The Girl Born of Smoke (15 page)

Tarana shrugged. “Fine with me. So what're
you doing with the griffins you trained?”

“That's the most discouraging part.” Roxanne
groaned. “We've already released them, earlier today. All that
work, gone in an afternoon. In order to keep somewhat conspicuous
and not bring the entire Citizens' Army after us, we're traveling
on foot from here on out. I believe that we caused enough
destruction to distract them for at least a while and we gained
enough of a lead that there shouldn't be any problem. That's why I
was a bit surprised to see you here.”

A slight breeze drifted through the clearing
and several large drops of water fell onto the tarp with a dull
splash. Yawning again, Roxanne pulled out a large blanket from next
to the tree. She held it out toward Tarana. “Here, we can
share.”

“In other words, you want to make sure I
don't sneak off in the middle of the night.”

Roxanne grinned sleepily. “That too. Now
come on, I'm tired.”

Tarana slid closer and wrapped herself in
the patchwork of animal pelts. Lying down on the hard ground next
to Roxanne, the camp grew silent as the rest of the soldiers
gradually found shelter under the nearby trees. The campfires
flickered sullenly, occasionally sending out a hiss of embers as
the wood readjusted. She quietly watched the night, feeling
Roxanne's light breath on her cheek. She burrowed farther into the
soft blanket, pulling it over her face. In the cavern of darkness,
she finally closed her eyes and let sleep claim her.

The next morning, Tarana was shaken awake
before the sun had risen. The stars had begun to fade in the clear,
pale sky and the camp was hastily packed up in the cold, pre-dawn
morning while she stood awkwardly to the side, watching. They
immediately began hurrying through the woods as the sun rose,
eating as they walked. Practically having to jog to keep up with
the group, she was breathing hard before long, but refused to let
herself lag behind.

As the sun rose higher and lit the slightly
misty forest, their pace gradually slowed. Tarana noticed several
of the other soldiers looking at her curiously, but she ignored
them. She saw Roxanne walking at the front of the group and hurried
slightly to catch up to her. Glancing over, Roxanne grinned and
offered her a handful of nuts. “Here, you’d better keep up your
energy,” she said. “We don’t spend half the day sitting around,
like you’re used to.”

Tarana smirked slightly and popped the nuts
in her mouth. “So,” she said as she swallowed, “where’re we
headed?”

“Like I said last night, we’re under orders
to return to the stronghold,” Roxanne explained. “Our group is too
small to try to recruit any towns or attack the Citizens’. It’ll
take a few weeks to get back and I have no idea what we’ll be
assigned to after that.” She shrugged, looking unconcerned. “I
imagine we’ll be sent back out with a larger group to do some
recruiting.”

Tarana walked silently as she thought about
what Roxanne had said. It was far into the evening before they took
a break. “Alright!” Roxanne called out sharply as they reached a
rocky cliff-face in the forest. “We’re stopping for the day. We’ve
made good progress, nice work.” Leaning against the rocks, Tarana
idly picked at the moss covering them and watched from the side as
the group began working to make a fire and set up their tarps.

“Hey.” Roxanne turned her
attention toward Tarana. “L
et's see what
you've got.” Roxanne tossed her a sword one of the soldiers had
just set down. Tarana leapt away as the blade came hurtling toward
her and let it clatter to the ground. Roxanne laughed. “Well,
this'll be interesting.” Tarana shot her a glare and knelt to pick
up the sword. Roxanne drew her own sword and lazily batted Tarana's
blade out of the way several times. When Tarana swung back, she
stepped out of the way, then quickly advanced, driving Tarana
backwards.

Backed up against a tree, Tarana attempted
to block Roxanne's quick strikes, but the blade slipped past her
own, firmly pinning her shoulder against the trunk. Scowling,
Tarana dropped her sword and tried to squirm away from the blade's
point, but Roxanne increased the pressure.

“What
has
the Citizens' Army taught you?”
Roxanne shook her head.

Tarana looked up at her and rolled her eyes.
“Alright, I got it. You won.”

Roxanne leaned into her sword slightly
harder and Tarana felt the blade dig into her skin, a piercing pain
shooting down her arm. “What are you doing?” she yelled. The sharp
point slowly tore through her shoulder and she leaned her head
back, trying to push the pain away.

