The Vision in Smoke - Elswyth

The other wolves sheathed their swords back and went to their own tasks. Some gathered woods, some stood watch. When they were out of earshot, Rahil released Elswyth's.

“You need to calm down,” he hissed.

His glare infuriated her. Suddenly, a high pitched ringing filled her ear.

“You need to let me fight my own battles,” she argued. “He doesn’t think that I can do it. He doesn’t trust me, and I don’t trust him.”

“Do you think this the battle that matters?” he said coldly. “If you can’t tell when to back down and when to attack, how can I leave you on your own when the fight begins?”

“Because I am not child!” she yelled.

“Then stop acting like one!”

The ground underneath them began to shake.

“Stop giving me commands like I’m your soldier!” Elswyth stomped her foot. A torrent of wind burst in a full circle around her, whipping cloaks and rattling the vultures and crows awaiting death from above.

“Ellie?” Ren’s soft call cut the ringing in her ear.

Everything went silent. That’s when she realized her hands were in a fist, her jaws clenched and her shoulders rigid. She took a deep breath and with a release, the tension went away. Her head started to spin and her legs felt like jelly.

Slowly, she made her way to the nearest tree and flopped to the ground. She her back rested on the trunk and sighed. She was out of breath like she just sprinted a mile. Ren sat next to her and checked her pulse.

“Let’s not piss off the forest, yeah?” Cannagan said chuckling nervously.

“Yeah Ellie, I didn’t you’d be a problem,” said Conri.

“Who’d you thought was gonna wake the forest?” Lupe asked.

“The house cat,” Conri said. That made everyone laugh, except the Rahil, Ellie, and Ren.

“You lost control,” Rahil said almost angrily.

“Maybe you should let her,” Roukan interfered. “Wouldn’t that be interesting?”

“Waking up the forest is interesting for you?” he said incredulously.

“Why not? Let her open the earth and swallow these demons back to the Underworld,” he had his usual devilish grin on his face.

“You don’t know what she’s capable of,” he argued back.

“It doesn’t seem like you know either,” Roukan dared.

“Enough!” she massaged her temple hoping to ease the throbbing pain. She looked at Roukan and said, “Do you just go around starting fights with everyone?”

His crew nodded and mumbled “yeah he does.”

“And you," she glared at Rahil. "Always ready to throw a fist when you just lectured me about control."

He didn’t respond.

“Both of you just go away,” she waved her hand dismissing them.

They obediently followed to her surprise.

She sighed, keeping her emotions in check while nursing a headache. Roukan’s and Rahil’s voice were starting to sound like a screech of a banshee. Or droplets of water falling into an empty basin in the middle of the night.The pressure on her neck and her shoulders was unbearable. . Everything seemed to push her to blow up.

“Here,” Ren handed her his wineskin. She absent-mindedly accepted it and drank the water inside. It tasted sweet in her dry mouth.

“Cannagan,” Ren called. “Do you have any ginseng?”

“I’m all out,” Cannagan answered.

He paused for a minute thinking. “Dandelion root?”

“Here,” Cannagan walked to them and handed him a small leather pouch.

“Can I borrow your tools?”

Cannagan’s face lit up as he watched Ren set up a small fire, boiling a cup of water with his small iron cauldron while he started grounding the dried roots.

“Finally,” he pretended to wipe tears on his cheeks with his index finger. “A mad man just like me.”

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“Do you mind if I use all of it?”

“It should be fine,” he answered. “There’s more just outside this forest.”

Sensing that he was no longer needed, Cannagan left them and joined his friends.

She smiled at him, quite impressed at his knowledge of herbs and medicine.

“You almost sounded like your father,” she said.

“I’ve been his apprentice since I was ten,” he chuckled. “I hated that I had to help instead of playing. But I ended up loving it.”

When they were kids, Aster and her would often sit in Doctor Birk’s house, waiting for Ren to finish his chores. The doctor is one of the few people who didn’t treat Cassia as if she was insane. He often visited her, giving her tonics in exchange for some of her home cooked meals. She always thought that he fancied her. She wondered how hard it must be for him, for his child to go missing and for a good friend to die on the same day.

Ren added the grounded herbs to the boiling water. “I read a lot of books, studied the herbs and medicines in Silva,” he continued. “And because Father is an annoyingly good teacher,” he strained the boiled water with a piece of cloth into another cup. “I am absolutely sure that this will make you feel better.”

A strong bitter smell wafted to her nose as she held the cup near her lips. She held her breath and drank it in one swig. It didn't help. The after taste still tasted like dirt. What little they had for breakfast, started to come back up. She clenched her jaw, trying to keep herself from hurling.

“Alright, it tastes terrible,” he said patting her back for comfort. “But trust me, after a good rest, you’ll feel like a new person.”

“People back at home must be missing your brew,” she chuckled.

