The Girl Born of Smoke (13 page)

He continued walking around the backside of
the small town, but saw no one. As large, cold raindrops began to
splash onto the dusty ground, Djerr caught sight of someone
standing along the very edge of the town, nearly in the forest
itself. As he grew closer, he saw it was Aurora. She stood in front
of a slightly raised piece of ground covered in weeds and grass.
Looking closer, he spotted part of a worn brick-structure and
several blackened, warped pieces of metal. It appeared to be the
ruins of a building.

“Aura?” he said cautiously, standing behind
her.

Aurora didn’t turn and stood silently, arms
hanging lifelessly at her sides.

“Aura, I get the feeling that there just
might possibly be something wrong.”

She took a deep breath and spoke without
looking at him. “Can I tell you a story, Djerr?”

He cocked his head. “Well yeah, sure.”

Staring at the ruins, she began to speak.
“Two girls once lived in a house here. Born on the same day, the
girls looked identical in every way. However, it soon became
apparent that there was something very wrong with one of the baby
girls. Just weeks after she was born, her parents noticed
strange...occurrences around her.

“They would find her lying outside her crib
after they had put her to bed, toys would end up across the room,
in her hands, that sort of thing. At first, they thought it was
just the other parent playing a joke on them, or that they had a
particularly intelligent baby. It wasn't until one day, when they
witnessed their baby girl in action, that they learned the
truth.

“They had a guest over, one of their
neighbors, to see the new babies. The girls were lying on the wood
floor, waving their hands and gurgling like normal little babies.
Suddenly, one of the girls, the odd one, caught sight of a brightly
decorated rattle lying just out of reach. She reached her tiny hand
toward it, whimpering, but the adults just smiled and laughed. Then
the baby went very still and quiet. Her hand stuck out rigidly in
the air as she seemed to stop breathing and even blinking.

“The mother rose, alarmed, but froze as the
rattle began to slowly roll toward the baby's outstretched hand.
Closing her little fingers around it, the little girl returned to
life, shaking the rattle and giggling. Her sister, lying next to
her, continued gurgling and seemed unalarmed as their parents and
the neighbor stared at the babies without saying a word. Then the
mother swooped in and knocked the rattle out of the baby's grasp.
The baby stared up at her mother as she was violently scooped up
and spanked.

“'Bad baby! Bad girl!' the mother yelled at
her child. The baby began to wail and her sister echoed her cries.
As the mother spanked her baby, the other girl, tears running down
her face, reached out for the rattle, still lying on the floor. The
room was silent, except for the two babies crying, but nothing
happened. The parents sighed in relief, realizing only one of their
tiny babies was cursed.”

Aurora looked at Djerr, meeting his dark
brown eyes. Her face was blank, expressionless as she spoke.
“That's what it was, you know. A curse. The parents had heard of
such things before, but had never thought that one of their little
babies would be stricken with such a thing.

“Of course, they didn't know what to do and
immediately, the neighbor who had witnessed the event had spread
the news. Pretty soon the entire town knew and avoided the girl.
They forbade their children from playing with her, for who knew if
the curse would rub off on their own precious children?”

Djerr bit his lower lip. “What were the
twins' names?” he asked reluctantly.

“Aurora and Tarana.” She looked back toward
the blackened ruins. “Tarana was the cursed girl. Aurora was just
the innocent bystander. As the girls grew older, their mother
continued to punish Tarana whenever she showed signs of her evil
talents. However, she was alone much of the time and continued to
exercise her cursed powers.

“She spent most of her days in the nearby
forest, where she wouldn't be bothered. She was weak. Not
physically, but in spirit. She fell into the grasp of the curse and
became mean and evil. After all, how could she deny who she really
was? Tired of being mistaken for her sister, she stole a knife from
her father one day and chopped off most of her long, dark hair.

“Meanwhile, Aurora had actually become quite
popular. Against the odds, she had made many friends. In the
beginning, of course, the people of the town were quite wary of
both sisters. Tirelessly, Aurora worked to gain their trust.
Slowly, they began to understand that only Tarana had been touched
by the curse. Especially after Tarana cut her hair and they could
tell the girls apart, the town became quite fond of Aurora.