“Don't fight it.” Roxanne said slowly. “Pain
is something you will have to deal with sooner or later. You need
to learn to manage it.”

Tarana moaned slightly, eyes squeezed shut.
“Stop!”

“Your enemy won't stop just because you ask
her to.” Roxanne twisted the blade slightly. “Don't try to ignore
the pain. Feel it. Separate it in your mind.”

Tarana shook her head slightly, gasping as
the metal burrowed its way into her muscle.

“Do it!” Roxanne ordered sharply.

Receding into her own mind, Tarana shoved
the pain into a corner, but it quickly built up and flooded out. It
felt as if her arm were being severed as the hot pain shot up and
down her arm. Her eyes flew open. “It won't work! This isn't
funny.”

Roxanne looked back mirthlessly. “Channel
the pain down your arm and out your fingertips. But don't ignore
it. Feel it and then release it.”

Breathing heavily, Tarana gathered the pain
in her mind, then channeled it out, down her arm and through her
fingertips. She felt the pain, acknowledged it, then let it flow
away. Drops of blood dripped from her fingers. Feeling more
focused, she met Roxanne's gaze and nodded slightly.

Roxanne drew her sword back. “Good. You're
learning.”

Tarana clutched her shoulder. “Screw
you.”

Grinning slightly, Roxanne wiped the blood
from her sword with her sleeve. “Go clean yourself up.”

“Screw you,” she grumbled again and stalked
off angrily. Storming through camp and still holding her shoulder,
she tensely tried moving her arm and immediately winced. She heard
a sharp laugh in front of her. A girl, taller than herself, stood
reclining against a tree. Arms crossed in front of her chest, she
smirked at Tarana.

“Going home to cry to mommy and daddy how
the mean lady hurt you?” With a quick turn of the head, she flipped
her long brown ponytail behind her shoulder. “Face it, you're not
cut out for this life.” She laughed again. “I have never seen
anyone do so poorly in that test.” She pulled her loose shirt down,
baring her freckled shoulder. “See the scar? Captain Roxanne had to
cut me deeper than most because I have such a high pain tolerance.
But she hardly even scratched you at all. I doubt that cut will
even take a week to heal.” She shook her head. “You're that new
Scav, aren't you?”

Hand clenched, Tarana narrowed her eyes.
“The what?”

The taller girl sighed. “The freaking
Citizens' Army. I hate you defectors. You're all so weak.”

“Who
are
you?”

The girl smiled crookedly. “I'm Prisca. And
you would be?”

Tarana offered no smile in return.
“Tarana.”

“Well, Tarana, my dear, I imagine I'll be
seeing you again, assuming you don't go running back home, that
is.” She held out her hand and then laughed when Tarana glared
fiercely at her. “See you later.” She tugged her shirt back in
place and trounced off.

Scowling, Tarana sat down at the edge of
camp and inspected her shoulder. Blood had soaked through her
shirt, which was sticking to her skin. Gingerly peeling the torn
shirt back, she winced and tried to wipe some of the dried blood
away with her other sleeve. She didn’t glance up as she heard
Roxanne's steps approach her.

“Hey, kid.” Roxanne knelt down in front of
her, holding bandages and a bowl of water. “Let me do that for
you.”

Tarana glared up at her. “I can do it
myself.”

Rolling her eyes, Roxanne ripped off a strip
of bandage with her teeth and dipped it in the water. Shaking some
of the excess water off, she slipped Tarana’s shirt off her
shoulder and began wiping the blood off. Sighing, Tarana sat back
and grimaced, pain flowing from her wound every time Roxanne
touched it.

“Well, our scouts say there is no sign of
the Scavs anywhere,” Roxanne commented. “Obviously. I mean, there’s
no way they could all keep up with that pace. I’m surprised you
managed.” She shot Tarana a grin.

She narrowed her eyes. “Why does everyone
keep calling them that? Scavs.”

“Because that's what they are. Scavengers.”
Roxanne shook her head in disgust. “They follow us around, always
arriving just after the nick of time and pretend they're there to
save the day. “ She scoffed. “Of course, all the people left alive
are eternally grateful for 'chasing us off' and pledge allegiance
to their ridiculous army.”

“Like me.”

