The Girl Born of Smoke

by Jessica Billings

  Djerr yawned, putting a hand over his mouth. “I guess...not for long, though. I don't want to get wrapped up in this army again.”

  Sitting down heavily, her eyes were already half-closed by the time she curled up on the ground, pulling her knees against her chest. “I just need to rest for a little bit...” she mumbled, hearing Djerr lay down next to her. “Then we can get going again.”

  He made a noise in response, but she already felt herself spinning away, losing her grip on the physical world. She drifted through her dreams, seemingly too tired to even participate, until she suddenly felt as if she were jolted awake. Standing unsteadily, she found herself in a cave, one she gradually recognized as where she had met Rupert almost a week ago. Sighing heavily, she looked around until she spotted the old man leaning against a large boulder. He smiled slightly when he saw her. “Back so soon?” he asked.

  Crossing her arms, she glared at him and kept her distance. “I thought you said you'd contact me again when I'm ready.”

  “And?”

  “What makes you think I'm any more ready than I was last week?”

  Clasping his hands behind his back, Rupert walked slowly toward her. “Well my dear girl, you've finally used your magic for your own gain. Something I've been waiting for you to do for a long, long time.”

  Tarana looked at him indignantly. “For my own gain? Do you understand what would have happened if I hadn't gotten myself out of there?”

  “All too well,” he replied, looking down at her. “But whatever the circumstances, the fact remains that you used your magic not to save your friend from death, as you did earlier, but to save yourself from a terrible fate. That tells me that you're ready.” He paused. “Now, I need to assess your technique. Move one of the pebbles on the ground without touching it.”

  “I don't know how.” She narrowed her eyes at him.

  “You do so,” he replied crossly. “You could do it as a child and I know you can do it now. Just try.”

  “And if I refuse?

  He turned away and for a moment, the only sound in the cave was the water running down the walls and dripping down from the ceiling, the noise echoing throughout. Rupert finally sighed. “Tarana, this gift has been given to you from the past and it is of great importance that you accept it. I know that it has provided you with many difficulties and troubles, but you need to move past that.” He turned back toward her. “At least let me show you how to control and use it more effectively so that if the need arises, you may use it in the real world.”

  Pausing to consider what he had said, Tarana finally shrugged. Gathering up all her strength deep inside her chest and tensing her muscles, she focused fiercely on one of the pebbles at her feet and channeled the power through her body, out her fingertips and hurled it at the pebble. Several of the other pebbles immediately shattered, exploding into a gritty dust while the pebble she had focused on was thrown across the cavern, clattering against the wall and splashing into a puddle. She glanced up at Rupert, who had a bewildered, almost amused expression on his face.

  “Alright, we've got some work to do.”

  Stumbling backwards as the ground rearranged itself under her feet, Tarana blinked and found herself standing in front of a wooden counter. “Wh-where are we?” she asked as she slowly turned around, staring in bewilderment.

  “In a kitchen, of course,” Rupert replied, sounding slightly smug. He walked over to the splintering wooden cupboard, opening it to reveal that it held two metal bowls. Curious, Tarana stood on her tiptoes as Rupert lifted the first bowl down and saw that it contained some sort of clumpy white powder.

  “What is that?” she asked.

  He held it out to her, watching as she stuck a finger in the powder. “It's corn starch. That's not going to tas-”

  Tarana made a face as she licked some of it off her finger. “That's gross. What are you going to make with that?”

  Without answering her question, Rupert set the first bowl down on the counter and lifted the other down, much more slowly. Hearing it slosh against the sides of the metal, Tarana nodded. “That must be water.”

  “That's right.” Rupert added the water to the first bowl, then stuck a hand in, mixing it with more energy than she realized he contained.

  “Come on, what are you making?” She stared as the powder turned globular and sticky-looking. She started to reach a hand in, but Rupert pulled it away from her.

  “I'm making magic,” he replied, pulling a handful of the mixture out of the bowl. The runny white liquid dribbled out from between his fingers. “Now, this is how you use your magic.” He closed his fingers around the handful, squeezing tightly and turning his fist so that it should have squirted out. Instead, only a few drops fell from his fist. “See how little magic exits my hand when I squeeze it so hard?”

