The Girl Born of Smoke (10 page)

Picking through the assorted pieces of
armor, Aurora finally slipped on a simple breastplate which fit
loosely and hung down too low. It had several small dents and
scratches, but was in remarkably good condition compared with most
of the other pieces of armor. The green and gold colors were
slightly faded and the armor shone dully in the fading
sunlight.

She glanced over at Djerr as he slipped on
some simple metal armguards and a similar breastplate. Waiting
while everyone else in the group sorted through the miscellaneous
pieces of armor, she watched as Jonah and several others gathered
up a pile of swords in sheathes of varying lengths, all attached to
very worn-looking belts.

“Alright,” Jonah said, as he tossed the last
sword onto the pile with a loud clang, “go ahead and grab a sword.
Doesn't matter which one, they're all very high quality.” Aurora
looked at the swords skeptically, but finally shrugged and grabbed
one of the smaller ones. Finally, Jonah handed out backpacks to
each one of the newcomers from Kain. It was unexpectedly heavy and
Aurora lurched forward as it was handed to her.

Setting it on the ground, she looked inside
and found it full of a canteen of water, several packets of what
she assumed to be food, and a thick blanket. “Alright!” Jonah
exclaimed as he handed out the last backpack. “You're all set. Go
and have a nice dinner and bundle up for the night. We'll be
leaving early tomorrow and you've had a long day. Welcome to the
Citizens’ Army!” There was weak applause from several of the new
members as Jonah flashed them another bright smile and left the
group. Aurora and Djerr stood silently, watching him leave.

“Well,” Aurora said, “that was dull.” Djerr
nodded and sat down on the ground, yanking his armor back off and
pulling his blanket around his thin body. Plopping down next to
him, her breastplate dug into her skin uncomfortably, so she tugged
it off. “Are you hungry?” she asked.

“Not really.” Djerr shrugged. “Just
tired.”

She looked at him for a moment. “Okay.” She
pulled out one of the packets of food, ripping open the package and
looking at it distastefully as a sickly sweet smell wafted up.
Wondering what it was, she took a small bite and chewed
thoughtfully, deciding it must be some sort of dried fruit. Djerr
lay down on the bare ground next to her, curling up and closing his
eyes.

“Aurora?” She heard Kirian's voice and
glanced up. He was outfitted in several pieces of scuffed armor
with his sword already buckled around his waist.

Feeling slightly intimidated, Aurora
motioned to Djerr with a tip of her head. “Yeah?” she said
softly.

Kirian squatted down, his sword clanking
noisily against his metal greaves and Aurora winced. “I wanted to
make sure you were alright,” he explained, lowering his voice.

She shrugged. “Yeah, I'm fine. Why?”

“I just hadn't really talked to you since we
left Kain. I know this is hard on you, but it's the right thing to
do, trust me.” Djerr rustled next to them, turning onto his other
side. Kirian paused as Aurora gave him a slight nod. “Look,” he
continued, “I'm going to be helping out Jonah quite a bit, so I
might not always be around that much, but you know you can always
come to me if you need anything, right?”

Nodding slightly again, she took another
bite of the dried food before realizing that she had lost her
appetite. “Don't worry about me,” she said, swallowing. “Djerr and
I will be fine.”'

“Great.” Kirian stood and brushed the dusty
dirt from his knees. “You're a good kid, Aurora,” he said, walking
away. She sat for a moment longer, then stuffed the food back into
her backpack and pulled out her blanket. Pulling it tightly around
her, she lay down next to Djerr with a sigh, using her arm as a
pillow and staring at Djerr's back. He turned back over, facing her
and opening an eye. They looked at each other in silence for a
moment, then Djerr smiled sadly.

“Are you really alright, Aura?” She said
nothing in return. He reached out a hand and laid it softly on
hers. “Don't worry,” he said quietly, “we're still together,
right?” He paused. “I'll never leave you, Aura.”

She closed her eyes and shut out the noise
around her. The world disappeared and all she felt was Djerr's hand
on hers.

