The Girl Born of Smoke Read online

  The Girl Born of Smoke

  Jessica Billings

  Published by Jessica Billings at Smashwords

  Copyright 2010 Jessica Billings

  The Girl Born of Smoke

  Jessica Billings

  Chapter 1

  Thin tendrils of smoke rose up from the blackened ruins, twisting and coiling in the still air. A girl stood before the wreckage, silently standing vigil until the last flickers of flame exhausted themselves and vanished. The smoke coalesced with the surrounding fog, creating a thick haze that dimmed the sun’s rays and stung the girl’s eyes.

  With a deep breath of resolve, she tilted her head to listen to the sound of whispering, drifting forward on the thick morning air. Straightening her shoulders, she turned away from the blackened disaster to face the scattered groups of people, barely visible in the hazy fog. The whispers, melting together into a wordless drone, abruptly stopped when the people saw the girl turn their way.

  They shuffled uneasily as she walked slowly past them, her bare feet plodding softly through the damp grass. She kept her eyes staring fixedly on the ground in front of her, refusing to meet their stares. Even so, she could feel their sharp gaze on her in the heavy silence. She left the people behind, let them be enveloped in the fog and fade away.

  With her short dark hair falling in her eyes, the girl quickened her pace as she heard the clink of metal, muffled by the fog, yet seemingly loud in the otherwise silent world. Hearing footsteps fall into step behind her, she broke out into a trot, trying to calm her pounding heart. She fought the urge to run, knowing the predator always chases its prey when it bolts.

  Dew collected on the tangled strands of her hair and dripped in her eyes, stinging them with soot. Overhead, a bird sung a short trill of warning. Nervously, she wiped her hand across her face, blinking at the discomfort. In that moment of distraction, her foot caught on an exposed root, sending her hurtling forward. Instinctively, she threw her hands out in front of her and caught herself on something soft and warm. The warmth of life. Letting out a sharp cry, she tumbled to the ground, tangled up in the other body. Fighting her way desperately to her feet, she sprang back with eyes wide and arms raised defensively.

  In front of her, a woman sat scowling on the ground, rubbing her elbow. Beside her stood a man staring at the girl in confusion. Instantly, she realized the two weren’t from her town. Their brightly colored clothes stood out unnaturally against the bleak scene. Frantically looking behind her, she saw her follower had paused as well, but was watching carefully, a knife in his grasp.

  “I-I’m sorry,” the girl mumbled, edging around the strangers.

  “You need to learn to watch where you’re going,” the woman growled, climbing to her feet and brushing the dirt off her pants.

  “You okay?” the man asked, concern etched in his thick eyebrows.

  The woman shrugged. “Fine. Don’t worry about it.” She sidestepped around the girl without truly looking at her.

  “Wait.” The man grabbed her arm, halting her step. His gray eyes narrowed as he took in the entire scene. “Who’s that man? What’s going on?” he addressed the girl.

  The girl began to back away slowly, putting her head back down. “I’ve gotta go. You should leave, though. Go back the way you came.”

  The man released his hold on the woman and put his hand under the girl’s chin, his calloused fingers lifting her face to meet his gaze. Her eyes were wide and wild with fear. She flinched at his touch. “You’re in trouble,” he said flatly. “Tell me what’s going on.”

  She gave a small shake of her head. “I can’t. Not now. It’s dangerous here.” In one movement, she spun out of his reach and walked swiftly away from the town, toward the surrounding woods. Behind her, the man grabbed his companion’s arm and dragged her after the girl. “Don’t run,” she murmured back at them. “Running people get chased.”

  Only when the pine needles crunched underfoot did the girl give a sigh of relief and slow, glancing back at the other two. “Thank you,” she said. “I dunno who you are, but you should be okay now.” A breeze swept through the trees, causing pine needles to rain down around them. She anxiously looked behind the others, but saw no one in the confining fog. “I don’t think they’ll follow us in here. This isn’t their territory.”

  “What the hell is going on?” The woman jerked her arm away from the man, scowling accusingly at the girl. “Why are we running around like criminals?”