  Tarana nodded in amazement, reaching into the bowl to grab a handful herself. To her surprise, the liquid immediately turned solid and gritty when she squeezed it. She looked up at Rupert and he grinned at her astonishment.

  “Now relax your fingers,” he instructed her. Together, they relaxed their grip and the solid clump immediately turned back to liquid and ran from their hands. “That is how you should be releasing your magic. Much less energy is used in exchange for a lot more power. It's all about technique.”

  Alternately squeezing and relaxing her grip on the corn starch and water, Tarana laughed. “This is magic?”

  “No, not exactly. This is science, something that is completely tied up in the use of magic. Science used to be taught in great depth at the old Academy of Magic. This experiment that I just showed you, a liquid that changes into a solid at a sudden pressure, this is the first lesson shown to every student who entered the academy.”

  Allowing the corn starch to drip from her fingers, Tarana studied it thoughtfully. “This science...do you think you could teach me more?”

  A smile breaking out across Rupert's face, he nodded. “I would be happy to, but it will have to wait until next time. Now, you need to rejoin your friends. Stay away from the war for now. You're not yet ready to lead your side.”

  Looking up to ask what he meant, Tarana instead found herself staring up into the sunlight. Squinting her eyes against the bright light, she slowly focused on a dark shape leaning into her vision, blocking out the sun. Her eyes still cloudy with sleep, she blinked several times before she finally recognized Kirian, staring down at her in astonishment. She grinned.

  “Wh-what are you doing here?” Kirian stuttered.

  Shifting slightly, she looked over and saw Djerr still asleep, curled tightly into a ball, his hair covering his eyes. As she slowly raised herself into a sitting position, she blinked again, trying to decide if she was still dreaming. Finally, she spoke. “Well, we came looking for you.”

  He still seemed to be searching for what to say and opened his mouth several times, before he said, “Aurora, I didn't know if I'd ever see you again. I mean, where have you been? And how did you find Djerr? I hadn't seen him since we had this big battle with the entire Wizard’s Army. I had begun to think he was dead too.”

  Tarana blinked. “Too? What do you mean, 'dead too'?”

  Sitting down in front of her, Kirian glanced away. “Well, it sometimes seemed easier to think of you as dead than to why you had run away. I never meant to do that to you, honestly. I never expected to have to take care of some kid and I really had no idea what I was doing. I-I'm truly sorry I screwed everything up the way I did.”

  “Kirian...” Lost for words and wracked with guilt, Tarana bit her lip. “I'm sorry I ran off. It really had nothing to do with you. I actually really liked staying with you. I'm sorry I said those things. I just wanted to make you feel bad. I'm so so sorry.” She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him, blinking several times in succession in an attempt not to let the tears that filled her eyes spill out.

  Kirian stiffened for a second, then relaxed and held Tarana tightly. “It's fine, Aurora. I'm just glad I
have you back now. But how did you get here? Have you rejoined the army?”

  Sitting back, she shook her head. “It’s a long story, but I was kind of with the Wizard’s Army for awhile.” She noticed his face darkening and she continued quickly. “I was just staying in the stronghold! Anyway, I met up with Djerr during that big battle. You know how they think they've found the new wizard and everything? Well, they think it's Djerr, except it's not, so I helped him break out and we're on the run now. We need to leave here, but I just wanted to see you. You don't have to come with us if you don't want, but I thought I'd ask.” She paused. “I missed you a lot. Oh, and I'm going by Tarana now. Like I said before, it is my real name.”

  Wrinkling his brow in slight confusion as he tried to absorb everything she said, Kirian ran a hand through his hair. “Alright...Tarana. I still don’t understand exactly what’s going on and I can’t believe you would be stupid enough to join the other side, but it sounds like you'd both be safest with our army. You know we'd protect you.”

