The Girl Born of Smoke (22 page)

The Wizard Is Reborn

Chapter 10

Half-conscious and sprawled on the ground,
Tarana was only half-aware of the events surrounding her. She felt
Djerr slip out from under her and her own body shoved aside, her
armor clanking against the ground. The yells and shouts around her
grew more numerous and when she opened her eyes a slit, she saw
boots moving dangerously close to her face.

Vaguely hoping that no one stepped on her,
she closed her eyes and felt her mind shift. Becoming more aware of
the details instead, she felt the sticky dirt clinging to her
cheek, its grittiness clinging to her eyelashes. Her heel hurt
slightly and she imagined the blister forming inside her boot. She
had begun to lose feeling in her arm, which was spread awkwardly
underneath her body. Feeling slightly restless, she tried to move,
but found herself paralyzed. With great concentration, she managed
to wiggle her fingers, but as she did so, a sound like rushing wind
filled her ears and she felt herself falling.

With each exhaled breath, she sank further
down and the air felt thick and heavy around her. Realizing
occasionally that time had passed that she had no memory for, she
came to the conclusion that she was slipping in and out of
consciousness. Her mind grew cloudy and she began to forget where
she was or what she was doing there. Thoughts slipped in and out of
her mind and she found it difficult to remember what she had been
thinking about just moments before.

“You're back,” she heard a man say
unexcitedly.

Briefly wondering if it was important and
deciding it probably was, Tarana opened her eyes. She found herself
lying on her back with small rocks jabbing into her skin. Overhead,
a cavernous ceiling hung over her, dripping water. A fat drop
splashed on her forehead, splattering across her face and she woke
up almost instantly. Before she could even remembered where she
should be, she knew this wasn't it. Quickly sitting up, she rubbed
the back of a hand across her face and looked around.

A warm glow of light filled the area,
although there seemed to be no entrances or exits from the solid
rock cavern. Glancing down, she realized there were no shadows
either. It was almost as if the cave itself was emitting light. As
she looked around, she noticed a man sitting nearby, watching her
intently. He sat upon a large boulder, one of the many that filled
the room. She recognized his silvery-blue eyes and stark white
eyebrows instantly: it was the man she had seen after the fight
with Prisca, only a couple weeks ago.

Feeling slightly woozy, she stood and glared
over at him. “You again! What are you doing here?”

He raised a bushy eyebrow. “You don't even
know where 'here' is, do you?”

She ignored him. “Who are you? Why do I keep
seeing you?”

“That's an interesting
choice of words,” he noted. “Not, 'Why are you following me?' or
'Why do I keep bumping into you?' but 'Why do I keep
seeing
you?' Do you
think you're imagining me?”

“Well the only two times I've seen you were
when I was unconscious,” she growled. “And I know I wasn't in a
cave when I fell asleep.”

He laughed out loud. “You don't trust your
own sanity, do you?” He laughed louder when he saw Tarana reach for
her sword, only to find it missing, along with the rest of her
armor. “You'll have no use for that here. Now sit down,” he
motioned with his hand, “and calm yourself. You're not imagining
me. My name's Rupert. I'm here to teach you to control your
magic.”

Tarana froze, not making any move to sit
down. “I don't know what you're talking about,” she said, narrowing
her eyes.

He shrugged. “Well, I didn't think you were
ready yet. We'll be in touch again soon, once you're ready.” He
made another motion with his hand and Tarana suddenly felt
lightheaded. She stumbled forward, her knee hitting the rocky
ground hard.

“Wait!” she yelled, but when she blinked,
she was lying on the ground in the dark, with a fresh, cool wind
sweeping her hair in front of her face. Cursing, she rubbed her
sore arm, which had been spread awkwardly under her body. She
climbed to her feet, looking around her. It was exceedingly quiet
and dark, the only light coming from the gibbous moon above her,
glowing through the slightly overcast sky. She could see Ralinos
and the stronghold in the distance, shining in the darkness. Seeing
no other alternative, she sighed and started the long walk
back.

Bodies still littered the ground, their
expressions hollowed by the pale moonlight. As her eyes adjusted to
the night, she saw several other shapes moving in the night, slowly
meandering through the valley, occasionally leaning down. She
guessed they were looking for missing friends. In the far reaches
of the valley, farthest from the stronghold, she thought she saw a
few pinpricks of light, but she turned away from them and quickly
made her way back to the stronghold, giving the others a wide
berth.

