The Girl Born of Smoke (36 page)

When Tarana eventually managed to shove her
way through the front gate of the city, her stomach jumped and she
broke out in a sweat, only partially caused by the huge mass of
bodies trying to crush her. Feeling nervous and shaky, she
continued forcing her way forward, toward the stronghold itself.
When she finally reached the gate to the stronghold, she found two
bored-looking Wizard’s soldiers in full armor guarding the
entrance. Their very visible swords kept the throng of people at
bay and when Tarana approached them, each warily put a hand on the
hilt of their blades.

“Whaddya want?” one of them asked
tiredly.

“Could you tell General Kendall that Tarana
is here to see him?” she asked loudly, her heart thumping against
her chest. “He’s expecting me.”

They sighed and glanced at each other, one
turning around to beckon a third soldier forward. Tarana thought
she recognized the third soldier, a woman, but couldn’t be certain.
The first soldier repeated the request, then sent the third on her
way into the stronghold. “Wait here,” he ordered Tarana. The two
soldiers then ignored her, their gaze passing through her as if
they hoped she would leave.

However, within only a few moments, the
woman ran back, ushering Tarana through the gates. Giving her a
second, surprised look, the other two stepped aside to let her
pass. Without a word, the woman hurried her forward, pressing a
hand firmly on her back. Nearly running to keep up with the woman’s
long strides, she found herself whizzing past dozens of armed
guards into the interior of the stronghold.

Dashing up the stairs and down a maze of
hallways, she was finally guided into one of the rooms, many times
larger than her old bedroom in the stronghold. The walls decorated
with furs and paintings, she was impressed by his attempt to
alleviate the cold atmosphere of the dull stone walls. In front of
her, she saw Kendall lounging in a deep chair behind a long wooden
desk, which was covered in maps and papers. The other soldier shut
the heavy wooden door behind her with a thick clunk and waited
nearby. Tarana gave him a half-grin. “Well, it’s good to see you
again, Kendall.”

He raised an eyebrow and continued to gaze
at her. “So you showed up, after all. I was beginning to wonder if
we would have to track you down.”

“Ah,” she said, meeting his gaze, “so you
did know who you were looking for. It’s funny, because I thought
the only people who knew would be the ones who kidnapped and
tortured me awhile back.”

The woman by the door shuffled her feet and
Kendall’s face twisted into annoyance, the deep wrinkles on his
face growing longer. “We were informed, yes. We were also informed
that you would be coming this way in order to take over the army,
but I am afraid some in the army might not take kindly to being led
by a young girl. You will have to prove yourself to those who doubt
you. But that will happen in time.”

He leaned back in the chair, his hands
crossed in front of his chest. “We plan to have a ceremony tomorrow
to announce your arrival. You are encouraged to speak, to let the
army know your plans for them; I am sure they are all anxious to
hear what you have to say. As you might have noticed, the city is
swarming with others who have come to see you. Do what you will
with them. The entire Wizard’s Army has been assembled here in the
stronghold and is prepared to deal with any protestors. I suggest
you simply ignore the others and encourage them to leave before it
gets too…messy.”

Tarana looked calmly back at him.
“Messy?”

“Well yes,” he continued delicately, “so
many people of differing views crammed into one place…things are
bound to snap.”

Sighing, she ran a hand through her hair.
“So, tomorrow, huh? We’re certainly on a tight schedule.”

He shrugged. “Well, we have been waiting for
a great many years, Tarana. The sooner we get this matter taken
care of, the better.”

“Well, I had better go get ready for things
then,” she replied tiredly, turning around to leave.

“Yes,” Kendall called after her. “We
certainly expect a lot from you, Tarana. You had best prepare
something quite convincing.”

Rolling her eyes where he couldn’t see, she
turned back to the female soldier, who reopened the door. “This
way, please,” the woman said curtly, leading Tarana at a slightly
slower pace through the halls to another room. “You will be staying
here,” she said with a gesture toward the door. “Please let us know
if you require anything. I will come for you tomorrow morning.” She
started to turn away, then glanced back, her face suddenly softer.
“And um, good luck.” Turning back away, she hurried off.