“They’ll live,” he smiled sadly. “Father’s still the best doctor in town.”

She felt Ren’s eyes on her, and he didn’t look away when their eyes met. She simply cocked her head and chuckled awkwardly.

“Did you sleep at all last night?” he said.

She did her best. But whenever she closed her eyes, she could see Cassia, lying on the forest floor in her blood-soaked dress.

But Ren didn’t need to know that.

“Not as much as I would've wanted to” she simply said. "It was a long day."

Ren opened his mouth but opted not to say anything. Instead, he sat there in silence as he cleaned Cannagan’s tools.

She was grateful for his quiet presence. If she started talking about Cassia, she didn't know if she can hold back the tears. And the last thing she wants to do is to show vulnerability in front of strangers.

So she tried to remember Cassia for who she was—bright like the summer sun. Her favorite season.

Elswyth can still remember the smell of grilled fish Cassia bought from fisherman Tom. She’ll marinate them in salt, pepper, and lemon, and roast some potatoes and green beans in the open pit in her garden.

They’d often spend summer nights like this. In the garden by the fire, listening to her stories and the crickets singing in the back. Elswyth would stare at the coal glowing red and found it quite hypnotizing. How it burns brighter when you blow it.

Then suddenly, she felt the warmth from the embers in her face, as if she was taken back to that summer night. The smell of burning wood filled her nose, and the glowing embers were covered by the thick smoke. Her eyes burned. And she coughed as she tried to wave the smoke away with her hands.

Then it all disappeared. She was in the dark, seated in what seemed like a cave, its walls covered in ash and scratches. In front of her were the remains of a great beast. A dragon.

Its empty eye sockets staring down at her. Her body grew cold and the hair on her arms stood. Even without its eyes, she can feel the creature staring down on her. But something on its teeth caught her eyes. A sheath of a sword. She was about to reach for it when she heard something behind her.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound of metal hitting another made her turn. She was transported in a dark room, lit only by a forge. The red-hot steel sung with every beat of the hammer. Two people stood in front of her, one was clad in a heavy armor, and the other was in dirty clothes, working the anvil. The blacksmith had long raven hair, loosely tied by a string.

“Finish it today,” said the man in armor. “Or you’ll have those coals for dinner.”

She walked up to them and reached for the shoulder of the blacksmith, only for her hand to catch nothing but air. The light on the forge grew dim and the room got darker. But in the corner of her eye, she saw something shining in the moonlight. In the many swords that laid there, she knew the one that’s been calling out to her. A part of her soul that only answers to one master.

Then her body felt light, her feet no longer touching the ground. The hair on her arms stood as she was lifted through the chimney and out of the room. The cold air shocked her skin. She was floating on top of a city surrounded by white walls. In the middle was a small hill. A majestic tree stood atop like a knight guarding.

She leaned her body towards the tree and kicked in the air hoping to reach it, but she was pulled away.

She felt someone squeezing her shoulders, their nails digging into her skin painfully.

“Wake up!” Rahil's voice echoed louder and louder.

Her eyes snapped open and saw Rahil's face inches away from hers. She grabbed his shirt, wanting to push him away but her strength drained away and her vision blurred. She hung onto him, like her life depended on it.

“You’re okay,” he said, surprisingly gently. “You’re safe.”

“I saw the Tree,” she in between her breaths. “I know where it is.”

“Breathe first,” he whispered to her. His dark brown eyes looked into hers as he took slow, deep breaths. She tried to match his pace, breathing in when he did. When her heartbeat slowed, she released her hold on to him.

“Now tell me what you saw,” Rahil said.

“I saw a cave with scorch marks all over the walls,” she began. “There was big skull of a dragon. And then I saw my sword, it’s with the blacksmith. And the Tree. It’s in Caeldig.”

She heard everyone groan. That’s when she realized that everyone has gathered around her, listening.

“How can you be sure?” asked Roukan.

It took her a second to response, trying to find a convincing way to say it. “I just do,” she simply said.

Roukan studied her face. She thought he would dismiss her. But instead he shrugged. “That’s good enough for me,” Roukan grinned, and rubbed his chin.

“The Heart in the city just made everything more complicated,” Lupe said frowning.

“How could the map be wrong?” Conri waved his hand in frustration.

“They’re destroying them,” said Ylva looking pulling out the map. “Back in the village, they burned the scrolls and maps, anything that could give away on how to destroy the Shadows or help us strategize.”

Ellie looked at the map and saw that Faeldic was not on the map. She felt somewhat relieved about it.

“We just need to change our plan,” Roukan said, marking the map with the correct location of the tree.

“But here’s the good part,” he said grinning devilishly at Ellie. “We’re sticking together a little bit longer in this journey.”

“So,” he gestured for her to come forward. “What should we do?”