The Girl Born of Smoke (24 page)

“Really? This place can't be that hard to
find.”

“No, I mean, I think they probably could
find it if they really wanted to, but when they took me to another
room a little while ago, I saw a bunch more people in the hallway.
I'm not absolutely positive, but I think I recognized a couple of
them as Wizard's soldiers. Obviously they weren't wearing their
armor or anything, but I spent enough time in the stronghold that I
recognize most of the officers, at least, and I'm pretty sure that
at least a couple of them were officers. Think about it. The
Wizard's army is desperate to get you to use your magic. Just about
the only ones who know that we know each other are Roxanne and
those three soldiers who were guarding you. They're not above
trying to force you to do it this way. That's probably why they
practically let you out of your room, just so they could get you
here. Of course, they wouldn't want you to blame the Wizard's army,
which is probably why they're not openly showing who they are, but
I think they're perfectly capable of being behind this whole
thing.”

Djerr stared at her for a moment, taking in
what she had said. “But you're a Wizard's soldier yourself,” he
pointed out.

“So?” She looked at him blankly.

“Well, they're not going to torture one of
their own, are they?”

She laughed, lying down next to him. “Of
course they are. I'm expendable. You're the one that matters.”

He tugged at a strand of his tangled hair
and looked distressed. “Please don't say that, Tara.”

Curling into a ball, she turned away from
him. “Well, there's nothing we can do now, anyway. Just go to
sleep.” He was silent and after several moments, she could hear him
breathing deeply. Tucking an arm under her head, she lay shivering
on the cold stone floor and tried to fall asleep.

What seemed like only moments after she had
finally drifted off, the door suddenly slammed open again. She
looked over blearily as the two men burst into the room and stepped
over to where she lay. Against Djerr's shouted protests, they
hauled her to her feet and dragged her out of the room to the one
down the hallway. They didn't even bother to tie her hands together
this time, but each had a deathly tight grip on one wrist.

Shoved to the ground in the other room, she
fell hard on her knees before she could bring her hands in front of
her to catch herself. Scowling, she stood back up and started to
turn toward the men. “Okay, well let's get this over wi-” The
breath was knocked out of her as one of them punched her in the
chest. She found herself flat on the ground, seemingly paralyzed.
All was silent, except for her heartbeat in her ears, sounding
unnaturally fast. Staring wide-eyed at the ceiling, she tried to
catch her breath and heard the men talking, their voices echoing
dimly in her ears.

“Well, don't kill her!”

“She's fine, see?”

As her heartbeat finally began to slow, she
started coughing and tried to roll onto her side, just as the other
man kicked her in the side of the face. Her vision dimmed, then was
flooded with bright lights zig-zagging across the room. The man
kicked her again with a grunt and she felt nauseous, her limbs
wobbly as she tried to get away from the attackers.

The beating felt a dozen times more brutal
than the previous and when they finally stopped, her body was
completely numb. Nothing in her body hurt or ached, but when they
pulled her to her feet, her legs wouldn't support her own weight.
Dizzy, she instantly collapsed back to the ground with a moan.

Only semi-conscious, she noticed the hallway
passing by again and figured someone must be carrying her. When she
blinked again, she saw part of Djerr's face. Wondering if one of
her eyes had already swollen shut, she slowly reached a hand up to
touch it and winced as she accidentally poked it. It was wide open,
but she could see nothing through it.

Turning her head, so she could see all of
Djerr, she noticed he was speaking, but the ringing in her head was
too loud for her to hear. Shaking her head slightly, she closed her
eyes as her entire body began to throb and ache. It grew to a
piercing pain in her side and she was forced to only take shallow
breaths.

When she opened her eyes again, she realized
time had passed, although her body still hurt just as much, if not
more. She didn't immediately see Djerr, but as she took account of
each part of her body, she felt something touching her hand, which
lay sprawled out of sight of her one good eye.