With a soft sigh, Tarana slowly pushed open
the door and let it close solidly behind her. Giving the room a
quick glance, she jumped slightly when someone moved near one of
the tall windows. Wondering incredulously if they had given her a
roommate at last, she raised a hand awkwardly in greeting. “Uh,
hello?” The sun had begun its descent to the horizon and shone
brightly through the window, making it difficult to see the other
person. It wasn’t until the figure stepped forward that Tarana saw
who it was. “Roxanne!” she shrieked and flung herself forward,
hugging Roxanne tightly.

“You know,” Roxanne said, her voice muffled
as she leaned down to return the hug, “I always suspected there was
something a little strange about you, Tarana. You know I would’ve
helped you if you had told me.” To Tarana’s surprise, her voice
sounded slightly hurt. Stepping back, she looked at Roxanne and
noticed that her curly auburn hair had grown much longer and had to
be pulled back into a ponytail. Her face looked thinner, her
cheekbones sticking out more than they used to.

Tarana cocked her head. “Well, your idea of
helping and my idea might have been a bit different,” she pointed
out.

With a quick shrug, Roxanne brushed away the
comment. “It doesn’t really matter now, anyway. You’re finally
back. Everyone’s talking about you right now, you know. Lots of
people saw you rushing through here and as soon as I heard, I asked
around and found out where they were going to keep you until
tomorrow. Not just anyone could get in here, you know.” She grinned
cockily.

Tarana looked worriedly at her. “Roxanne,
I’m not entirely sure what’s going to happen tomorrow. You’ll be
careful, won’t you?”

“What in the world are you planning?” she
blinked, a strange expression on her face.

Her face twisted in anxiety, Tarana threw up
her hands. “I don’t know! I don’t know what I’m going to do and I
don’t know what’s going to happen, but I want you to be careful,
alright?”

Still looking confused, she finally nodded.
“Sure, I’ll be careful.” There was a long silence, finally broken
by Roxanne as she glanced toward the door. “Well, I guess I should
let you prepare and get some rest. I’ll be watching tomorrow, so
don’t do anything too crazy.” She looked at Tarana carefully for a
reaction, but found none. “Good luck. Make us proud to serve
you.”

Waiting until Roxanne had left the room,
Tarana finally sighed heavily and plodded over to where the window
looked out on the town. Watching the sifting mass of people below
her, she thought about how easy it would be to make a rousing
speech, vindicate the Wizard’s Army, perform a little showy magic,
and relieve all their minds.

She knew Roxanne would be proud to tell
everyone how she knew her and with the Wizard’s Army satisfied, she
could get them to cease their attacks. Rupert would help her stop
the griffins and all would be peaceful for awhile. Biting her lip,
she knew she had hit upon the weak point of that particular plan.
Things would be peaceful, but only temporarily. Once the Citizens’
Army regrouped, they would do everything in their power to defeat
and kill her. She doubted they would succeed, but the violence
would be reignited and she also doubted she would be able to stop
the Wizard’s Army from fighting back.

Kicking off her boots, she sprawled out on
the bed and stared up at the ceiling, trying to figure out how to
solve the problem. She knew she was beginning to see deeper into
the structure of the armies and using her finger, she began to
trace out exactly how they were connected, much like the structure
of a molecule, with bonds that connected the different fundamental
elements. They all traced back to one point. As the sun set, she
lay in bed, exhausted from the long trip, but unable to sleep as
she thought about the next day. With moonlight glittering in her
hair, she knew she would need all her energy for the next day and
she finally turned over and forced herself to clear her mind so she
could sleep.

She awoke the next day to a pounding at her
door. Fully alert and her mind racing, she flung herself out of
bed, getting tangled in the blankets and almost tripping. As she
stumbled to the door, it opened in front of her and a train of
people entered, carrying clothes, jugs of water, soaps, scissors,
and other materials piled in their arms.

Overwhelmed by the sudden entrance of so
many people, Tarana let herself be led to a chair and submitted to
the others. They seemed to work as one mass of arms, simultaneously
cutting her hair, measuring her limbs, and cleaning the dirt from
her body. Glad the others didn’t attempt to talk to her, she was
left to her own thoughts and trying not to focus on her upcoming
speech, she wondered how Djerr was doing and where he was.