Roxanne chuckled. “Yeah, like you. I mean,
at least we say exactly who and what we are and don't pretend to be
something better. Do you even understand what it means to be a part
of the Wizard’s Army?”

“Well, sure,” Tarana shrugged. “We’re going
to be on the side of the winning team when that wizard guy is
reborn.”

Looking slightly irritated, an intense look
flooded Roxanne’s eyes. “That’s not it at all. We’re not just
waiting for the wizard to be reborn, we’re searching for him. He
could be alive right now and it’s up to us to find him. Do you
understand how vital magic is to the world? It’s slowly dying
without it. Nothing is more important than finding the wizard and
returning our world to how it used to be, without droughts,
disease, all sorts of horrible things.”

“But I don't understand,” Tarana continued,
“then why do you all go around, massacring these towns, especially
if the Citizens' Army can pick off the survivors so easily?”

“It's what works,” Roxanne said simply.
“When we find him, the wizard will make his presence known and we
will help him rise to power. In order to do this, we only want the
most hardcore, willing fighters. These are the people who join the
Wizard’s Army when they see us doing our job, searching for the
wizard. We leave behind as few people as possible for the Scavs to
collect, but while they may have many more people than us, they
lack the training, supplies, and motivation we have. They won't
stand a chance when a real battle comes around.”

Tarana nodded slowly. “I agree. Most people
back with the Citizens' were only there because they had nowhere
else to go. But, I could never understand how we always managed to
run into the Wizard's Army. We always seemed to come in through a
different route.”

“Oh, I'm sure they have scouts or something
who keep track of where our armies are at. You probably just didn’t
notice them coming and going. I mean, your company was pretty
large.” She waved a hand dismissively.

Tarana was silent for a moment as she
thought about what Roxanne was saying. “So, how is it that you were
able to sneak up on us then, if there is this network of
scouts?”

Looking slightly downcast
at the question, Roxanne frowned. “Well, we
were
a specialty team. You know how
I was telling you about the griffins. Our group was far too small
and traveled too quickly to be noticed or tracked.”

Shrugging her shirt back on to her bandaged
shoulder, Tarana looked around at the quickly darkening campsite.
“I talked to one of the other soldiers here,” she said.

“Oh yeah?” Roxanne asked. “Which one?”

Tarana narrowed her eyes in thought. “I
think her name was Prisca.”

Roxanne nodded, looking pleased. “Prisca’s
one of the best soldiers we’ve got here. She’s probably only a year
or two older than you, actually, but already quite accomplished.
She was in the army before I even joined, so I’ve seen her in
battle. She can be a bit of a brat sometimes, but she’s a good kid,
pretty ruthless. Maybe she’ll rub off on you.”

“Yeah, sure.” Tarana shrugged, her shoulder
feeling bulky and cumbersome. “Now can we go eat or something?”

Laughing, Roxanne hopped up and offered
Tarana a hand, which she ignored. “Definitely. I’m starving,” she
said brightly. The two walked back over to the campfire, which was
burning brightly, sending dancing shadows across the rocky cliff
beside them. “Oh, one more thing,” Roxanne said suddenly, reaching
into her pocket and pulling out a folded knife. “I want you to hold
onto this, just in case you need to defend yourself for some
reason, alright?” She held it out to Tarana.

“Defend myself?” Tarana asked, raising an
eyebrow as she took the knife and unfolded it, examining the
blade.

Roxanne shrugged. “We're not expecting to
run into anything, but it can't hurt to be prepared.” Her shoulders
stiffened slightly when Tarana raised the knife to the side of her
neck. “What-” she cut herself off as Tarana pulled back her hair
with her hand, her face twisted in pain when she moved her arm.

Wordlessly, Tarana began
sawing through her thick hair with the small knife. When she had
finished, her hair hung scraggly and uneven above her shoulders.
She dropped the pile of hair to the ground, where it lay looking
like a slaughtered animal.
Folding the
knife back up, she slipped it into her pocket.

Her shoulders falling as she relaxed,
Roxanne shook her head and turned toward the campfire, where
everyone had gathered to eat. They ate a thick soup for dinner and
it was the first real meal Tarana had had in months. She couldn’t
help but burn her mouth as she hastily ate it. That night, she
slept under a blanket with Roxanne and all the subsequent nights
after that, as there were no extra blankets to go around.