Rolling her head to the side, she saw Djerr
lying on his back, apparently asleep with his hand resting on top
of her own. Pulling her hand away, she attempted to sit up and
shuddered at the sharp pain in her side, which only made it hurt
more. She bit her lip and she tried not to cry out as she relaxed
back on the hard ground.

“Tara?” She heard Djerr shuffle and she
glanced back over at him. He was propped up on one arm, looking
worriedly over at her.

“Uh?” she choked, her tongue feeling sticky
in her dry mouth.

“Are-are you alright?”

She managed a slight shrug. Noticing a chunk
of bread and the dirty canteen of water sitting by the door, she
motioned toward it with her head.

Oh!” Djerr sprang up and grabbed the water,
hurrying back over to her. He slowly poured a small trickle into
her mouth and she swallowed, washing away much of the sticky, salty
taste.

“I've been better,” she croaked wryly. “How
long have I been asleep?”

Djerr shrugged and sat down next to her. “It
must've been a pretty long time, but I don't know. It’s hard to
keep track of time in here.” He paused. “Tarana, what are we going
to do?”

“Don't ask me. I don't
think there's anything we
can
do.”

He looked away from her.
“Look, I know you're going to hate me for even asking you this, but
could you please
please
show them your magic before they kill you. You
can make it look like I did it, I don't care. I just don't want you
to die.”

Tarana immediately started shaking her head
before Djerr finished. “No. You know I'm not willing to do that. I
swore a long time ago I wasn't going to use my curse ever again and
I was forced to use it that one last time to save your life, but
that's it. It will only bring pain and sadness.”

“No, it won't. Not necessarily.” It was the
first time she had heard him sound so frustrated, almost angry.
“Why are you willing to save my life, but not your own? Are you
really worth that little to yourself that you won't take a single
risk to save yourself? It's not a curse, Tarana. I can't make you
see that, but it's a gift. You can use it in any way you want. It
certainly hasn't brought me pain or sadness, it brought me life and
hope. It could bring everybody life and hope, if you would only
try.”

“Shut up, Djerr,” Tarana growled, turning
her head away from him.

“Please, Tara, just do this one thing for
me. Just get us out of here.”

“I already told you, I don't know how.” Her
dirty, tangled hair had fallen across her face, in her eyes, and
she tried to shake it away with as little movement as possible.
“Just leave me alone.”

They sat in silence for a long time,
interrupted only when Djerr asked her if she was thirsty, but she
didn't answer. She drifted in and out of consciousness until she
was startled awake by the sound of the door opening. The same two
men filed into the room and carefully shut the door behind them.
Her body tensed in apprehension, Tarana peered over at them, but
they didn't immediately move toward her. Instead, they turned their
attention to Djerr, who was sitting in the far corner, his knees
pulled up to his chest, looking miserable.

“Well, to be honest, we didn't think it
would come to this.” The taller man stepped forward, his arms
behind his back. His hair was slicked back into a tight, greasy
ponytail. His sleeveless shirt showed off his thick shoulders and
arms. “Either you two are not as good of friends as we were led to
believe or you are one heartless bastard of a kid.”

Djerr said nothing, but he stood slowly and
Tarana noticed his fists were tightly clenched. The other man
sauntered toward him with a piece of rope in his hands. As Djerr
lunged forward, swinging at him, the man easily dodged the blow and
caught his wrist. He twisted it forcefully, causing Djerr to gasp
in pain and spin around against his will. Catching his other wrist,
the man quickly tied his hands together with the rope and kicked
Djerr's knees outward so that he tumbled to the ground. He scooted
backwards until his back rested against the wall again and looked
away, glaring.

“That's a good boy,” the first man said,
chuckling. “Now you just stay there and watch while we deal with
your little girlfriend. Don't be afraid to rescue her, but I think
you'll find that physical means will prove rather ineffective. My
buddy here is going to keep a close eye on you.” The other man
smirked at him, then turned his attention back to Djerr as the
first man walked over to Tarana and grabbed the front of her shirt.
He grimaced. “This...might hurt,” he said without a glimmer of
remorse.