Ralinos was immersed in activity. As she
reached the outskirts of the town, she saw groups of the poorest
villagers huddled in groups, talking quietly. A great din of noise
was audible in the distance and as the stronghold rose up in front
of her, she was enveloped by masses of people in the streets,
dancing, singing, and shouting at each other. The ground crunched
beneath her boots and she glanced down to find a layer of broken
glass lining the street. Everyone held a bottle of alcohol and as
she passed the groups of people, she irritably had to squeeze out
from under arms thrown around her and duck as a bottle was thrown
near her head, spraying alcohol.

The streets only became more packed as she
grew closer to the stronghold. Her body still weak with exhaustion
and her head pounding, she managed to slowly and forcefully squeeze
her way into the stronghold's courtyard. Here, she thought at first
that a great number of people had finally been overcome by the
drunken revelry and passed out in the grass, but as she stepped
over the bodies, she realized they were injured Wizard's soldiers
from the battle. Many of them were either dead or sleeping, but
other moaned, clutching bandaged limbs to their body. Others rushed
from person to person, bandaging and holding bottles of liquid to
the injured soldiers' lips.

Hearing voices talking, barely audible over
the celebration just beyond the wall, Tarana turned and noticed two
more figures sitting on the steps up to the door of the stronghold,
apparently surveying over the medical team. She walked in their
direction, listening to their conversation as she did so.

“Look, I've sent out everyone I can to look
for her body,” a man's voice said, sounding disgruntled. “Have you
ever considered that maybe she's with the rest of them, celebrating
in town?”

“She isn't there.” Tarana instantly
recognized Roxanne's voice and she slowed her pace slightly. “I
know she wouldn't be there. Look, how do you know your guys are
even out there, looking for her? Maybe I should go myself.” There
was something quicker about Roxanne's voice, a tone she had never
heard before.

“No, she'll turn up.” She recognized the
man's voice now as belonging to Kendall. “Would you just relax? Why
is she so important to you, anyway? There are others missing from
your group too, you know.” He seemed to have finally noticed Tarana
approaching them. “What do you-”

“Can I go up to my room?” Tarana asked,
feeling strangely awkward and not looking at Roxanne. “I'm
tired.”

“Tarana?!” Roxanne sprang to her feet and
looked down at her. “Where the hell have you been?”

“I told you she would turn up,” Kendall
muttered.

“I guess I was knocked unconscious,” Tarana
partially lied, still avoiding Roxanne's stare.

“Come on.” Roxanne jumped down from the
steps and grabbed Tarana's wrist. “We need to talk.” She dragged
Tarana into the stronghold, leaving a glowering Kendall behind. The
building was deathly silent and Roxanne's quick steps echoed loudly
off the stone walls. Only a few torches had been left burning,
casting long, flickering shadows around them. Roxanne led her up to
Tarana's own room, shutting the door firmly behind them. She sat
down on the bed, pulling Tarana down beside her before finally
releasing her wrist.

“Look, I'm really glad you're alright,”
Roxanne started, her curly hair lit from behind by the moonlight
streaming through the window, leaving her face in shadow, “but we
need to talk. Have you heard who the new wizard is?”

Tarana froze, her gaze fixated on the
ground. “No.”

Roxanne sighed. “Your old friend, Djerr.
Tarana, I don't know what's going on, but I have a strong feeling
you're involved somehow. You've got to level with me. Djerr's
insisting he has no idea what they're talking about and you
mysteriously turned up after missing for half the night. If I know
what's going on, I can try and help you two. Now, I know he was
fighting on the other side, but I haven't told anyone else yet.
However, if he keeps insisting that he knows nothing, things are
not going to go well. The ones in charge are not going to let him
disappoint the entire army.”

Tarana finally looked up to Roxanne's face.
“Can I talk to him?”

Pausing for a second, Roxanne sighed.
“Alright, come on.” They left the room and wove deeper into the
dark tangle of hallways that made up the stronghold, Roxanne in the
lead. Without really paying attention to where they were going,
Tarana found herself in a completely unfamiliar area as they
stopped in front of a door, just one in a line of many identical
doors.

