena, horrified. His hakaro, Rabel, came to him and asked where he just went, complaining that he had searched the entire tribe to see him. But Rabel noticed Abanir’s odd look.

Abanir’s eyes had widened more and more, and changed into green, filled with fear and query, and that made Rabel fall into a pond of questions.

“What happened to you, Raha? You seem strange tonight! Why?” asked Rabel, eyes puzzlingly alarmed.

“I saw something!” Abanir fought for his breath. “It was strange!”

“Strange?” Rabel stepped closer to him.

“Yes, Rabel! Strange!” Abanir met his eyes. “A very strange creature!”
 

Looking through his raha’s eyes, Rabel’s mind battled. What was he pertaining to? Then he said, “Oh! Maybe, it’s just a wild animal meandering around.”
 

Rabel’s eyes shut close and his head swayed. “No. It was something that looks almost the same as us but... has no wings to fly.”

Rabel’s jaw dropped, eyes widening. He now knew that it was a human. He had an encounter with one before, while he was with Banaak in the Mountains of Yandal. But he must not tell it to his raha. Not now.

“Raha, it’s just an animal that we seldom see, for they live away from us,” Rabel then insisted.

Abanir looked him through the eyes, clutched him at the shoulders, and said, “No, it was almost like us. It can not fly but it was—”
 

“What, Raha? It was what?”

“It was beautiful. Wonderful. I can still picture its face in my mind!” Abanir then appeared exceptionally amazed.

Scared for his raha to fall into something dangerous, Rabel stressed, “Raha, I told you—”
 

“Told what, Rabel?” asked Kaya, the mother of Abanir, who had unexpectedly gone outside the palasyon, and saw her son and Rabel arguing.
 

Being proclaimed as the tribe’s reyna when Datu Ilak married her, the tribe members called her Reyna Kaya since then. Abanir was not the only son. When the royal couple was accepted by the tribe, they planned to have more offsprings. Along came Sanaya, then Karan. Sanaya was proclaimed the tribe’s only sesa and Karan, the second sepe.
 

The Kravenas lived abundantly but there was always that fear—that fear that the Sulabuns would attack them at any moment. Every male Kravena was trained to be a warrior. Learning to fly also meant learning to hold a bolo and hit a bull’s eye with an arrow. Weakness was never accepted. Failures never defined them. Everything must be earned with blood and sweat.

Abanir was trained to become the bravest, fastest, and strongest Kravena—the perfect warrior that Datu Ilak always wanted him to be, for he would be his successor.
 

Abanir, surprised by his mother’s presence, bowed down in respect. Then, he went inside the palasyon to join his siblings.
 

Wondering heavily, Reyna Kaya asked Rabel why her son was arguing with him.
 

Rabel conveyed that he would explain it, but only in the datu’s presence.

Abanir joined his siblings in playing sticks, by simultaneously dropping a bundle of them on the floor. Such a game would allow the players to separate the sticks one by one, without moving the others. But his mind was back at the lake house. The face of the bizarre creature persisted in reappearing in his vision. Back to that other world, Abanir had lost track of what they were playing now.

As for Reyna Kaya, she went to Datu Ilak after his meeting with the kansilos.
 

“Rabel has an important message!” Reyna Kaya told the datu.

“Call Rabel and bring him to me,” Datu Ilak ordered one of his bunjaos.
 

In a blast, Rabel came and explained to the regal couple what he learned about his raha’s bosom-encounter with a human.
 

“This shall not happen!” Datu Ilak screeched. “This should be a secret to my son! He must not know about the humans. They are enemies,” he shouted louder. “Rabel, I command you to take my son’s attention away from that human! Humans are a threat to our tribe!”

“Yes, Datu Ilak! I will,” responded Rabel, taken aback by the datu’s unusually enraged reaction.

