Children of Fyre

Chapter Seven

It felt like an eternity had passed by the time Damien released me to eat. The sweat soaked my entire body and I felt like I was on fire. Sitting in the shade, I drank my water in small sips. In between sips, I took small bites of the jerky I had on me. 

"Where are we headed," I ask Damien. 

"A small port town to the south," Damien replied. "If we can gain control of it, then we can control part of the trades coming from there. The imports come mostly in from the south, despite it being a small town, it's also one of the busiest. Aston is its name."

I nod slowly, not understanding the complete importance of the town. "So why this town in particular and not a different one," I ask between bites. 

"Aston tends to have a high population of our brothers and sisters. I've heard that they're willing to help us overthrow the guards stationed there to help take the control of the town."

"What happens if we can't," I ask reasonably.

"Can't what," he responds.

"What happens if we can't take control of Aston," I clarify. 

"We're strong enough to do it," he said determinedly. "There's no chance we'll fail. Especially with you having joined us, as well as Acacia."  

I nodded, finishing up my jerky. "So what's the plan for us in order to win?"

"You'll see, you'll be far back for now, be ready with your bow. Until you've had a little more practice with the sword, I don't want you on the front lines at all to start. No offense, but you still suck at using that sword."

"Makes sense," I agreed. "I definitely prefer using the bow."

"So hang back when we get there. You'll get more details when we get close, okay?"

Damien got to his feet and raised out his hand to help me up. Taking it, I nodded in agreement. "Understood," I responded. 

"Well, I think we're all ready to set out once more. We should be able to make it to Aston by nightfall tomorrow."

"That's quite a distance," I said, not excited for the long walk. I was already tired out from the past day's journey. I had never set foot outside of the village except to hunt, in which I never journeyed too far into the forest as the game was plenty during the summer. This journey seemed like it would take me to the edges of the nation and back again, all before I would ever see my home again. If I ever saw my home again at all. 

"It's not as bad as you're likely thinking. You quickly get used to being on your feet. Besides, if, no, when, we take control of Aston, we should be able to snag a few horses to help us move a little easier. They'd be useful for holding our supplies and our injured until they heal up a bit."

"I understand, definitely something to get a few of at least. Though maybe we could afford to obtain a few of them in other manners as well? Just so that in case there isn't many in Aston?"

"Perhaps," Damien said, starting to round up the group. "Let's getting moving again, keep heading south," he shouted at the group of fighters. "We have quite some distance to cover still before the sun sinks over the horizon." Damien walked off after that, leaving me to get ready to depart on my own. 

Finding Acacia in the group, I joined her. "How'd the sword training go," she asked as she packed up the remainder of her jerky that she had not finished. 

"Well, I think. I don't know, I know that it's hard to practice with a stick. Damien said next time I'll be practicing with the sword itself instead," I respond. 

Over the next day, any time we weren't traveling, Damien had me training using the sword, learning different motions, jabs, whatever they were called. He named each move he made, but the names so far have been going over my head. Perhaps with more practice, they would stick. Rather, more times of hearing him repeat their proper names. As a result of all the training, I slept rather well, if brief, that night. However, I woke before dawn broke on the horizon. Damien was shaking me awake, ready for another round of training with the sword before everyone else was awake. How this boy had so much energy at the early hours, I may never know. 

We were on our way to Aston once more around dawn. The day passed rather swiftly despite the long journey we had. Night had not fallen by the time we reached the outskirts of town. There was just one problem: the entire town was on fire when we arrived.