  The girl averted her gaze and shrugged. “It’s nothing. Just…just don’t go back there, ‘kay?”

  The man sighed. “Let’s see if we can get a straight answer out of you. What’s your name?”

  She slowly met his eyes and hesitated for a second. “Aurora.”

  He shrugged. “Aurora then. I’m Kirian and this is Roxanne.” He tipped his head in the woman’s direction. “Look, I don’t really care why you’re in such a hurry to get out of there, but that guy following you had a knife and I’m really in no rush to deal with that.”

  “Wait, he had a knife?” Roxanne interrupted, her voice alarmed.

  Kirian gave a deep sigh. “Yes, he did. Of course you wouldn’t notice something like that. I swear you will be the death of me, Roxanne.” She opened her mouth to say something more, but he held up his hand and turned to Aurora. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me, kid, but do you have somewhere to go? Somewhere where guys with knives aren’t creeping around after you?”

  Despite his attempt to make her smile, her expression remained stoic. “No, not really. I’ve never been anywhere except Delobo.”

  “Delobo. That’s the town back there?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. I guess I figured I’d just walk until I found somewhere to go.”

  “Where’s your family?” he asked wearily.

  Jaw clenched, she finally met his gaze, raising herself to her full height and looking at him pointedly. “Gone. They’re all gone now.”

  Roxanne raised an eyebrow. “Well kid, it took us over a day to walk to Delobo from the last town we stayed in and we were using a map. And we were wearing shoes.”

  Face flushing red, Aurora dipped her head back down, staring at her bare feet. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll figure it out on my own.”

  Giving Roxanne an exasperated look, Kirian laid a firm hand on Aurora’s shoulder. “We’re not just going to let you wander off on your own, kid. At least let us show you to the next town if you’re sure about this.”

  “And here.” Roxanne swung her backpack off her shoulders and dug inside for a moment, pulling out a pair of sandals. “Here’re some extra sandals. You can have them.” She noticed a glance of amusement from Kirian and her voice hardened. “We can’t have some kid slowing us down, right?”

  “Oh, okay.” Aurora took the sandals hesitantly. “I don’t have any money to give you, though.”

  Kirian groaned. “How exactly are you going to survive on your own in a new town without any money?”

  “I’ll figure something out!” she replied indignantly.

  “Let’s just get going.” Roxanne pulled out a map, hauling her backpack on. “I want to get out of here. This place is giving me the creeps.” Silently, she led the way through the forest. The fog drifted among the trees, hiding the treetops from view. It clung to their clothes and skin, creating a sheen of dew. Other than their wet footsteps, the only sound came from birds fluttering high above them, letting out abrupt three-note trills occasionally.

  “Where’re you guys from, anyway?” Aurora asked, trailing behind the other two.

  “Kain,” Roxanne replied with a hint of pride in her voice. “We’ve been travelling around now for about two months, but I guess we’ve got to go back eventually
.”

  “You’ve been dragging me around for two months is more like it,” Kirian growled, petulantly picking at the sleeves of his shirt which had plastered themselves wetly against his skin. “Well I think you succeeded in reaching the most remote areas of the world, at least. I bet this kid’s never even seen a stranger before.”

  Aurora shook her head, glancing nervously at Roxanne. “No, there’s not really any reason for anyone to come to Delobo.”

  Roxanne narrowed her eyes. “I don’t know why you came then, if you hated it so much. You could’ve just stayed in Kain. I wouldn’t have cared.”

  “I had to come to keep you out of trouble, Roxi. Keep you from blundering blindly into stupid situations, like the one back there.”

  “I see,” she said coldly. She glanced back at Aurora, who had lengthened the distance between them and trailed along some distance behind, looking nervously between the two. “Keep up, will you! We’ve got to hurry home for poor Kirian.”

  Making no reply, Aurora walked slightly faster, but kept a large gap between them. They walked in stony silence through the morning as the fog slowly dissipated, leaving a cold, cloudy sky above which threatened to begin raining at any moment. The silence grew harder and denser, only pronounced more deeply by the steady hum of insects in the trees.

