The Keepers of Otar

Aftermath

Zia had no idea that such a little fire could do so much damage. The sides of trees where coated in soot and charred black. The ground was covered in a thin layer of ash, and the thick air caused her to wheeze and cough at times. 

Of course, Zia had seen the effects of fire and how useful a weapon fire made when she and her companions had used it to shrink their enemy forces down to half its original size in the Westfell Pass. She remembered the surprised screams of men as their skin suddenly blistered and burned without warning. She remembered the rank smell of burning flesh. It had been terrifying then, but it was in self-deffence. This seemed different. This fire had been up close and personal, in her forest home, not on the battlefield in some distant land. She recalled Heath's suspicions that the fire may have been set on purpose. If she found that to be the case, there would be a heavy price to pay when she got her hands on the culprit.

Zia scanned the forest floor, taking in every detail, determined not to leave a charred leaf unturned. So far, all she had found were smoldering pinecones and smoking pine needles. She tried to look for the path of damage so she could take it back to its origin and hopefully find some sort of evidence as to the start of the fire, but everything looked so black and charred it was hard to tell one thing part from another.

"Anything?" Arch called from where he was searching about fifty yards away.

"Nothing," she responded.

"Nothing here either," Borton called from his area in the other direction.

Arch glanced up at the darkening sky. "It's getting too dark to see," he said thoughtfully. He let out a curse. "Blast it! By morning any evidence could be blown away or tampered with by anyone stumbling through the dark."

"Maybe the others have found something useful," Borton suggested, trying to soothe him.

Arch sighed in frustration. For a moment the worry and irritation was plain on his face. But then that moment was gone and his cool, collected façade was reinstated. "Right," he said. "Of course. Good idea, Borton. Let's go meet up with the others and see what they've discovered.

Arch led the way back to the place where their investigative teams had designated to be their meet-up point, Zia and her father following a few paces behind.

"It's strange, don't you think?" Zia said quietly to Borton. "We haven't found any evidence of any possible source of the fire, natural or manmade."

"Yes, very strange," he agreed. "If the evidence of the fire weren't so blindingly obvious I would doubt that there had even been one."

"If it started accidentally, we would have seen scraps of cloth by a campfire or something of the like," Zia said thoughtfully. "And if it was started purposefully, we would have seen footprints or some sort of sign of someone leaving the camp to get away,"

"Unless it was an inside job," Borton said in a conspiratorial whisper. "Then there would be no prints leading away from the camp because they didn't leave."

"You really think it was set intentionally?"

"I'm withholding any theories until we learn what the others have found."

Zia nodded and they continued on in silence for a while. Zia thought deeply over the all the possibilities and explanations buzzing around her head, surveying each one from every angle she could think of. She was so immersed in her own thoughts that she was startled when Borton laughed at her.

"Your mother used to do that, too," he told her.

"Do what?"

"That." He pointed to her hand and the ring on her finger. It wasn't until then that Zia realized that she had been spinning and twisting the ring around her finger with her thumb.