The Girl Born of Smoke (31 page)

Smiling widely, he laughed out loud. “Ah, so
you finally get to the point of the matter. How is magic possible
in a universe constructed of such rigid rules? But,” he paused,
“tell me, what keeps our moon revolving around our planet?”

“Gravity,” she answered quickly.

“Right. And us with our sun and the sun with
the galaxy?”

She sighed. “Gravity.”

“And what is gravity?” he asked
pointedly.

She narrowed her eyes in thought, as she
tried to comprehend what he was asking. “Well, it's what pulls us
together.”

“Sure.” He shrugged. “But in order to move
something, you have to touch it, correct? What of the world is
touching our moon?”

Staring blankly, she began to understand
what he was getting at.

“Gravity reaches terribly
far away,” he continued. “But is there actually any tangible
thing
touching both of
them? No, of course not. Not that we know of anyway.” He smiled,
looking pleased with himself. “Furthermore, remember what I told
you about the atom? What it's made up of?”

“A nucleus orbited with electrons,” she
answered, glad to finally be able to answer a question again.

“Correct. Everything is made up of those
components. When you touch something, your atoms are touching its
atoms, right?”

She nodded. “The outer bits, the electrons
are closest to each other. But...” she trailed off, “they don't
actually touch each other. The forces between electrons, they repel
each other too strongly to actually be able to touch. You just feel
the force of the object's electrons pushing away the electrons of
your finger. There's always a space between them, isn't there?” She
looked up at him, astounded. “So what pushes them apart, if there's
nothing there?”

He jumped up from where he sat, arms waving
wildly. “That's it! There's nothing that we know of. It's just a
natural force, a law that has to be obeyed. Everything is made up
of energy, Tarana, and your magic is no different. Even when you
heat something up, to the point of burning it, all you're doing is
speeding up the molecules. We can't always comprehend what the
universe is made of and why things function the way they do, but we
must obey the laws. It's impossible not to.

“You just, you have an
energy to control in a way most people don't. I don't know why, or
how, it just is. It's a part of the universe. Try as I might, I'm
not going to be able to explain to you the secrets of how your
magic works because nobody knows. But in the end, it doesn't
matter
how
it
works, the simple fact that it does work is enough.” He sat down,
suddenly calm again. “See, you're not a freak of nature, Tarana. In
fact, you're more in tune with the laws of nature than anyone else
in the world. You use the same type of magic as only the atoms and
planets do.”

With an aching body, Tarana was the first to
awake the next morning as the first streaks of dawn appeared across
the pale starlit sky. Rustling underneath the crowded blanket, she
rolled onto her back and rested her hands beneath her head, yawning
deeply. Grateful at least for the warmth of the other bodies under
the blanket, she watched as the sky gradually grew brighter and
other groups around them began waking, slowly moving onward.

Growing restless, she shifted again, nudging
Djerr in the process. With a soft sigh as he slowly woke, he
nestled closer to her and opened his eyes slightly. She couldn’t
help but smile at his sleepy expression and she reached a hand over
to tousle his hair.

The two had only to wait a short while
before Becky awoke with a start, sitting upright with a sharp
breath. Her short chestnut-brown hair stuck out at odd angles as
she looked around in confusion, then saw Djerr and Tarana and
seemed to remember where she was. Greeting them hoarsely, she
smoothed down her hair with one hand, while already gathering up
their belongings with the other.

They started walking slowly, waiting for the
sun to warm up their sore bodies. The valley continued to grow
wider and the walls beside them sloped downward until they found
themselves back in another vast plain with the cliffs behind them,
only this one was populated.

The sun was still low in the sky when the
city appeared in front of them after rounding a final corner.
Hundreds of campfires still burned around the city with makeshift
shelters scattered across the flat land. Others streamed toward the
city, some injured and bandaged or limping.

Some were lined up along the path where they
walked, begging from anyone who passed by. One small boy with long
blond hair and his face smudged with dirt approached Tarana, hands
outstretched without saying a word. She smiled sadly and shrugged
at him, wordlessly apologizing for having nothing to give. His eyes
blank, he moved onto the next travelers.