Her mind wandered to Kirian and she realized
sadly that he had probably heard about her re-emergence as the
Wizard’s Army’s leader as well. She knew he would be sorely
disappointed with her and she feared Roxanne would be as well,
after her speech. In fact, Djerr might be the only one who would
support her, no matter what she said, but he was already
disappointed in her for entirely different reasons.

Feeling incredibly alone and terrified, she
realized the others were finishing up with her and she let herself
be led away from the chair and dressed in far finer clothes than
she had ever worn in her life. A flowing navy-colored shirt was
pulled over her head and a matching navy skirt was pulled around
her waist. The entire outfit was covered in silver-threaded swirls.
The fabric was soft and light against her skin and her hair blended
in with the dark color.

Her heart beating quickly, she watched as
the others wordlessly left the room and the woman from the previous
day entered. “Come along,” she said briskly, all of the awkwardness
from the previous evening gone from her voice. “Everyone is
assembled,” she continued, quickly ushering Tarana out of the room
and down the maze of hallways. “Is there anything else you
require?”

Her entire body shaking, she shook her head
no and began seriously considering transporting herself out of the
mess. “Um no, I’m fine, thanks.” The hallways passed entirely too
quickly as they rushed along and Tarana desperately tried to figure
out what she would say when the time came. Her mind a complete
blank, she felt panicked as they came to a halt outside a door on
the upper level of the stronghold.

“Well,” the woman said, “here you are,
then.” She firmly pulled open the door and sunlight came dazzling
into the dark hallway. Temporarily blinded by the bright light,
Tarana squinted her eyes and emerged to a deafening sea of
cheering.

Chapter 16

Trying desperately not to hyperventilate or
pass out, Tarana looked out at the crowd. She was standing atop a
balcony and could see the entirety of the Wizard’s Army beneath
her, standing in the vast courtyard of the stronghold and sprawling
out into the surrounding city.

Behind them were the other people, making up
an even larger crowd that reached past the buildings of Ralinos and
out into the surrounding valley. She hazarded a guess that there
were more people standing in front of her, waiting to hear her
speak than she had ever seen in her lifetime.

Sizing up the size of the crowd, she also
realized that there was no possible way more than a small handful
of people would be able to hear her, even if she screamed as loud
as she could. Her mind going deathly calm, she quickly realized she
could use a small trickle of magic to amplify her own voice, making
it reach farther so even the stragglers around Ralinos would be
able to hear her speak.

Trying it out, she waited until the yelling
died down, then gave a small smile and waved, “Uh, well, hi.” To
her satisfaction, she could hear her voice bouncing off the hills
around Ralinos and she could see the people farther off in the
crowd, waving and jumping around excitedly. Waiting again until the
cheering softened, she took a deep breath and began her speech,
completely unprepared and unsure what she was going to say until
she began.

“Look,” she started, tucking her hair behind
her ears. “All of you out there, every one of you has an idea of
what this long awaited wizard was supposed to be like. Some of you
had visions of this powerful wizard leading you into battle and
some of you were afraid of this wizard ruling over you and denying
you basic necessities and destroying your lives, simply because he
could. We’ve all heard the stories of what wizards were like in the
old days.

“But look,” she repeated, “everything you’ve
expected and envisioned, that’s not who I am. I’ve served in the
Citizens’ Army and I’ve served in the Wizard’s Army.” She heard a
slow rumbling in the crowd, but continued on. “I hated both armies.
I hated following the Citizens’ Army around, scavenging the few
survivors of destroyed towns and I hated the Wizard’s Army just as
much for destroying the towns.”

She looked down and could see many of the
soldiers talking amongst themselves, gesturing up at her. “It’s not
that I hate the people in the armies,” she said desperately, her
nervousness growing again. “Some of the people I love most dearly
in the world are committed to one side or the other. It’s just that
you’re not accomplishing anything. You’re going in circles, chasing
each other, only managing to occasionally nip at the other and
circling endlessly as more and more people get caught up in your
tangle and I’m stuck in the middle watching you go around and
around. I don’t want to support that!”