The Girl Born of Smoke

by Jessica Billings

  They continued sucking uselessly at the air, not receiving the amount of oxygen they needed to maintain consciousness. Quickly probing at the area below her, she knew she needed to determine how he was doing it. Within moments, she felt the molecules moving upward and understood what was happening.

  While her shield was loose and allowed the movement of small molecules, Rupert was quickly siphoning the air through her shield, then placing another tighter, extremely thin shield on top of hers that didn’t allow it to re-enter the area underneath, where the people were. Gritting her teeth in anger, she pushed her shield upward, shattering his thin, brittle one. The air quickly flooded back down as the people lay on the ground, gasping and finally realizing exactly how much danger they were really in.

  Beginning to feel weak holding up the huge barrier, she hoped Rupert was nearing the end of his reserve of energy, but he was already mounting his next attack. It became an intricate balance of magic. Prodding the entire area beneath her with her magic, she felt as he began to heat up different areas, trying to set the buildings and people on fire.

  As he heated things up, she cooled them down, slowing the molecules. As he sent dense packets of air plummeting toward the shield, dense and thin enough to slice someone in two, she hardened areas of the shield, so the air bounced off harmlessly. Leaning heavily against the railing of the balcony, she felt the strength leaving her body as she continued to fend off Rupert’s relentless attacks.

  The ground suddenly heaved up near him, huge boulders tumbling into the air, ready to crush anyone nearby. Too weak to harden the entire shield, she flung her arm out and sent her own thin blast of air to break the boulders into small pebbles that bounced harmlessly off the barrier in a shower of dust.

  Breathing hard, she realized with dread that Rupert might have been right. His experience might more than make up for her power. She knew he was trying to wear her down and she knew he was succeeding. Her shield began to weaken slightly as he magnified the effects of the sun to a small point, trying to pierce through to incinerate the people underneath.

  Glancing up, she saw the heavy storm clouds were still slowly moving across the sky, but not fast enough to obscure the early morning sun. She was concentrating so deeply on bending the sun’s rays to cancel out the effects of his magnification that she didn’t even notice the thin bolt of electricity he guided from the sky. As it jolted down from the dark clouds and struck her directly in the chest, she stumbled back, eyes wide and limbs locked in place, losing all control over her magic. She fell straight backward onto the cold stone floor of the balcony as everything went black.

  When she could see again, only a moment later, she thought for a moment that she was flying through the stars. Small glittering orbs of light flew downward in massive numbers all around her. As she gradually regained her senses, she felt a cool, flat surface beneath her back and she stared up at the orbs falling out of the dark sky, finally realizing that it was the orbs that were moving, not her.

  Reaching up a hand to catch an orb tumbling toward her, she watched warily as it passed through her hand. As it continued its fall past her ear, she thought she heard a whisper break the thick silence of the world around her. Taking a deep breath, she climbed to her feet.

  She looked down and tottered uneasily, seeing the orbs disappear into the darkness far, far below. Although she could feel the flat ground under her feet, she couldn't see it. Quickly fixing her gaze on an invisible horizon, she began to walk unsteadily forward. The only sound was the occasional whisper, from which she strained to make out individual words, but could not. It seemed to grow colder as she shuffled forward and she shivered unhappily. The only light came from the orbs, which were growing dimmer. She paused and looked around desperately.

  “Hello?” she cried quietly, trying to find her voice. “Please, I'm lost. Please help me.” Her voice rose, wavering. “Djerr! Kirian! Roxanne! AURORA!” She screamed the last name, but her voice was quickly swallowed up, leaving not even an echo as company.

  About to slump to the ground in defeat, she froze as she heard a new noise, a barely audible hum hidden beneath the whispers. Dashing forward, she tore through the dimly-lit orbs, looking around frantically as the humming grew louder and she made out a voice, singing. Desperate, she tried to sweep away the orbs obstructing her view, but her hand passed harmlessly through them. The motion threw her off balance and she stumbled forward, skidding across the invisible ground.