Chapter 5

The group from Kain stuck loosely together
as they left their home, so Aurora saw much of Djerr and a few
others she recognized, although less so of Kirian, who tended to
walk on his own or near Jonah. On their second week out of Kain, as
Aurora, Djerr, and several others helped collect firewood for their
campsite, she heard a name she recognized. Her head snapped in the
direction of the voice.

“-Roxanne too, I think.” Now watching and
listening intently, Aurora recognized the speaker as a woman that
had also joined the army in Kain.

“Really? Did you actually see her leave with
them?” a young man answered. “I wouldn't have guessed her.”

The woman screwed up her face. “Well, I
think it was her. I didn't get a clear look, what with the
commotion and all.”

“Do you think these berries are edible?”
Djerr asked Aurora, holding a handful of small orange berries he
had picked as they walked. “Do you want to try one?”

Aurora waved a hand, trying to silence
him.

“Fine, don't try one,” Djerr grumbled,
popping a berry into his mouth. “Now see what you're missing out
on. This is delicious.” He made a face. “Well, I think it’s edible
anyway.”

“Just a second!” Aurora hissed. She noticed
the two people from Kain were looking her way. “Oh, hello!” she
called, forcing a smile. “What're you two up to?”

The young man nodded politely to her.
“Nothing in particular.” He exchanged a glance with the woman and
headed back toward camp, followed by the woman, who smiled vaguely
at Aurora and Djerr and she passed.

“What was that all about?” Djerr mumbled,
watching them leave.

She shrugged. “Nothing, I guess. Don't you
think we had better start collecting some firewood and stuff?”

“I suppose,” he replied, tossing the rest of
the berries over his shoulder, into the bushes. She bent down,
grabbing a couple large sticks lying alongside the path. “Did you
know almost no one in this entire section of the army has been with
Jonah for more than a few months?” he asked Aurora.

“How'd you find that out?” She gave him a
strange look.

“I talk to people,” he said, shrugging.
“Anyway, everyone I've talked to says that most of the people who
were in the army when they joined were either killed or just
left.”

Aurora was silent for a moment as she looked
around for more firewood. “That's...a lot of people, isn't it?” she
asked slowly.

“Yeah. I imagine it's a whole lot of
people.”

“Do you think we're going to die?” She
looked at him sharply.

He shook his head. “No. I get the idea that
not many people die in the Citizens’ Army. It sounds like they just
get up and leave one day.”

“Why?” she asked, sounding bewildered.

“I'm not sure,” he admitted. “Maybe they
just get tired. I don't know. It's just weird, that's all.”

She nodded. “It is weird.” They didn't talk
for a few moments as they filled their arms with sticks, rough
against their bare arms. “Do you want to leave?” Aurora asked
suddenly, pausing in her steps.

Djerr glanced over at her and stopped as
well. “Do you?”

“I asked you first,” she replied
crossly.

He laughed slightly. “Well I'm not going to
leave you here, with them. So no, I don't want to leave. Unless you
do.”

“Then I guess we're staying.” She rolled her
eyes.

“Guess so.”

They continued walking back to camp as the
sun sank in the sky. The night was uneventful. So was the next day,
and then the next. Besides the occasional traveler, they ran into
no one else and saw no towns. The only company the soldiers had
were each other.

Aurora's eyes trailed the ground as she
stepped around large rocks and over roots. They had been walking,
just walking, for so long. The days were all the same. They walked
for much of the day, stopping often to rest, until it grew dark and
they camped for the night. Their march was much more leisurely than
Aurora expected and no one had any trouble keeping up. They walked
through an alternating cycle of meadows and forests. On this
particular day, it was yet another forest.

The pine needle covering abruptly ended
beneath her and she glanced up. The terribly tall green-needled
trees were gone, leaving a bleak scene in their place. A forest of
spindly white-barked trees spanned out in front of the group, their
withered branches whiter even than the cloudy sky above them.

Here and there, there were also dark black
trees, their wood almost shiny in the hazy daylight. Aurora reached
out and touched one of the dark trees, then drew her hand back,
rubbing her fingers together. It had left a dusty black residue,
which brushed off easily.

A soft breeze drifted through the empty
forest. “What is this place?” someone asked.

“Just a part of the forest a fire swept
through,” Jonah answered. “Nothing to worry about.”

