For a moment, the two of us just sat where we were and enjoyed the feeling of being alive. The house still burned behind us, but we hardly let ourselves lament in the light of the strange happenings among the flaming walls. "What happened back there, Aldyth? What happened?"

    "I do not know," she breathed and spread her hands to smooth the charded hems of her dress. Her right hand wandered to the hilt of the dagger I had given her before falling back to her side. "I-I...."

My legs weren't burned as badly as I had thought and I knew so in light of the fact that they screamed like a child placing their hand on a wood stove. It would heal, but miserably so. I forced myself to my feet then dragged Aldyth to hers. "We must find our families before all, then we will figure out what to do."

    She nodded distantly and rested one hand on the shoulder of her pack. "Noah loves this place...."

    "Let's go," I almost added that there was nothing left for her here, but refrained. She had been hearing that her whole life, she need not hear again, especially from me. With a glance back to make sure she was following, I slowly made my way around house. The air smelled of smoke, despair, and still quivered under the beat of war drums. The deep, echoy sound seemed to drive straight into the heart of the earth with a boom that sent the flames roaring higher. I stepped out onto the main road and froze.

    The entire village was up in flames. Houses collapsed and animals screamed as towers of black smoke billowed up into the sky, blocking out what was left of the sun. Aldyth came up from behind me and gasp, her hands flying to her mouth. "Oh dear...."

    Across the plaza, the scream of horses being burned alive pierced through the day. Aldyth started to run off toward them, but I grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "What are you doing!?"

    "We can't just --"

    "We'll never make it in time," I lifted her chin so that she was looking at me. "I'm sorry..."

    Aldyth appeared as if she wanted to argue, but the fire was still spreading and we had four people we needed to find. We both looked up as a high pitched note flew across the village. It was not exactly that of a whistle, nor was it a horn. Aldyth and I shared a look before taking off toward the sound. It was coming from the southern exit of the town. "Are they leaving!?" I exclaimed.

    Aldyth didn't say anything and instead chose to run faster, overtaking me. We had to stick to the main road since everything else was on fire, but the lack of cover made me nervous. Every so often I'd see a face among the flames out of the corner of my eyes, but whenever I turned to look, it would disappear with the smoke. Nothing came out to shoot us, but I could not shake the feeling that we were being watched.

    As we came nearer to the edge of the village, the main road grew wider and the buildings became more sparse. I pulled Aldyth to a stop and convinced her to approach slowly. From then on we took great care in each step we took, making certain all was calm before scampering from tree to tree. The beat of the drums got loader and started accompanying a murmur of voices. The both of us peered around the trunk of an especially large oak and caught sight of a long train of coverless wagons that were loaded to the brink of explosion with familiar faces.

    The women and young children were packeted into the wagons, sobbing and stony faced while the men were forced to walk in shackles, chained to one another by the feet and neck. Riding on horses in an unfamiliar uniform of deep green, were men armed with swords and bows. Each had some sort of reed pipe strapped to their belts and they all looked ready to kill. "They must be there somewhere," I whispered to Aldyth.

    She nodded grimly. "C'mon we'll search the line fir--"

    "Look!" I pointed to a wagon at the very back where a familiar face knelt down against the railing, holding a small girl to her chest. "That's Mother, and Ismay." Before Aldyth could complain, I dragged her precariously from tree to to tree, making sure that none of the guards on horses saw us. When we were close enough, I hissed, "Mother! Ismay!"

    My mother failed to hear me at first, but Ismay brought her head up turned around with with eyes. "Eli!" She screamed.

    Aldyth pulled me back behind the tree as the guard looked over. Once he turned away, I rushed to the side of the cart where mother was telling Ismay to hush. "Are you both alright?" I asked urgently. "Did they hurt you?"

    "We are alright," my mother confirmed. "But Elias, you need to get out of here, quickly, before they get you too."

    "Not without you," but that is when I realized that they were all chained down to the wagon, even the kids were chained to their mothers' wrists. My heart sank as I pulled on the shackles. "Where's Barric?" I asked halfheartedly.

    "They took him away," Ismay blubbered. "They blew their whistles and whisked him away!"

    "He's in the line with the other men," Mother translated sadly. "Now get out of here, Elias. They come and check on us every ten minutes."

    I didn't know what I would have said to that, but suddenly a large commotion broke out from the line of trudging men. I looked to find Aldyth running off toward it. "Go, Eli," my mother urged. "Now!"

    I ground my teeth into my lips before leaping down to the ground and following Aldyth. Suddenly she froze and let out a piercing scream followed by a strangled cry of, "No! Noah!"

A/N

That's nice place to stop. So what did we learn today children?

Edited 6.27.16