The wide path began splitting off into
smaller paths to each side with signs pointing the way to other
towns. They took one of the paths that skirted the side of the city
and went farther into the plains. Some of the other towns were
visible in the distance, dark blots that rose above the flat ground
and stood out against the blue sky. They walked for half a day, the
cliffs shrinking into the distance behind them. The ground below
them grew slightly hillier and as they crested one of the hills,
they saw a vast city, only slightly smaller than the one nestled by
the foot of the cliffs.

“Well, this is it, the city of Shae’lin!”
Becky exclaimed. “I have never been over this way myself. It’s
quite a bit larger than I expected. It may take a long while to
find my relative. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course not!” Djerr reassured her. “We’re
just thankful you’re helping us out. We’d probably be one of those
beggars without you, if we even made it this far.” He gave her a
crooked smile. Acknowledging his smile with a nod, she led them
into the city. Promisingly, far few beggars accosted them as they
approached the city and they looked in far better health.

On the outskirts of the city, fenced off
areas of livestock and frozen fields were spread out across the
hills. Wisps of smoke came from many of the chimneys, slipping away
in the chilly air. As they entered the city, a faded cloth sign
stretched out across the road above them, welcoming them to
Shae’lin.

The streets were busy with people bundled up
in thick layers of clothes. While Becky began approaching them,
Djerr lingered back, looking around at the town with a strange
expression on his face. Tarana stared at him for a moment, trying
to decide if his wide brown eyes were hopeful or worried. She fell
into step beside him and gave him a nudge. “What are you
thinking?”

Djerr shrugged and looked embarrassed. “I
was just thinking, this town seems really remote and quiet. There
aren’t a lot of people coming and going and it looks really
peaceful here. Maybe this is where we could settle down, like we
talked about.”

“But what about the griffins?” Tarana hissed
quietly. “Things aren’t going to settle down over there, they’re
spreading over to here. We can’t just ignore everything that’s
going on. Don’t you think we have some responsibility to do
something about it? Well I mean, I guess you don’t really have any
reason to get messed up in it again, but I’m the one they’re
looking for. I’m the real reason everyone’s fighting each other. I
don’t want to lead an army or anything, but there’s got to be some
way I can make them stop fighting and destroying entire cities.

“I still think there’s something weird going
on with those armies. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we were
with the Citizens’ Army for so long and we almost never managed to
intercept the Wizard’s Army. That’s the reason we called them
Scavengers when I was with the Wizard’s - they would follow us
around and pick up all the survivors of the places we crushed.
Well, not me personally,” she gave him a hard look, “I never
attacked any towns. But I still don’t understand how they’re so
well-coordinated, how the Citizens’ always knew where to go, even
when they got so far behind or came from another direction.”

She realized Djerr’s eyes were glazing over
and he looked skeptical, his forehead slightly wrinkled. “I know it
sounds stupid and doesn’t really matter anymore, but it still
bothers me. I want to figure out what’s going on. I think we should
stay here for awhile and make some money, stock up on supplies, and
lay low, but I can’t stay here forever with you.” Silent, Djerr
turned away to spot Becky and hurried after her. Sighing, Tarana
followed behind, allowing herself to daydream for just a few
moments what it would be like to stay forever, hidden from the rest
of the world.

It was late in the evening by the time they
managed to track down the man Becky was looking for. He welcomed
all three into his house, listening gravely to Becky’s story of how
her town was attacked and how she was the only remaining member of
the family. Djerr and Tarana watched, feeling awkward, as Becky and
her brother-through-marriage openly wept over the memories of her
family.

The man, named Isaac, was tall and lanky
with short black hair that stuck straight out in every direction.
As they dried their tears, Isaac invited all three to stay in his
house as long as necessary. He explained that as the local doctor,
his work had actually increased as a result of all the refugees
flooding into the area and he had plenty of food to share with
them.