  Breathing hard and shaking, she didn't stand back up right away. Instead, she sat up, clasped her knees to her chest and closed her eyes, focusing on the distant singing. The voice grew steadily louder. It was a young girl's voice, tenuous and carefree, seemingly ignorant of Tarana's own unhappiness. When at last the singing stopped, she slowly opened her heavy eyes.

  “Heya, Aura,” she said wearily and started to stand, but immediately had to catch herself, head spinning. She was terribly tired and cold.

  Aurora shook her head and sat down across from Tarana. “Best to stay sitting, I think,” she said cheerily.

  “What was that you were singing?” Tarana asked. “I couldn't make out the words.”

  Grinning, Aurora grabbed one of the orbs raining down around them and idly tossed it from hand to hand. “Oh, that was just the song they're going to write about you someday.” She beamed at Tarana. “You did it, you know? Can you believe it? You, a hero!”

  Tarana felt a great sadness weighing down on her. “But I lost, Aura. Rupert won. And now I'm stuck here.” She reached out a trembling hand to touch Aurora's arm and as it feared, her hand passed right through. The dim light still fading, Tarana worked hard to make out the other girl's face. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Please Aura, I just need to know...who are you?”

  “Well,” Aurora replied, her voice still casual, “I've been a lot of things...your twin sister, your imaginary friend, your guardian angel, your confidante, your conscience, your other half, your worst enemy, and everything you've always wanted, feared, and hidden all put together. I'm all those things, but above all,” she shifted closer so that she whispered directly into Tarana's ear, “I'm Aurora.”

  Blinking back tears of frustration, she rested her weary head on her knees. The orbs were just pinpoints of light now, doing nothing to light up the darkness enveloping the two. “But are you real?” she asked tiredly.

  Aurora paused before answering and Tarana feared for a moment that she was alone again. “I guess it depends on what you consider real,” she said slowly. “I mean, I'm here now, aren't I? You feel comforted by my presence, I'm keeping you company like I have so many times before. You gain something by talking to me, whether it's positive or negative. I affect you in some way. So in that case, yeah, I guess I'm real to you. I'm a part of you, so I'm as real as you yourself are. Is that what you wanted to know?”

  “Mm, I suppose so...” Tarana's own voice sounded distant and muffled to her ears. “Aura, could I – could I ask you for one last favor?” Too tired to hold herself upright any longer, she toppled softly onto her side and closed her eyes. “I don't have the strength left anymore,” she mumbled.

  “Are you sure that's what you want?” There was a note of seriousness in Aurora's voice now. “You do realize what that would mean, right? What would be in store for you?”

  Tarana managed a small nod. “I want to try,” she whispered. She heard Aurora move closer to her.

  “Good luck, then. Somehow, I don't think we'll see each other for a very long time. You'll have very little use for me anymore, but I wish you the best, because this is most definitely not the easy way out.” Tarana vaguely felt a hand on her chest. “Of course, I really expected no less of you.”

  As she felt the world around her slip away, she managed a smile. Thank you.

  Chapter 17

  When Tarana awoke again, she was in pain - an immense amount of pain that made her entire body shake uncontrollably and her head pound. Without opening her eyes and with great effort
, she reached her hand over to feel her chest, but it felt smooth and soft, uninjured. Feeling incredibly tired, she rolled over slightly and drifted back off to sleep. Right before she did so, she realized with dull surprise the ground beneath her was soft.

  The next time she awoke, she felt slightly better, well enough to open her eyes and take in her surroundings. Her sight was blurry, but after blinking several times, she thought she saw someone standing over her. Opening her mouth to say something, she realized she was already slipping back into sleep before she could make her body work, her eyelids drooping shut against her will.

  The third time she awoke, she finally felt more normal. Rubbing her eyes, she slowly sat up and found that her body ached, but the pain was bearable. She looked around and found that she was sitting in a bed, under a blanket. Through a window across the room, she saw the sky was either just beginning to lighten, or about to darken. The low light crept into the room and dimly lit the contents. She recognized the stone walls of the stronghold. Yawning, she wondered how long she had slept and considered what Aurora had told her. Why had she called her a hero?