  Shaking her head quickly, she looked around at the soldiers milling nearby. “I can't, Kirian. I can't go back to this. I need to leave this whole war behind. I've been a part of it for too long and I hate it more than anything.”

  He sighed deeply. “I think you're making a mistake, but if you're not going to stay here, then I'm coming with you. I'm worried about you, Tarana.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked him seriously. We might be going far, far away. I don't know when we'll be able to come back. We're in this pretty deep, Kirian.”

  He nodded. “I’m still confused as to why you think you need to leave, but hopefully I can help convince you of what needs to be done and I can't just let you go again.”

  A sudden noise caused her to turn. Djerr was sitting up next to them, running a hand across his eyes. He blinked at them and yawned. “Well, if you've got that all sorted out, I guess we'd better get going then.”

  The three slipped out of the camp, watching carefully, but no one paid them a second glance. After several moments of walking silently by themselves, the frosty air gradually warming in the sun, Kirian turned to Djerr. “So,” he said, “you're that new wizard everyone's talking about.”

  “No no no, I'm not the wizard everyone's talking about! Er, rather, they are all talking about me, but I'm not a wizard.”

  Tarana giggled. “Yeah, if he was a wizard, I wouldn't have had to bust him out of the stronghold.”

  Shaking his head slightly, Kirian stomped his feet as he walked, trying to regain feeling in his cold toes. “Just shows you how that Wizard's Army works. So corrupt and disorganized they can't even hold onto their most prized possession.

  Tarana opened her mouth to argue, then quickly shut it again, unwilling to defend the army. Instead, she turned her head in order to catch sight of Djerr, who walked at her side. He was kicking a pinecone along in front of him, but grinned over at Tarana when he saw her glance and nearly tripped over the pinecone. Rolling her eyes, she looked back over at Kirian who was watching them both, a slight smirk on his face. Feeling strangely embarrassed, she felt her cheeks flush and she dipped her head down, letting her hair spill over her face.

  They kept to the side roads, trying to avoid people whenever possible. Only stopping in the occasional village to sleep on real beds or refill their supplies, they had little contact with others. The weather continued to grow colder and they curled tightly around the fire during the night, trying to stay warm. Tarana occasionally awoke to find Djerr curled around her, their bodies keeping each other slightly warmer.

  Every day, Kirian hinted to her that they could still turn back and seek the safety of the Citizens’ Army. They were only traveling further into the harsh land, he explained. If they rejoined the army, they would have better supplies, warmer blankets, and more reasonable weather. As tempting as the offer was, Tarana continued to refuse.

  “Why?” Kirian finally asked, almost angrily. “Why do you want to keep venturing further into the wilderness? We’re not accomplishing anything. All you’re doing is running from your problems and the army could use our help. If we don’t protect ourselves and stand up for our freedom, we deserve to be crushed by the wizard.”

  Tarana shrugged and put her hands on top of her head, refusing to look over at him. “It’s our only choice,” she said simply. “I don’t belong with the army. Do you know what the Wizard’s Army calls your stupid army? Scavs, as in, Scavengers. That’s all they do, they trail the Wizard’s and gather up all the survivors, trying to make their army more and more massive.” Hands clenched at her sides, she realized her voice was rising. “Don’t you ever wonder why you wandered around for nearly a year, always arriving at cities and villages just moments after the Wizard’s had trashed it? And those poor people were always so willing to join up, weren’t they? Yeah, maybe they didn’t stay for long, maybe they realized the army life wasn’t so great, but it didn’t matter, because by then, you had picked up a hundred more people just like that one.”

  “We did fight the Wizard’s Army,” Kirian spat back at her, his voice dangerously quiet. “Multiple times. Remember the griffins? Remember that huge battle we just had in Ralinos? There was nothing fake about that, Tarana, thousands of people died there. This isn’t just some big pretend game. I gave up everything I believed in to follow you out here, because you mean that much to me, but maybe that was a mistake.”

  Tarana groaned and clutched her head in frustration. “I know this isn’t a game, but it is fake, I know it is. The armies are communicating somehow, there’s someone who’s got both of the armies under his thumb.”

