The Girl Born of Smoke by Jessica Billings Page B

beside her. “What's
gotten into you?”
    Aurora pulled at a strand of her hair and
continued to watch the people below. “It's just that we always seem
to arrive less than a day late to every town we come across. It's
the same horrid scene over and over again, yet we never seem to
hurry to our next destination. Finally, we get somewhere in time,
just in time to warn all those poor people, and I'm afraid we're
going to miss that chance.” She leaned back and looked up at the
sky. “Jonah promised us the chance to prevent what happened in Kain
from happening to other people, but I feel like all we've done is
sit back and watch the exact same thing happen over and over.”
Biting her lip, she looked over at Kirian. “Doesn't it get to
you?”
    He shrugged. “We do what we can to help the
survivors.”
    “Yeah, we recruit them into our little
army.” Aurora picked at the long grass beside her. “I just feel so
useless.”
    Kirian patted her shoulder as he stood up.
“You're a sweet girl, Aurora, but you need to learn to listen to
the ones in charge. Jonah knows what he’s doing.”
    She glared crossly at him as she lay down in
the cool grass on the side of the hill, half-napping until night
fell. When she propped herself up on her shoulder, she could look
down on the town, illuminated by the cool moonlight which slid down
the hill and enveloped the town.
    Continuing to prop herself up every few
moments to check on it, Djerr finally grumbled sleepily at her to
stop. Breathing a long sigh of hope, she flipped over onto her back
and finally closed her eyes, her mind slipping away on the soft
night breeze.
    When she awoke the next morning, she judged
that the sun had not been up for long. No one else was awake yet
and the morning was quietly calm. A pale yellow butterfly flitted
by overhead. Feeling relieved, she sat up and looked down at the
town, rubbing the grogginess from her eyes.
    She saw a small plume of smoke rising from
one of the houses. Squinting, she tried to determine if it was
simply coming from the chimney or something more. Her heart beating
quickly, she caught a gasp in her throat when she saw a flash of
fire from the house and then noticed another small trail of smoke
rise from another house. With a cry, she wasted no time tearing her
blanket off and stuffing it in her backpack. As a few of her fellow
soldiers groaned and sat up, looking around, Aurora threw her armor
and sword on. Djerr opened his eyes, looking confused, but Aurora
had already jumped to her feet and started down the hill, toward
the town.
    She hurtled down the long hill, stumbling
and skidding through the thick grass. She managed to keep her
footing until the hill leveled out and her momentum carried her
over her feet. Sprawling face first onto the ground, she lay there
for a moment, trying to catch her breath.
    Sucking in the sharp smell of grass and
dirt, she pushed herself to her feet. Over the sound of her
pounding heart, she heard someone yell her name from behind, but
fearing to wait a moment longer, she dashed into the smoldering
town. The smoke arched over the town and had already formed a layer
of haze across the sky.
    Her skin prickled from the heat of the
fires. Smoke billowed out of the open window of a house next to
her. Running to the front door, she threw it open and staggered
back as more smoke poured out. “Is anyone in here?” she yelled.
Listening closely, she thought she heard a cry. As she glanced
around, she saw a soldier of the Wizard's Army round the corner of
the street.
    Hoping he had not spotted her, she quickly
slipped into the house. Coughing, she looked around. Through the
thick smoke, she saw the chairs and curtains were engulfed in
crackling flames. Dropping to her hands and knees where the smoke
seemed thinner, she crawled deeper into the house, through a door.
The fire had not yet reached the room and the smoke seemed less
dense. She saw a bed in front of her with a small lump lying on it.
Her eyes