No Hands but My Own

Chapter 11 - Ashes

The smell of smoke woke me. It had permeated into my makeshift canvas tent in a thick cloud, gently stifling my nose and mouth.

Within moments of waking, I was coughing and desperately reaching for  the fabric flap that spelled freedom. Fumbling my way outside, I breathed deeply though the smoke was still heavy in the air. As tears streamed down my face, I searched for the source of the flames. It was not our campfire as I had feared.

A wall of dancing flames was advancing from the South, pulled by the winds, and choking us with its thick black air. I could do nothing but stare in amazement at the fire's incredible speeds - like demons, the flames cackled and spat, racing across the dry grass. With a jerk, without tearing my eyes away from the approaching maw of flame, I forced myself to react.

"Fire." Barely audible, my first attempt was more of an awestruck statement of fact than a warning. The sound of my voice was little more than a whisper, yet the word brought reality crashing back away from the roar of the flames.

"Fire!" I screamed. I had not heard the growing crescendo of coughing before, but now the wheezing of the people in the other tents became excruciatingly evident. Still yelling, I ran around the circle of our camp, pulling the tent flaps open and calling to my family members still caught inside. My voice was growing hoarse and the flames, thought still a ways away, were close enough that sparks began to fall upon us like red-hot rain.

Stumbling, more and more of my clan emerged hacking from their tents. We milled like confused ants in the glowing shower, searching for a way out of the smoke enveloped camp. I blindly ran into Sle and coughing heavily asked him who was supposed to be on watch at the moment.

"Dilenkeh and Thenzon I think." he hacked, his entire frame shuddering. "We need to get out now Ayri."

I answered while tears streamed down my face from the stinging smoke, "No kidding. "

Holding each other upright against the surrounding darkness, we meandered following the voices echoing in the haze and grabbing their owners. Once the only sound we could hear was the approaching flames and our group's haggard breathing, we stumbled blindly for what seemed to be an age before the air seemed clearer.

We had gone around the wall of flame. Suddenly, the faces that had been obscured by smoke were revealed tear-streaked and blackened. Some ran to the clearer air, gasping along the way. Others clutched at each other and sank to the ground, blessing the unburnt earth.

I looked to Sle who was still by my side and with just a glance, conveyed to him my disquietude - how could such a raging fire start so suddenly? And how could have we not been warned? How many have we lost?

He seemed to understand instantaneously and, reassuringly said, "Don't worry about it. Well find everyone." Glancing quickly at our numbers, he added, "We only seem to be missing Reliel and Assadar. Maybe a pup or two but I'm sure they're fine."

As if Sle's words were undeniably true, I nodded vigorously, trying to displace any worry. To help quell the shaking of my limbs, I whistled a chirping melody into the wind. Bright, the melody mimicked some of the birds we knew so well back in the woods, and all of a sudden, I longed to be back surrounded by the safety of the trees. Where silence flew on swift wings, where there was always a place to hide, and where we were supposed to be; the woods were calling to me while I stood exposed in the plains and it was devastating.

The excruciating feeling of desolation numbed me completely and I barely could feel my knees buckle underneath me. Nothing was in my head but loss - my home was gone, my friends were gone, our escape failed - everything was lost.

Sle grabbed my arm, his grip tight as if trying to drag me out of the abyss of my despair. "Ayri", he called my name, shaking me. "Ayri."

"What, Sle?" I could barely keep the tears out of my voice. I felt like a stone and simply couldn't fight gravity's alluring pull to the earth.

Sle grasped my other arm and heaved me up - my head was at the same level as his though he was normally so much shorter than me. "Listen."

Reluctantly, I listened. At first, all I could hear was our breathing, the coughing of my people around me fighting to dispel the smoke from their lungs, and the roar of the flames. I nearly screamed at Sle - how dare he tease me like this when all I wanted was to mourn - when I heard it. An echo of my whistle. The surprise must have registered on my face because Sle laughed.

Pulling my half-standing body closer to him, he said excitedly, "You hear that? They're alive." I struggled to stand upright as Sle hugged me harder and even tried to spin my flailing body around himself in joy.

"Sle." I grunted from my contorted position. "Sle! You're chocking me!"

"Oops. Sorry Ayri." He disentangled himself from me and let me finally straighten myself. We grinned at each other. Still smiling, we craned our necks in every direction, excitedly looking out into the smoggy pre-dawn light for our missing family members. 

I saw a movement in the fading the smoke and hit Sle in the arm. He turned and we stared with bated breath. It was like watching the haze take form. It swirled and ebbed in the dim sky across the hilly plains. Human figures emerged like spirits from beneath the sky like denizens of darkness - humans that I could recognize anywhere.

My excited yell drew the attention of the clan spread around me. Turning to follow my and Sle's gaze, they soon spotted the figures framed in fringes of smoke. There was joyous squeals on both sides and those who had recovered the fastest from our fiery ordeal were soon running pell-mell through the grass towards one another.

Sle and I joined them, running to see how the rest of our family had fared. Spotting Reliel's greyhound thinness burdened with a bundle slung over his shoulder among the small group, my heart was glad - his staunch pessimism did not allow him to ever leave any task he took upon himself less than perfectly executed. I knew he had found the ones in our clan who had strayed from our bigger group in the thick smoke.

I couldn't help but smile and laugh as I ran over the plains, deliriously happy though still a ways away from my recovered family members.

Reliel was the first to notice something was wrong. I watched his posture change from a loose, relaxed stance. His back grew rigid and his lanky form grew tense.

I turned my head moments after he had. Still a distance away, my steps slowed and I stopped searching the fluid, grassy landscape. Beneath the dark navy sky, a shadow stole across the grasses towards the hazy smoke and towards Reliel's group. A figure was on its back and it charged, moving ever fast towards them.

Fear paralyzed me and the runners behind me. The few runners ahead, mostly untrained pups, ahead had seen nothing and before we could warn them of the danger, the rider was already upon the small, staggering group.

I heard Reliel's voice scream "Run!" before a cylindrical blade forced him to bend double. The curve of the blade seemed to shine curiously in the pre-dawn light as its owner slashed at the terrified people around him. A sudden glint sparking across the attacker's face confirmed my worst fears.

The half-masked rider was back.