Djerr fell into step next to Aurora. “This
place is weird,” he said quietly.

“Yeah, kind of creepy.” The group fell
silent. The only sound was of the flies circling the group and
clicking bugs jumping from tree to tree. It began drizzling
slightly as they walked, but there were only a few grumbled
complaints.

“This isn't a recent fire, is it?” one man
spoke up suddenly.

Jonah shrugged. “Not that recent. Why?”

The man sniffed the air, wide nostrils
flaring. “I think I smell smoke.”

Jonah flipped a hand at him, dismissively.
“Probably just some travelers' campfire. We're not the only ones
out here.” As they continued to walk, Aurora soon began to smell
the smoke as well. The smell grew stronger until everyone began
mumbling to each other about it. They all agreed it was much too
strong to be a campfire.

The rain came down incessantly, until it
lightened into a soft mist around them. Trudging across the muddy
ground, she saw something white flutter down in front of her, then
another. Narrowing her eyes, she reached out a hand when she saw
another and caught it in her fist. She opened her hand and looked
at what she had caught. With a cold shock, she recognized it as a
piece of ash as it blew from her hand. Looking around in the haze,
she realized as well that it wasn't mist that thickened the air,
but smoke.

The group began to walk faster and Aurora
hurried forward to catch up with Kirian. Looking at him anxiously,
she noticed that he was staring ahead, into the smoke. She turned
her gaze to where he looked and saw something lying on the cold,
wet ground. It looked tattered and gray against the mud and she
darted forward to see what it was. She heard Kirian yell her name,
but ignored him.

Reaching the object, she knelt down and
realized it was a person, face-down. Her heart beating in her ears,
she touched the person's shoulder just as Kirian grabbed her arm
and tore her away. She could still feel the unnatural cold on her
fingertips where she had touched the body.

“What do you think you're doing?” Kirian
hissed in her ear as he dragged her back into the group. “Stay in
the back, out of the way.” He let go of her and hurried back toward
Jonah's side. The group passed by the dead body in the mud, no one
looking in its direction except Aurora.

People shifted nervously as the ash began
falling thicker, their swords clinking against their armor. There
was a sharp intake of breath as they entered the town tucked away
inside the forest. The forest around the town was untouched by fire
and Aurora realized that Jonah had been telling the truth; the
forest fire was much older.

Several more corpses littered the ground and
the town was deathly silent, except for a strange wailing noise.
Her stomach lurching, Aurora realized it was a woman. She saw the
woman crouched over a small figure that couldn't be more than five
years old. Many of the houses were still smoldering and several of
the survivors wandered through the street, looking confused. When
they saw Jonah and the others, swords at their sides, the
townspeople all either fled or stared at them in horror, except for
the wailing woman, who didn't even glance up at them.

Jonah held up his hands, empty and bare.
“We're here to help!” he announced loudly. “We're with the
Citizens’ Army. Am I right in assuming the Wizard's Army has been
through here recently?” One man nodded slowly, still staring
wide-eyed at the group. “Please,” Jonah continued, “I understand
you are all upset, but you cannot stay here. Come with us and fight
back against the ones who did this to you. You can stay with us for
as long as you like and we can provide free food and shelter.”

The man who had nodded simply looked stonily
at Jonah for a moment. “Everyone,” he said finally, “everyone I
have ever known and loved just died here today. My entire family is
gone and you're asking me to pick up a sword and help kill the ones
who did this to them.”

Bobbing his head encouragingly, Jonah held
out his hand. “Exactly. You don't have to stand by and let this
happen. Come with us.”

“But it's already happened,” the man said,
his voice emotionless. “The worst has already happened. Will
killing more people bring my family back?” Jonah opened his mouth,
but the man continued, “No. I have seen enough killing. I don't
care who you're killing. It's all the same.” He trudged away.

“But you could help prevent this tragedy
from happening to another family!” Jonah called after him. “Don't
you want to help turn all this into something positive?”

The man turned back toward them. “No,” he
sounded angry. “I don't. I couldn’t care less about some other
family right now.” Without another word, he walked around the
corner of a building, out of sight.