They ate a thick potato soup for dinner and
by the time they finished, Tarana was yawning so much, she worried
she might fall asleep at the table. Noticing her exhaustion, Isaac
quickly laid out blankets on the floor to use as makeshift beds.
Curling up in front of the fireplace and feeling incredibly full
and satisfied, Tarana was asleep before the others had even begun
to lie down.

Feeling the familiar dampness of the cave on
her cheeks, Tarana rose to face Rupert. Before he could even greet
her, she raised her hand to silence him. “I want to know what’s
going on,” she said flatly.

He raised his eyebrows in amusement.
“Regarding what, if I might ask?”

She looked fiercely back at him. “The
griffins, to begin with. They used to serve the wizards right? So
what are they doing back here and why are they attacking
people?”

Rupert’s amusement faded to annoyance.
“Well, there’s a wizard in the world again, isn’t there? So of
course they’ve returned from where they were hibernating. They’re
actually transformed from magic, you know. We decided, long ago,
that we needed a faster way to travel, so we used an advanced form
of magic that took many wizards. Binding together the bodies and
spirits of several animals, we created the griffins to serve us.
Large enough to carry a man and forever bound to us through the
magic, they were a beautiful creation. When no wizards are around
to be served, they have no purpose in life and so they hide and
sleep and wait.”

She continued to glare at him. “Well they do
not seem to be hiding, sleeping, or waiting at the moment. Why are
they attacking people and how can I stop them?”

He paused for a moment, watching her, then
spoke. “You cannot stop them, not right now. You’re using your
magic occasionally, yes, but you’re not commanding it. They don’t
regard you as a wizard yet. Back when they were created, we
couldn’t have young boys summoning them just for fun, could we? No,
only the powerful wizards, the ones who possessed and commanded
their power to the fullest, could control the griffins.”

She sighed and the anger faded from her.
“Well then, I guess I’ve just got to keep learning more about magic
until I can control them. That will be my first step to fixing all
these problems. Until I can figure out how to stop all this
fighting, I’m going to stay in Shae’lin where no one will find me
for awhile.”

Although she wasn’t asking his opinion,
Rupert nodded. “That sounds like a wise idea. Once you are powerful
enough to take command of the griffins, you will also be powerful
enough to lead the Wizard’s Army to victory against the
uprising.”

“I’m not leading the Wizard’s Army!” Tarana
nearly shouted, frustrated. “How many times do I have to tell you?
I’m not joining either side ever again. I’m done with all that. The
war is pointless; it’s just going in circles and killing more and
more people. I’m going to stop it, but I’m not killing half the
people in order to do so. I’ll find another way.”

“You are a stubborn one.” Rupert
half-smirked at her. “I think you’ll find that you will change your
mind, but until then, we are in agreement. You need to learn more,
so let’s stop this quibbling and get down to business.”

After an even longer lesson than usual,
Tarana fell into a gentle sleep which was only ended when she awoke
to something poking her side. Moaning unhappily, she rolled onto
her other side and tried to fall back asleep, but the feeling
persisted. Finally, she opened one eye and saw that the room was
already full of sunlight and she was the only one left sleeping.
Djerr sat next to her, grinning widely. His hair was wet and hung
in curls around his face. “What is it?” she grumbled, still unhappy
about being disturbed.

“Well, I didn’t want to wake you up-“

“But you did,” she interrupted.

“-but it didn’t look like you were going to
wake up anytime soon and I just wanted to say bye before I left,
and let you know that there’s fresh fruit and bread in the kitchen
and a stream out back if you want to wash up or anything. It’s
chilly, but the sun warms you up pretty quickly!”

Tarana blinked, trying to comprehend
everything he said. “Wait, you’re leaving?”

“Gotta find a job!” he explained. “If we’re
going to get our own place and stuff, we’ll need some money. I
talked to Isaac and there’s a big housing project going on. The
city’s actually not doing too poorly considering all the refugees
and stuff coming through. It seems like a lot of them escaped
before their towns were attacked, so they brought all their
possessions and money and stuff. I think everyone who was really
suffering and desperate stopped at the first city they saw and
didn’t make it this far out. Anyway, I’m going to see if I can work
at the building project. Isaac says that’s where most of the
refugees find work.”