Pulling a key out of her pocket, Roxanne
carefully unlocked and swung it open, revealing Djerr standing with
his back to Tarana and Roxanne. Three Wizard's soldiers she had
never seen before were sitting in separate chairs across from
Djerr. They rose as the door opened and nodded toward Roxanne.
Djerr looked over his shoulder and spun around when he saw who it
was, but stayed silent as one of the soldiers put a firm hand on
his shoulder.

“Officer Roxanne?” one of the men
questioned.

“Could you give us a moment with the boy?”
Roxanne asked sharply.

One of the other soldiers, a woman, glanced
at Tarana for the first time and raised an eyebrow. “Do you have
the authority to order us around, Roxanne?”

Roxanne sighed. “I'm not
ordering you, Bea, but could you please give us a moment alone?
This girl claims to know the kid and I want to see if she's telling
the truth
without
,” she shot a glare at the other two soldiers, “a crowd
listening in.”

Bea gave a short laugh and nodded. “Alright
Roxanne, you can have a few minutes.” She motioned toward the door
with her head and followed the two men out the door after Roxanne
and Tarana stepped in. Still hanging back, Tarana shifted uneasily
as she felt the soldiers' harsh gazes on her lowered eyes.

When the door finally clicked behind them,
she remained rooted to the spot, but hesitantly looked up at Djerr.
When their eyes met, he rushed forward and swept her up in his
arms. She felt his warm breath on her ear as he whispered, “I'm
sorry Aura, I didn't know what to tell them, but I haven't told
them a thing.”

She pushed him away and stood back. “Please
Djerr,” she said quietly, “I'm not Aurora. I can't talk to you if
you won't even call me by my name.”

Hesitating for a moment, Djerr finally
nodded. “I think you put too much value on a name, but I
understand, Tara.”

A smile broke out on Tarana's face and she
started to really laugh for the first time in months. Grinning,
Djerr glanced at Roxanne, smirking near the door and gave a short
wave. “Heya Roxi, it's been awhile. Glad to see you're not trying
to kill us this time.”

Roxanne shrugged. “Glad to see you're not
running around with those idiots any longer,” she returned in a low
voice, suddenly looking more serious, “or are you?”

“Look, he's not the one they're looking
for,” Tarana said toward Roxanne. “What's going to happen to
him?”

“Tarana, I don't know if you were conscious
at the time, but in the middle of the battle today, there was a
long burst of light that nearly blinded everyone in the area. It
was impossible to look directly at it. It was the most amazing
thing I have ever seen in my entire life and when the light finally
faded, everyone agreed it had come from one direction. When they
reached the area, they found Djerr. He was the only one alive and
there were apparently dead bodies all around him, although he held
no weapon and wore no armor. There is no doubt in anyone's mind
that he's the one. The wizard everyone has been fighting for.” She
paused. “At least, no doubt in most people's minds. I, however,
have a few questions for him-”

“I'm not a wizard,” Djerr interrupted. “If I
was, why would I have been fighting against my own army? Why would
I have hidden my abilities all of this time?”

Roxanne waved a hand, brushing his protests
aside. “There are plenty of reasons for that. What I don't
understand is why you were alone, without your armor or weapons and
where that light came from.”

Silent, Djerr shrugged.

“Roxanne, is there any way you could get
them to let Djerr go?” Tarana asked quickly.

“And why are you so positive he's not the
wizard?” Roxanne turned toward Tarana. “Don't you find the
circumstances a bit suspicious?” She sighed again when neither of
them answered. “Alright. I know we've been fighting on opposite
sides for awhile, Djerr. And Tarana, you’ve never really seemed to
be fighting for anything in particular. I know you well enough by
now to realize that you don't believe in the same objectives I do,
you merely parrot our beliefs back to us without any real devotion.
I honestly don't know why you continue to stay here, but that's not
the real issue right now. I'm coming to you two as a friend,
someone you've known for a long time. I'm stepping out of my role
as an officer in the Wizard's Army and I swear whatever you tell me
will never leave this room. I just want to get you out of this mess
you're in. So please, tell me what's going on here. What are you
two mixed up in?”