“So kind was Aurora that she put up with her
evil sister, without once becoming angry with her. She even stuck
up for Tarana, sharply reprimanding her friends when they teased
her and called her all sorts of names. Soon, the town simply
ignored Tarana and refused to even acknowledge her presence.

“Ever since the beginning, when the girls'
parents had discovered the horrible truth about Tarana, their
father had been torn. On one hand, he loved his daughters and would
do anything for them. On the other hand, he feared what Tarana
might be capable of. As a result, he distanced himself from Tarana,
urging his wife not to be so harsh, but secretly hoping maybe her
beatings would help.

“His concern for Tarana repeatedly caused
fights between the girls' parents. Gradually, he began spending
more time at work, assisting at a nearby farm. One evening, when
the girls were almost ten years old, Tarana was sitting in a tree
outside the house while her mother and sister prepared the evening
meal indoors. As Tarana reclined in one of the uppermost branches,
she spied a man pausing in front of their house, as if afraid to
approach.

“His dull brown clothes were filthy and his
face shone with sweat. Tarana watched curiously as the man took a
deep breath and slowly approached the house. He knocked on the
front door and Tarana's mother answered, wiping her doughy hands on
a towel. Tarana strained to hear what the man was saying, but the
rustling of leaves as a breeze drifted past, covered up the man's
voice. She watched as her mother dropped the towel and then dropped
to her knees, wailing. No amount of rustling could cover that noise
up.

“When she scrambled down the tree a short
time later, she learned that her father had been thrown from a
horse and killed. An accident, the stranger called it, all the
while refusing to meet Tarana's gaze.

“Of course, the town, including her mother,
blamed Tarana. Maybe they were right to blame her. After all, she
knew from practice that she could make things happen from quite a
distance away and she had been angry with her father earlier that
day when he had bought Aurora a new toy from the market. Maybe she
had killed him.

“After the incident, her mother seemed to
give up. She no longer beat Tarana, but simply ignored her like the
rest of the town. Tarana became horribly jealous of her sister. She
began acting violently, savagely attacking other children,
especially Aurora. Even then, Aurora never fought back or became
angry. One sleepless night, Tarana came up with a plan. She wanted
Aurora to become angry with her and she knew one way that was sure
to work. She would destroy Aurora's most prized possessions: her
books.

“Aurora had taught herself
to read at an early age and had been collecting books ever
since.
As her mother and sister still
slept, Tarana called upon her curse and lit the bookcase on fire.
It was a simple process and she grinned as the books crinkled and
blackened, the pages withering away. The flames danced up and
caught the curtains in their grip. The blaze swept up the wall and
Tarana slowly backed away, eyes widened.

“She glanced at her sister, who was still
sleeping on the other side of the room. Coughing, she realized the
room was filling with thick, dark smoke and she looked desperately
toward the door, yet she didn't dare get help and admit what she
had done. Suddenly, the door flew open and her mother burst into
the room. The flames lunged dangerously toward her. Without a word,
her mother scooped Tarana up and ran with her out of the house.
Dropping Tarana on the ground, she said simply, 'Stay here,' and
raced back into the house.

“The dewy grass soaked through her pants as
she sat on the ground, watching as her bedroom window shattered and
flames leapt out, growing larger and brighter with every flicker.
It was a chilly, foggy night and she shivered as she waited. Smoke
billowed out of every opening in the house and soon the entire
house was engulfed in the flames. Ashes fell softly down around
Tarana, fluttering in the still air. She grew aware of people
behind her, murmuring, barely audible above the crackling
fire.”

“How did you get out?”
Djerr interrupted. He looked at the area where the house used to
be. Aurora glanced at him. “Djerr, I
am
Tarana. I was that evil girl. I
killed my sister. But I swear I've changed,” she said
insistently.

Djerr put a hand on her shoulder. “Aura, I
don't care about your past, who you used to be. I know you, who you
are now.”