  Kirian shook his head, looking disgusted. “That’s ridiculous. The Wizard’s Army has planted even stupider ideas in your head than I had imagined.” He turned and walked abruptly away, picking up the last of their camp and stuffing his blanket roughly into his backpack. Standing awkwardly to the side, Djerr watched as Tarana stormed off angrily into the surrounding forest, quickly disappearing into the underbrush.

  He sat down by the smoldering remains of the campfire, stuffing his hands between his knees to try and keep them warm. He listened to Kirian grumbling angrily under his breath and looked up at the sky visible through the trees. Snowflakes began to fall softly, whispering as they landed in his hair. Djerr squinted his eyes to watch them flutter downward, giving him the strange sensation that instead of the snowflakes falling down, he was flying up into the sky.

  With a sudden crack, branches broke nearby and Djerr leapt to his feet, startled. Tarana burst back into the clearing, panting. Kirian stood quickly, hand on the hilt of his sword, but relaxed once he noticed her broad smile. She rushed over to Djerr, who looked at her curiously.

  “You have got to see this.” She grabbed his hand and rushed back into the forest, leaving Kirian looking bewildered and sullen.

  It was all Djerr could do to keep up with Tarana, who dragged him along, weaving between trees and leaping over fallen logs covered in snowy moss. In the distance, he could hear a rumbling sound, which gradually grew louder. Anxiously, he realized he could feel the ground vibrating. It grew suddenly into a roar as the trees opened up above them, sending a small shaft of sunlight sprawling on an enormous cascade of icy water hurtling down a cliff into a half-frozen river below. The waterfall sent up a thin mist into the surrounding air, enveloping Aurora and Djerr.

  “Isn’t this fantastic?” She had to shout to be heard. Tiny water droplets clung to her face and hair, glittering in the growing sunlight.

  Djerr gazed in awe at the waterfall, but his attention was distracted by the hand that Tarana still held. “It’s, well, it’s amazing, Tara.”

  She looked sharply at him, her grin fading slightly as her hand slipped from his grasp. “You don't sound very impressed.”

  Djerr looked back unsteadily, still breathing hard from the run. His insides were caught in the grasp of anxiety and he cautiously took a step toward Tarana. Her face seemed expressionless and he had no idea what she coul
d be thinking or feeling. The waterfall faded to a dull buzz as he studied her expression and he felt his cheeks warming as the blood rushed to them. “Tara,” he mumbled as he took another step closer, staring into her eyes, trying desperately to discern what she was thinking. He knew it was one step too many for friends. He had invaded that comfortable bubble of space that friends kept with one another.

  Closing his eyes, he leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips, his hands hanging uselessly at his sides. He felt his heart pounding in his chest and it leapt when he felt her move forward and return the kiss, her arms wrapping him up and her body pressing against his. He enveloped her in his arms and slowly moved his fingers through her hair. For the first time in weeks, he felt warm and he lost himself in the moment, keeping the icy mist surrounding them at bay for just a little bit longer.

  When Tarana and Djerr returned to the clearing where they had left Kirian, they found he had vanished. For a moment, Tarana thought he might have left, abandoned them, but then she saw his pack sitting next to a tree, and she relaxed slightly. She and Djerr sat down by the trunk of the tree, leaning their backs against the rough bark. The thin clouds had been burned away by the morning sun and the sunlight sparkled off the snow-spattered ground. Tarana sat quietly, waiting, resting her head on her knees. Djerr leaned against her and rested his head against hers. “Are you going to tell Kirian?” he asked quietly.

  “I dunno,” she replied and was quiet again.

  “Is everything alright?” Djerr asked after another long silence.

  She nodded. “Yeah, I just want to get going.”

  Djerr smiled happily and moved closer to her, resting his hand on top of hers. After a few moments of silence, they heard twigs snapping behind them and Tarana stood up abruptly, peering toward the sound. Kirian came stomping through the underbrush, glaring at the both of them. “There you are!” he growled. “I’ve been looking all over for you. You can’t just go running off like that!”