Her entire body felt as if it was being
ripped apart as he hauled her upward and slammed her against the
wall. Vision dimming, she desperately hoped she would pass out, but
it didn't happen. Flooded with nausea, she gasped for air and
realized she had been screaming. Her legs unable to support her
body, the only thing holding her up was the man's grip, but he
seemed to have no problem using only one hand.

He grasped her hand and she felt his rough
calluses scraping against her skin. Only using a couple fingers, he
bent her little finger back further and further and even as her
entire body throbbed and pierced with anguish, she became acutely
aware of the strain in her finger as he pushed it backwards. The
strain quickly became painful and she threw her head backward
against the wall, eyes squeezed shut. Hearing a crack, she felt the
finger snap and her eyes filled with tears. Eyes still shut, she
thought of Roxanne’s lesson on pain and focused on her ragged
breaths and forced them to become smoother and longer.

With each breath, she channeled all her pain
and discomfort into a stream up the core of her body, up into her
head, and out her eyes. Each hot tear that ran down her face was
full of suffering and as she focused on channeling it out, the pain
became tolerable. She opened her eyes and looked over at Djerr,
smiling slightly. She was going to make it.

Then, she felt a hand on her stomach. Her
concentration broke as her focus snapped back toward the man. His
hand ruffled the edge of her shirt, touching her bare skin as he
reached upward. She froze, his hand feeling cold, rough, and wrong
against her. Slumped against the wall, she had nowhere to move and
his other hand still gripped her in place.

He ran his hand around to her back and
pulled her close against him, close enough to smell his shirt, damp
with perspiration. She struggled against his chest and managed to
turn her head back toward Djerr. His mouth was moving and although
she couldn't hear him over the silence of her body's panic, she
knew what he was saying.

“It's time to leave,” she whispered.

Tensing every broken muscle in her body,
indescribable pain exploded through her and she could feel her
heartbeat quicken. Her ears were ringing louder than any noise she
had experienced, but she only tensed her body more. She welcomed
the suffering and piled it up as she felt herself growing lighter
and less substantial. Reaching out to Djerr with intangible arms,
she swept him up with her as the room faded into a white glow and
she felt the man's arms pass through her.

Surrounded in a blanket of light, she
couldn't see Djerr, but she could feel him near. Focusing, she saw
that the light was made up of tiny particles bouncing off her as
she drifted past. A few of the tiny balls of light clung to her
skin and she felt them start to soak in. When one finally passed
through her skin, she felt it speed up as it began bouncing around
inside her, ricocheting off her broken bones and bruised
organs.

It tickled slightly as it flitted through
her and was soon joined by several more particles. After the
tickling subsided, she felt a warmth in the areas that had
previously been a stabbing pain. The particles rose higher in her
body, moving faster as her body narrowed. As they began to reach
her face, they condensed in her blind eye. Her sight returned with
a burst of sparkling light and the particles exploding outward,
speeding away.

She felt herself gradually slowing down as
the light dimmed. As she came to a stop, the glow faded into black.
She felt the ground beneath her feet and realized she was standing,
but could see nothing. Blinking several times in succession, she
finally began to make out the dreary landscape around her. Turning
around, she saw a familiar, dimly lit city. Still feeling
unnaturally warm, she collapsed onto the cold ground, much less
muddy than when she had left it. Above her, she saw the sky was
packed with stars, shining brighter still because there was no
moon.

“Tara?” she heard Djerr ask tentatively
nearby.

“Djerr, are you okay?” She looked in the
direction the voice had come from, barely able to make out his
shape.

“I'm fine, but you-?”

“Don't worry, I'm fine,” she interrupted
quickly. “I think we're in the valley outside Ralinos, but we'd
better get moving. They might have figured out who exactly got us
out of there and they might be looking for us.”

Djerr didn't immediately make a move. “But
Tara, that man, he...”

“I don't want to talk about it,” she said,
climbing to her feet. “I did what I had to do.”