  “So, I was thinking,” Roxanne mused several hours later as they blundered through the underbrush alongside the steep bank of a river, looking for a spot to cross. Aurora winced at the dangerous undertone of her voice. “I was thinking that if we sidetracked a bit and crossed over the mountains, we could probably walk home along the coast. I think it would be really-“

  “No,” Kirian said sharply, cutting her off. “We are not backtracking. I've had enough of this trip. We're going home by the shortest, most direct route possible. I'm sick of walking, I'm sick of all the bugs, and I'm sick of this entire thing. When I agreed to go on a trip with you, I did not agree to go wandering through the wilderness for months at a time. You've drawn out this whole thing for way too long and it's time to go home. Aren't you happy? You saw the world. Congratulations.”

  Roxanne narrowed her eyes and stopped, turning to face him. “Oh yeah, thanks a lot. No, you didn't agree to go 'wandering through the wilderness,' you agreed to come with me on the only vacation I've ever wanted to go on. I've been cooped up in Kain my entire life and I just wanted to see what else is out here. Yeah, so now I've seen a little bit. I guess that's good enough then, isn't it? Let's hurry on home before poor Kirian gets bitten by a bug.”

  The sound of the river thundered below and did nothing to ease the tension. Looking anxiously between the other two, Aurora took a step back and felt her foot slip down as she put her weight on it. She desperately tried to shift her weight back to her other leg, but it was too late and she twisted her body as she toppled backwards. With a shriek, she landed on her back and began slipping down the slick rock. Slamming her hands down, she tried to slow her fall, but the smooth rock grew mossier and she quickly picked up speed.

  She hit the rough water feet first with a wet smack. As she scrambled to get her footing, she caught a glimpse of Kirian and Roxanne above her, shouting things she was unable hear. The water roared all around her and she felt it pull her away from the shore. Keeping her body pointed toward them, she kicked fiercely against the current, but noticed the shoreline moving by at a faster and faster rate. The river tore her around a corner and she lost sight of them at the same moment she crashed back-first into a rock sticking out of the water.

  Her head buzzing with the impact, she weakly grasped at the rock, half stunned as the river began to slip her around it. It grabbed her hand back. Shaking her head, she looked up and saw a girl kneeling on the rock, her hand grasping Aurora's. With her other hand, she smoothed her long dark hair out of her face.

  “You shouldn't be out here,” the girl said with concern

  “I fell in,” Aurora cried. “Please help me!”

  The girl shook her head, giggling. “No, I mean out here, away from home. You need to come back.”

  “I can't.” Aurora tried to pull herself up onto the rock as her legs trailed out behind her, tugged by the river. “Help me!”

  The girl looked at Aurora sadly for a moment, then released her hand. Screaming, Aurora caught a mouthful of the frigid water and tumbled away down the river. As she tried to cough the water out, more entered her mouth and she floundered helplessly, trying to stay above the surface. Flailing in panic, she felt something scrape against her foot. The feeling continued before she finally realized it was the bottom of the river.

  She scrambled to get her footing, tripping several times until she managed to stand with her shoulders and head out of the water. Choking, she stumbled toward the shore, slipping on the loose, slimy rocks below. The river had widened out, growing shallower and calmer for a short stretch.

  Reaching the shallow-sloping shoreline, she collapsed on her side, still coughing until her throat and chest ached. She caught sight of something strange and glanced down. Her fingers were desperately clutching around a small, spindly stick. Blinking in confusion, she tossed the stick out into the river and watched it drift away, slowly picking up speed. With a groan, she dragged herself completely out of the water, her clothes stuck tightly against her body.

  She lay in the damp dirt for a few moments, raggedly catching her breath and staring up at the overcast sky. It slowly began to rain and she closed her eyes, listening to the patter of raindrops on the ground, feeling the rain run down her face. Finally, she sat up and smoothed her soaking wet, tangled hair back. Taking a deep breath, she climbed to her feet and stumbled along the bank, back upriver.