Still looking troubled, Aurora shook her
head. “Please, you can’t tell anyone.”

“I promise. You don't have to worry about
your secret getting out.”

Aurora smiled hesitantly. “Thanks. I haven't
used those awful powers since that day and I swear I won't ever
again.”

They left Delobo the next morning after a
restless sleep in the strangely abandoned houses. Kirian kept an
unusually close watch on Aurora without actually approaching her.
The rain had turned to a drizzle, and then settled into fog during
the afternoon. The sound of their footsteps through the mud was
muffled and Aurora lost track of time in the subdued light.
Shivering as the cold wet air clung to her skin, she realized Djerr
was talking to her.

“Huh?” She glanced over at him.

He blinked. “Get your head
out of the clouds.” He paused dramatically, then grinned. “Get it?
Alright, so it wasn’t
that
funny.”

“Oh,” she said blankly.

Djerr rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I was just
asking if you knew how close the Divine Lake is. Since you grew up
around here, and all.”

She shook her head, her damp hair hanging
limp. “Like a day away, I guess.”

Djerr glanced up at where the sun might be.
“Is it always like this around here?”

“I don’t know,” Aurora snapped and walked
slightly quicker, leaving him behind. Several hours later, as the
fog grew slowly darker, she heard another sound over the footsteps
and mumbled talk of the soldiers. Rocks clicked against each other
as the slow waves rolled in and out. They had reached the Divine
shore.

Dim lights shone through the fog and lined
the dock. Jonah shouted out orders as everyone filed onto the dock
and onto the large ship that waited silently for them, rocking
slightly as everyone climbed onboard. When Aurora craned her neck,
she saw that several people already stood waiting on the ship,
seemingly the ship’s crew. A few green ribbons tied onto the
railing around the deck hung sadly in the lifeless air.

By the time everyone had crammed onto the
ship, it was nightfall. As they pulled away from the dock, Aurora
watched the light from the lanterns slowly fade away into dark.
Glancing around, she noticed that most of the other soldiers had
found a spot to sit and several had already pulled out their
blankets.

Looking warily at the rickety railing, she
edged away, further into the mass of people, looking for Djerr. She
spotted him sitting against the wall of the backside of the cabin.
Plopping down next to him, she pulled out her blanket and draped it
across her shoulders. They sat silently for a few moments, then
Aurora leaned against Djerr with a sigh.

He smiled over at her. “Tired?”

She nodded and closed her eyes, feeling his
shoulder rise and fall with each breath. Huddling deeper into her
blanket, she felt her head begin to drop as she fell asleep. When
she awoke again, she couldn’t tell how much time had passed, but it
was completely silent, except for the waves brushing against the
ship. Her back and neck ached from sitting for so long and she
tiredly slumped down onto the deck, wrapped up in her blanket.

The next time she awoke, it was light out.
The fog was still wrapped thickly around them and she saw only a
few others awake. She slowly stood up and stretched, feeling the
light morning breeze against her cheeks. The ship slowly rocked
back and forth as the breeze urged it along. Aurora walked over to
the edge and rested her arms on the dewy railing. Yawning, she laid
her head on her arms and stared out at the still fog.

Glancing back at where Djerr still sat
hunched over, sleeping, Aurora yawned again and decided to wake him
up. Carefully picking her way among the sleeping soldiers, she
edged her way back toward him. Halfway there, Aurora paused to
decide whether she could jump over a huge snoring man, when she
heard a yell.

Spinning around, Aurora
saw one of the crew-members pointing out at the fog. Aurora
squinted, trying to see what the problem was. All around her,
people were sitting up, looking around sleepily. Dark shapes
emerged from the fog, all around the ship. Aurora stared, trying to
figure out what they were. As they drew nearer, Aurora realized
what they were with a cold shock:
Griffins
.

She clearly remembered Djerr and Roxanne
telling her stories of wizards riding the half-beast, half-bird
monsters through the skies during their reign, but that’s all she
thought they were: stories. When the wizards fell from power, the
griffins had supposedly vanished along with them. Apparently, they
had returned.