  Hearing a noise, she refocused her eyes and realized there was someone sitting in a chair, gazing out the window, their back to her. “Hello..?” she mumbled, her voice hoarse with disuse. The figure in the chair jumped, seemingly startled by the sound of Tarana’s voice. As she turned around, the low light lit a halo around her wild auburn hair. “Roxanne,” she breathed.

  Roxanne rushed forward, a look of concern etched on her face. “Tarana,” she said, then paused, seeming to not know how to continue. “Are…are you okay?”

  She flexed her limbs, going through a mental check of each body part. “I feel fine, actually. But, what happened? Why am I here? Where’s Rupert?”

  A flicker of uncertainty crossed Roxanne’s face before she shrugged and sat down on the corner of the bed. “A lot’s happened since you passed out, Tarana. No one exactly expected the type of speech you gave and you got people kind of worked up. But then, when we all realized there might be some truth to your words, I think you won over a lot of the people in that crowd. I mean, it’s hard to hate you when you protect the lives of thousands of people you’ve never even met.

  “You have no idea what it was like down there. All these people wanted to do was just see you, hear what you had to say, and here we were, in the middle of a wizard battle. And well, it was pretty obvious that you were sacrificing your own safety to save all of us. It was kind of crazy. I mean, there were giant rocks plummeting down toward us, we were struggling just to breathe and to see, and that lightning…” she trailed off. “Look, it was absolutely terrifying and there was no one who could do anything to protect us, except for you. No matter what we thought in the beginning about who you were or what you were supposed to do, the fact of the matter is that we owe our lives to you. So when you went down and we were suddenly on our own, people did what they had to do to stay alive.”

  Tarana’s eyes narrowed, confused. “What do you mean?”

  She looked decidedly uncomfortable. “Well, one wizard, even one as experienced,” she said the word mockingly, “as him, he couldn’t stand up to the force of thousands of people fighting for their lives.”

  “Rupert’s dead?” she asked softly.

  “Yeah,” she replied. “Why do you look so sad? He was trying to kill all of us, including you.”

  She shrugged. “I dunno. It’s just that, I feel bad for him. He lost his whole family and I was kind of supposed to be his new family and I turned against him. I mean, I don’t feel bad for what I did, I just feel bad it had to end this way. Another wizard killed by the people.”

  “You lost your family too,” Roxanne pointed out. “You never tried to destroy a bunch of people who had nothing to do with it.”

  “I joined the army, didn’t I?”

  She sighed. “It’s not the same. You’re just a kid and you never really meant to hurt anyone.”

  Tarana pulled her knees up to her chest and laid her head down on top. “That’s not true. There were lots of people I hurt on purpose. I was no better than Rupert, in that way. I killed people in revenge too.”

  “Well,” Roxanne put a hand on her back. “In the end, you saved a whole lot of people. You learned from your mistakes. Rupert didn’t. That’s why people trust you now and why they all gathered to defend you.”

  “I guess so. But what about the armies? What about General Kendall? He must have hated my speech.” She noticed with some alarm that Roxanne’s jaw was clenched. “What?”

  She looked away. “The night before the speech, after I left your room, I ran into Bea.” She noticed Tarana’s look of confusion. “You know her. She was one of Djerr’s guards back when they thought he was the wizard. She let you talk with him and she was the one escorting you around yesterday. Anyway, she told me about what they had done to you, torturing you to try and get Djerr to use his nonexistent magic.

  “You have to understand, she had no part in it. All she knew was that she should let Djerr escape and she had some suspicion that they were going to take him somewhere else, but it wasn’t until you came back and mentioned the incident to Kendall that she finally understood. She came to tell me about it immediately afterward, so I- I took care of things.”

  Tarana blinked. “What do you mean?”