“But, my Datu…?” Reyna Kaya intruded. “I think it’s time for our son to know about the humans. We don’t know when they will invade us again,” Reyna Kaya prevailed, with bowed head.

“In time, my Reyna!”

Rabel left them and went back to his raha, reminding himself to be quiet.

Abanir saw him and asked why his parents talked to him, behind closed doors.

“Oh, my beloved Raha, we’re just planning to improve our planting of sinapoy.” Rabel avoided Abanir’s eyes. “The mang-aanis were complaining that some of the wild birds had eaten their seedlings,” he proceeded, with more tense movements.

“I see,” said Abanir but he knew he was lying. He knew Rabel well—he was not a good liar.

Chapter 6

The Return of the Past

“Sophia, wake up!” Bea shook Sophia’s shoulders lightly. “It’s already eight! Everyone’s downstairs for breakfast!”
 

“I’m still sleepy. I couldn’t go to sleep last night,” Sophia spoke languid.

“Maybe, you just can’t stop thinking of Jericho,” Bea, in full swing, teased her, not having in mind that it was better to throw a joke on a drunkard person than on someone who had just woken up.

Sophia, in the twinkling of an eye, thought of what she saw last night.
 

“They were beautiful,” she mumbled, unconscious, as her eyes were directed on the ceiling.

Flippantly, Bea asked, “What do you mean beautiful? Are you pertaining to him? As in Jericho?”

“No, Auntie Bea! It’s not... him.”

“Maybe, you’re still sleepy, Sophia. Come on. Off the bed now.” Bea shook Sophia’s shoulders once again and pulled her so she could stand up.

In a little while, Sophia prepared herself and went downstairs, straight to the dining area to join her family. She saw everyone there, laughing as they enjoyed their breakfast.

“Come on now, dear! Join us and sit here beside me,” offered Grandma Lucy with delight. “Didn’t you sleep well last night?”

Sophia obeyed her grandmother and replied, “Yes, Grandma. It was actually terrible to see—”

“A ghost?” Alex guessed jokingly.

“Ugh! Please, don’t tell me if it’s true, Sophie!” Nadine was obviously frightened, and Alex just loved watching her in fright.

“Sweetie, don’t believe in ghosts! Your brother’s joking, okay?” Elizabeth pointed out to take Nadine’s horror away.
 

“Honey, what did you see?” Grandma Lucy cut the joke and inquired Sophia.

“Oh, never mind, Gran.” Sophia diverted the topic and served herself a slice of freshly-cooked omelet.

“Maybe, it was just your imagination.” Philippe joined their talking. “Here! Take a glass of this juice!” He handed Sophia a glass of fresh calamansi juice.

To change the subject matter, Sophia praised Nadine for suggesting the game that they played last night.

“What’s the name of that game again?” Elizabeth asked as she passed Sophia a bottle of distilled water.

“
I’ll Act, You’ll Guess Game
, Mom, like a charade,” responded Nadine with glee, her head dancing from side to side as she crunched her choco flakes.

“Okay, I’ll remember that from now on.”

“Yes, Mom. You should because we will frequently play that game from now on.” Nadine glared at Sophia piercingly, trying to make a hint that she was not yet done with their defeat.

Sophia beamed and refreshed herself with a gulp of calamansi juice.

As soon as their breakfast ended, Elizabeth reminded them to get ready right away, for they would be leaving in an hour.
 

“What’s with the rush?” Alex asked in wonder, disappointed that his plan of fishing wasn’t about to happen.

“It’s just that… it might rain. The road to the town is, you know, steep and dangerous,” Philippe explained on Elizabeth’s behalf.

“All right!”
 

Almost immediately, they began packing. Bea and Grandma Lucy were already prepared to leave, so they did the dishes.
 

Before long, the Vabuerettis were all now putting their baggages into the trunk but Sophia was, somehow, bothered. She wanted to look at the place once more where she saw those beautiful white wings, hoping that she might see them again to clarify her vague thoughts.