The Girl Born of Smoke

by Jessica Billings

  “What?” He lifted his head and looked at her.

  “My sister, Aurora. I, I don't think I killed her,” she said brokenly. “I don't think I had a sister. I made her all up, Djerr. I didn't want to kill her.” She stared up at him and realized her body was shaking. “I just wanted someone to rescue me.”

  “It’ll be alright, Tara.” He held her close again and she breathed in the warm scent of his skin. She felt her body slowly calming down, her heart rate slowing. And for a moment, everything really was alright.

  Chapter 13

  “So I’ve been thinking,” Djerr commented as they trudged through the mud. The mid-day sun filtered through the thick fog and they had to squint against the brightness. Their hair lay plastered to their foreheads and necks, glistening with water droplets.

  Shaking her head to get the hair out of her eyes, Tarana glanced over at him. “Yeah? What about?”

  He hesitated and stuck his hands deep in his pockets, looking down at the ground as they walked, sidling around the occasional bush. “Well, I was just thinking that there must be a few towns out here. I mean, people live in all sorts of weird places. I’m sure there are some who like living out here. Anyway, maybe once we find somewhere, we could just y’know, settle down there. It might be kind of nice living out here, away from all those crazy people obsessed with the war. We could find some work to do, make some money, eventually get our own house. I think we could be really happy.” He looked nervously over at her, twisting one of his black curls of hair through his fingers.

  Tarana looked away and shrugged. “Yeah, maybe we could do that. If we can find a town, that is. Remember when we were up on that cliff? We couldn’t see anything down here at all. I have no idea which way we should be heading.”

  Wrinkling his forehead in thought, he moved closer and took her hand as they walked. “Can’t you use your magic to find somewhere? Hey, remember when you transported us from inside that dungeon to the outside? Couldn’t you just transport us to the nearest town?”

  “But I don’t know where the nearest town is!” she protested. “I have to know where something is, in order to move us there. Besides, I don’t think I have enough energy to do something like that, I’m too hungry and exhausted.”

  “You know, maybe we should have thought this through a bit more.” Djerr laughed. “We could have at least grabbed some blankets or some food or something.” They were silent for awhile. “Do you think Kirian’s mad?”

  Tarana scoffed. “Mad? I bet he’s furious! He’d probably kill us if he found us. You know how I told him about me and everything? Well, he was absolutely insistent about us going back to his dumb army after that.”

  “I figured he would be.” Djerr shrugged. “He only wants the best for you, but his idea of best and yours don’t exactly match up.”

  Looking up, she noticed the fog above them had gotten slightly brighter and showed hints of blue in some places, but she couldn’t see more than a few steps in front of her. A few small boulders appeared in front of them, threatening to trip them. “Oh, hold up.” Tarana called to Djerr as he started to clamber over the rocks.

  Reaching into her pockets, she came up with a small forgotten metal coin, which she placed on top one of the flatter surfaces of the boulder. Resting her hands nearby, she slowly channeled a stream of heat into the coin. Waiting until it was glowing brightly, she carefully stretched it into a long, thinner shape without touching it. Pulling some moisture from the air, she cupped her hand, allowing the water to pool, then quickly splashed the metal with the water and left it to cool the rest of the way on its own.

  Watching in wonderment, Djerr leaned in closely, staring at the now unrecognizable coin. “Why’d you do that?”

  Touching it timidly, Tarana lifted it up and tossed it from hand to hand before deciding it was cool enough to let rest in the palm of her hand. It glinted dully as a few small slips of sunlight caught it. “Well, with a bit of magnetism,” she concentrated for a moment before continuing, “it should point in a single direction, so if we keep that steady, we can head in a straight line without going in circles all day.” She smiled as the strip of metal scraped lightly across her palm and pointed toward her thumb. “Nice.” She slipped it back into her pocket. “We can check it again later to make sure we’re still heading the same direction. Better chance of actually heading somewhere useful, that way.”