  She looked away. “I killed him, Tarana. You have to understand, it wasn’t for revenge or something like that. It was for your own protection. I pledged to protect the wizard when I joined the army and he presented a danger to you. But really, even if you weren’t the wizard, I think I would have done it. I just want to keep you safe.”

  Setting her hand over Roxanne, she scooted a little closer. “No, I understand. It’s okay, Roxanne. I think it had to be done.” Another noise interrupted her thought and she raised her head to see the bedroom door open. Her mouth dropped when she recognized who it was. “Kirian?”

  He faltered when he saw Roxanne, but she waved him over. “It’s fine. You’ve been waiting just as long to talk to her.”

  Standing awkwardly over her, he smiled weakly. “So, you’re okay?”

  She nodded. “I’m okay. But what are you doing here, Kirian? Sorry I ran off on you again.”

  He glowered disapprovingly at her. “I spent quite a lot of time trying to find you, you know. It wasn’t exactly a good feeling, wondering if you were dead or alive yet again. And then, after I had given up all hope of ever seeing you again, I hear you’re rejoining the enemy, heading all the way back the way we came. I had to come and see what happened.”

  “But I wasn’t really rejoining them!” she objected, wincing at Roxanne’s glower. “You saw what happened, right? It was the only thing I could think of, something to stop all the killing. That’s all I really wanted, you know.”

  He sighed and shrugged. “Well, you nearly got yourself killed in the process, but I suppose that’s better than actually getting yourself killed.”

  “Yes, I suppose so.” Her eyes widened suddenly and she turned her head rapidly between the two. “Wait, the griffins. What’s happened with the griffins?”

  Kirian shrugged and Roxanne snapped his fingers. “Oh, that’s right. I was hoping you would wake up soon so I could tell you. The latest messages say the griffins have disappeared again. There haven’t been any attacks since that old wizard died.”

  Tarana sighed in relief. “Well, at least that’s one problem down, then. But what’s happening with the armies? They’re not still fighting, are they?”

  “Everyone’s been kind of confused around here, since you fell unconscious three days ago,” Kirian responded. “They’re not fighting or anything, just trying to figure out what to do now.”

  “Three days!” Her mouth dropped open. “I’ve been unconscious that long?”

  Roxanne nodded. “Yep. We’ve been waiting awhile. Anyway, everyone’s kind of confused. We don’t know if there’s still an army or what we should be doing or what’s going on. It�
�s kind of a mess. A lot of people have left already.”

  Tarana ran a hand through her tangled hair, yanking at the knots. “Well there’s no real point in having an army anymore, is there?”

  Looking suddenly nervous, Roxanne shifted her weight. “See the thing is, some of us have been talking and we were kind of thinking that we could still be your army.” She held up a hand as Tarana opened her mouth to interrupt. “Wait, listen. What we were thinking is that our purpose as an army was to support the future wizard. We kind of assumed it would be in controlling the rest of the world and squashing anyone who rose up against you, but maybe it doesn’t have to be like that. A lot of us still want to protect you, Tarana, and we want to help you do whatever it is you have to do. Because there are always going to be people who hate you, simply for having magic and being different. No matter how many times you help them or save their lives, they will never be thankful for it and they’ll only hate you more. We’ll be your defense against those people.”

  “There are a lot of former Citizens’ soldiers here too,” Kirian added. “Most of them have wandered off, but there are still a lot sticking around. They’re hoping you’ll help them out, I think. There are many people out there without houses or towns to return to. The whole point of the Citizens’ Army was to ensure the protection of the people’s homes and lives, which is what they’re hoping you stand for.”

  Silent for a moment, Tarana finally nodded. “That actually might work,” she said thoughtfully. “I’ve been thinking, one of the things I really want to do is help rebuild all those places that were destroyed by the armies and by the griffins. I might have magic, but I can’t do that all by myself. If you guys are serious about supporting me, that could be our first project.” She looked between them. “What do you think?”

  Roxanne nodded. “It’s not a bad idea. I think if you started traveling around, helping rebuild people’s homes and businesses, you’d get a lot more support, too.”