  The ground was sodden and the mud squelched beneath her feet with every step, her sandals rubbing the grit painfully into the back of her heels. When she passed the area where she had seen the other girl, she kept her gaze on the ground, refusing to let her eyes wander to the river.

  The rain gradually became heavier until streams of water dribbled down her face and dripped off her chin and nose. She shivered, wrapping her arms around her thin body. Over the sound of the rain drumming on the trees and river, she thought she heard a voice and she stopped walking, listening intently. After a moment, she decided it had been nothing and continued walking, keeping the river nearby.

  She blinked the rain out of her eyes and looked around. The bank had slowly risen up above the level of the river and she looked down on it, shuddering and closing her eyes as she felt the cold water tugging her away again.

  “You shouldn't be out here!”

  Aurora's eyes flew open and she spun around toward the voice. “What?”

  “I said how'd you get out of there?” It was Kirian. He and Roxanne stood a few footsteps away, staring at her, shocked looks on both their faces. “Are you alright?”

  Aurora blinked. “I'm...fine.”

  Kirian and Roxanne exchanged glances. Kirian opened his mouth, then closed it again with a shake of his head, brown hair glistening with raindrops. Roxanne sighed heavily. “Well, look. You managed to get yourself out, which is good. But we've got to get going. I'm tired, I'm wet, and it’ll be getting dark soon.”

  Managing a half-smile, Aurora smoothed out her damp shirt. “Ok, well let’s get out of here then.”

  “Fantastic,” Kirian said dryly. “Now are we going to start heading home?”

  Roxanne shot him a fierce glare. “Kirian,” she muttered through clenched teeth.

  Giving a long sigh, he looked up at the sky, small raindrops splashing on his face. “Let's just go. There's nothing more for us here.” He glanced at Aurora. “Just be more careful, alright? I hope you know you got lucky this time.”

  Aurora nodded quickly. “Yes, I'm sorry.”

  Putting her arm around Aurora, Roxanne looked at Kirian, but spoke to Aurora. “You have nothing to be sorry for,” she said coldly, still locked eyes with Kirian. “I'm just happy you're alright.”

  Kirian shook his head w
ith disgust and walked off without a word, followed shortly by Aurora and Roxanne. The drizzling rain continued until the day faded into the gloomy hour just before twilight and they finally reached a bridge across the river. Kirian still walked slightly ahead, paying no attention to the other two until they crossed the bridge.

  “Do you know where we are on the map?” he asked Roxanne suddenly.

  She shook her head.

  “Great,” he said, his voice thick with sarcasm. “Just great.” He threw his things to the ground. “So I guess we'll just camp here on the ground in our soaking wet clothes then?”

  “Fine,” Roxanne snapped. “You do that. The kid and I will find a town to stay at while you sulk here in the dark.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah, that's a great idea. I don’t recognize any of this scenery. That last town we stayed at is nowhere around here. You’re going to end up wandering through the forest in the dark, just asking to fall down a ravine or into another river.”

  Aurora's eyes opened wide. “Maybe-”

  “Yeah sure. I bet we'll be out of this forest before it even gets dark.” Roxanne interrupted. “See you later.” She stormed off without a backwards glance.

  Aurora hesitated for a second, looking at Kirian, then shrugged and ran off after Roxanne. The two walked hurriedly through the forest with Aurora glancing back every few moments to see if Kirian was following. He wasn't. The ground was already covered with shadows and when Aurora looked up at the sky, she saw it was quickly growing dark as well. As the day faded into night, Roxanne increased her pace until Aurora had to jog to keep up with her. “Roxanne!” she protested.

  “What?” Roxanne snapped, glancing back at her. “Hurry up, will you?” She slowed her pace just slightly.

  The forest showed no signs of ending as they hurried onward. The slight path that had led them from the bridge had long since faded away. The underbrush wasn't terribly thick, but Aurora still managed to trip over a vine as she darted along after Roxanne. She fell hard on her already scraped up hands and winced. Roxanne paused as she heard the thud and turned. “You alright?” she asked, breathing heavily.