  “Wow,” Djerr said simply. “How did you learn all that anyway? I have no idea what you just did, but it sure sounds impressive.”

  Her hands still in her pockets, she fiddled with the warm metal in between her fingers. “Well, there’s this guy who’s been teaching me stuff.”

  Looking sharply over at her, he climbed over the boulders and reached out a hand to help her over. “What do you mean, a guy? When? Where? Who is he?”

  “Sheesh, lay off me,” Tarana grumbled, ignoring his hand and scampering over the rocks herself. “It’s just this guy, he used to be a wizard before he died a long time ago and he’s been teaching me stuff while I sleep. We’re wizards, so he doesn’t need to actually be here, in order for us to talk and do stuff.”

  “How long has this been going on?” he asked apprehensively.

  She shrugged. “I dunno, since the night we started looking for Kirian in the Citizens’ camp, I think. Look, it’s no big deal! I need his help if I’m going to learn how to do stuff like this.”

  Still looking concerned, he finally nodded. “I suppose so, but I don’t like the idea of some ghost whisking you away in the middle of the night. It’s just weird.”

  “Well, you make it sound much worse than it really is.”

  They walked silently for awhile, until Djerr fell into step with Tarana and took her hand again. “Do you think you could make us some food or water or something?”

  Tarana sighed and stopped walking. “I can pull together some water, no problem. There’s plenty of that around, but I don’t know how to make food. There are so many compounds and I don’t know how to make them all.” She noticed his blank stare and sighed again. “Put out your hands.”

  She pulled moisture from the air fast enough that a slight breeze ruffled their hair and filled his hands quickly, then her own. They drank several handfuls of water, trying to keep it from spilling as they lifted it to their mouths and slurped it down. She was thirstier than she had realized and they were silent as they drank, rivulets of water trickling down their chins.

  “Wow,” Djerr said finally. “That was delicious. You make some tasty water. Hey, look at the sky.” The breeze had swept away almost all of the fog and the sun hung low in the sky, lighting up the stray clouds in the distance, streaked across the horizon. Tarana pulled out her makeshift piece of metal again, and checked to see which way they were heading.

  The air was still as the sun continued to dip lower in the sky and they set off walking through the brambles. With a quick glance over her shoulder, she saw the snow-capped cliffs they had come from, lit up in reddish-brown hues by the setting sun. The temperature seemed to drop the instant the sun slipped behind the distant clouds and she shivered involuntarily.

  With a heavy sigh, Djerr moved closer to her so their shoulders touched. “It’s going to be another cold night,” he said unhappily. Tarana nodded absentmindedly and stopped suddenly, jerking him backwards. Alarmed, he looked around and seeing nothing, stared at her. “What’s wrong?”

  She took her hand back from Djerr’s grasp and touched her forehead. “I have an idea,” she said slowly, sitting down and crossing her legs in front of her. “Last night, when I reached out through the ground to bring out the water, I could feel all the living things around me. If I tried that again, just reaching out for something living, maybe I could find some other people, maybe even a little town.”

  Without waiting to see his reaction, she lay down on her back, spreading her limbs in all directions. The sky had grown dark and a few stars were starting to glimmer above them. She closed her eyes and sent a tri
ckle of energy from each limb, speeding out into the ground. Ignoring the small packets of warmth and energy that came from bugs and worms, she kept reaching as far and as fast as she could.

  Trying to skim the surface of the ground, she felt a slightly larger animal digging, tickling her thin stream of power. She could feel her own reserve of energy quickly depleting, so she strained harder, branching out her reach. She felt her body stiffening, her back arching slightly as she reached the limit of what she could handle. Still she pushed a little further, her reach jerking awkwardly forward.

  Realizing her energy was about to come snapping back to her body, she remembered one of the first things Rupert had ever taught her. Relax your body, let your power come freely, don’t force it. She repeated these words softly to herself and let her body slowly relax without loosening her reach. With a soft sigh, she spread her reach slightly farther in every direction. Gasping suddenly, she sat upright. Djerr was kneeling beside her, his head cocked as she sat up.

  Her body ached with the effort and her heart was racing, but she pulled out her piece of metal excitedly as she gulped in the cold night air. “We’ve got to head that way, Djerr,” she said, still breathing hard and pointing a shaky hand back toward the cliffs, although much further to the left than where they had climbed down.

  In the darkness, neither could see what lay ahead, where she pointed, but they had spent enough time studying their surroundings to remember what it looked like. The base of the jagged cliffs zig-zagged in and out, hiding great areas from view. It was possible there could be a town hidden inside, they both pondered in silence.

  “What’d you see?” he asked excitedly, helping her to her feet.

  She stood unsteadily, bent over with her hands on her knees. “I didn’t see anything, exactly,” she explained. “It’s more like feeling. Anyway, there is a huge mass of energy over there. A big group of people, basically.” She slowly unfolded her body and took a slow step forward. “Well, a big group of something living, anyway. Probably people.”

  She felt Djerr slide her arm over his shoulders so he could help her. She held the metal in her other hand, watching it glint in the pale moonlight. “If we head back this way and follow the cliffs, we’ll run into them.” She furrowed her forehead. “I don’t understand, it was such a huge group of people and they were all moving in one direction. It was like…a herd of people. I hope they were people, anyway.” Doubt began to creep into her voice, but she struggled forward.

  “I’m sure you’re right,” Djerr said confidently. “What else could it be, besides a bunch of people? We haven’t seen any other animals out here except little birds and stuff. Don’t worry, Tara.”

  She smiled thinly and suddenly realized how desperately hungry she felt. Imagining the flaky pockets of bread filled with vegetables and creamy sauce she used to eat in Kain, she let her mind wander as they walked silently through the muddy wasteland. Every time she felt too tired to keep walking, she silently reminded herself that she was probably too hungry to sleep, so she might as well carry on.

  As the moon climbed up behind them then crept behind the nearly invisible cliffs, they were left in complete darkness and reluctantly had to stop for the night as Tarana couldn’t even manage enough energy to form another ball of light. Shivering violently, neither even attempted to sleep as they sat on the frozen ground, waiting for the sun to rise again, but at some point she jerked awake and realized she had drifted off unintentionally.

  Blinking the sleep from her eyes, she glanced around in the pre-dawn light and saw the cliffs towering up higher than ever in front of them, but still no trace of any people. Djerr sat next to her, his head buried in his arms, clearly asleep. Gently shaking him awake, he looked blearily at her and she saw how weary his face looked.

  “G’morning,” he mumbled, slowly flexing his frozen fingers. They both slowly stood and although she no longer felt hungry, her body was weak and shaky. She wiggled her toes in her boots, unable to feel them. As they traveled forward, they refrained from talking to save energy. When the sun was at its highest, the ground grew rocky beneath them and they were face-to-face with the cliffs.

  They followed the wall and as it dipped out of view. Djerr looked down at the ground and smiled. “Look.” He gestured down and tiredly dropping her gaze to the ground, Tarana saw the dusty ground was imprinted with dozens of footprints. She gave a small smile back at Djerr, knowing she should feel excited, but wasn’t quite able to work up the energy.

  They followed the makeshift trail along the base of the cliff, working their way further into the tall corridors that opened up around corners. Turning around another corner, they suddenly heard voices bouncing off the walls around them, echoing into a senseless murmur. Djerr began walking faster and Tarana struggled to keep up with him.

  Around several more corners, they finally found a thin line of people walking past them, trudging across the dusty ground. The cliff walls rose high above them on both sides, shrouding the entire area in shadow. The two paused for a moment, watching the group continue on unaware of their presence.

  Djerr stepped forward and gave a short shout and waved when several of the people turned his way. A couple of the travelers gave unsure waves back to him as he walked closer, Tarana a step behind. As they grew closer, they could see the worn, dusty look etched on all the people’s faces. From the oldest to the youngest, they all looked unbelievably tired and unhappy.

  One of the women stopped as Djerr and Tarana approached, her expression looking almost hopeful. As the two approached her, she sighed and her expression darkened, but she didn’t turn away. She looked several years older than Roxanne, Tarana decided, although it was difficult to tell since the dust only deepened the lines on her face.

  “For a moment there, I thought you might be my own children,” the woman said sadly to Djerr and Tarana. Her voice was quiet and Tarana wasn’t sure if she was actually speaking to them or not. Her gray eyes looked past the two, but then seemed to focus back on them. “You poor children,” she continued, “have you a mother or father left?” It had been a very long time since Tarana considered herself a child, but she noticed that she and Djerr were much smaller than most of the others passing them by.

  Tarana shook her head. “No, we’re on our own,” she admitted truthfully.

  The woman sighed again. “So many children are. And so many parents are without their children. My own two are gone, killed in the attacks. I held their dying bodies, yet I look for them still.”

  Struck by the woman’s terrible sadness, Tarana swallowed hard and gestured at the people passing by. “Where are you all traveling to?”

  The woman shrugged. “They say the griffins haven’t crossed the mountains yet. It may still be safe in this corner of the world for awhile longer.” Trying to hide her alarm, Tarana glanced quickly at Djerr and saw his eyes widen slightly. The woman seemed not to notice and continued, “My late husband’s brother lives in a town over this way. I am hoping he might have a little room to spare. I only met him once, on our wedding day, but I have nowhere else to turn. I hear the mountain towns are all swarming with refugees. In this land of little, there is almost nothing to share, nowhere to stay, but it is better than simply waiting to die. Do you have relatives here?”

  Djerr shook his head. “All we have is each other now, but we’re the same as you. We didn’t just want to wait to die, so we started walking.”

  The woman nodded, looking mournful. “Please, if you might, join with me. You are both so thin and you remind me of my own. I have enough food to share and perhaps my late husband’s brother could help you. It is worth a try, better than begging from strangers.”

  The thought of food made Tarana’s mouth begin to water, but she hesitated. Although she wanted to keep her distance from people, she knew they couldn’t survive forever on water alone. With a quick glance to Djerr, she nodded. “Alright, we’ll come with you. I’m sorry we had to meet each other like this,” she said awkwardly. “We’
ll try not to be too much of a burden or anything.”

  “Nonsense,” she replied, reaching around to her backpack and pulling out a couple rolls and some dried strips of meat. “Here, eat some. You look as if you are about to drop from hunger.”

  They tore eagerly into the food, taking large bites and barely chewing. As the food sat like a hard lump in her stomach, Tarana slowed her eating and wondered if her body knew what to do with food anymore. It sat uncomfortably inside her, but at least she was no longer hungry, she thought to herself. Her body still ached with exhaustion, but the constant urge to eat was no longer present. Trudging further into the maze of cliffs, they followed the well-worn path of footprints with the other travelers around them.

  The woman introduced herself as Becky and told the two about the town she was from, her family, and paused occasionally to allow Tarana or Djerr to offer information about themselves, but never pressed them on the subject. For that, Tarana was thankful. Although anxious to hear about why there were so many refugees and what the griffins were doing, she remained silent.

  Becky also explained that the path they took through the cliffs was a winding, but easy to travel pass through the mountains. It exited near one of the largest towns on that side of the mountains and from there, roads led to all the other smaller towns. Most refugees, she added, were probably stopping in that first major town, but she was traveling to one of the more remote towns, where they were more likely to find work and housing.

  Late that afternoon, Becky announced they should reach their destination, the town of Shae’lin, the next day. By the time the sun set, they were still surrounded by cliffs, but the narrow valley had begun to open up. Small groups of similar travelers were gathered around fires around them, but it was strangely quiet, far different than the boisterous shouting and laughter of the army. The stars had begun to show above them when they finally got their own fire going and settled down for the night. Although Becky had plenty of food to share, she only had one blanket, so they awkwardly huddled under it while they ate.