Hand-In-Hand

Luvlace was like my father's spear. A skinny, crooked thing with a sharp head, and a dirtiness that could never be completely cleansed off no matter how much one scrubbed. She's also tall, something she used against me when we played Conquering the Kingdom of Atlas. She liked to make like this additional height created her a better fit to lead. And maybe it did.

I watched as she brandished a charred stick, slicing the air with it like a sword as she took us through the huge turned up roots sprawled all over the woods ground where our imaginary assailants hid. From a distance we probably looked like specs of dust lost among an army of trees. Despite this, I'm sure the forest knew we were here. No living thing ever saw over Luvlace's presence.

"Who conquered Atlas?!" Luvlace called, her voice loud like a Skybeast’s great roar, the type it gave before it soared and dived through the skies. "I said who?"

This was my queue but I held my tongue, still upset that I was the one who had to drag our collected bundle of sticks in my makeshift satchel. It's made of a fallen tree leaf, tied together with a stringy scrap I plucked from the hem of my dress robe.

We reached a root the height of Luvlace plus my head. I paused beside Luvlace, contemplating, while she gave me an eye fiercer than the embers that scorched her stick. She began prancing around me like a court jester, crazy eyed, and waved her arms about in confusing fashion, something she liked to do to make me laugh. Or when she's taunting her opponent.

"What are you?" Luvlace demanded but I was still looking up at the tree root, where at its horizon between the purple-brown and what went beyond there was a faint sun-colored glow slowly trickling along the ridges.

She stopped her prancing to loom over me, ensuring my attention was now on her. Still my eyes carefully avoided hers, falling instead to the nest of dark hair that sat stiffly over her protruding ears.

"Yer' a mouse!" I didn’t respond. "An unhearing one, clearly. I asked who conquered Atlas, and yer’ yet to reply!"

She butchered the syllables in conquered, so it came out sounding more like cankard.

"I think...something's...wrong, Lacey," I said, proud at how no fear slipped into my pronunciation, otherwise Luvlace might have focused on it and not on my words.

Immediately Luvlace screwed her eyes, this time up at the root that was now reflecting even more yellow at its top. Suddenly, the shadow it cast on us grew long before it immediately became shorter. That's when the scent of smoke first hit us.

"It's fire! The eastern forest must be ablaze already!" Lacey cried.

It took a moment for the words to sink in, their meaning sitting like heavy stones in my throat. By the time I'd gained the courage to swallow them down I found that Lacey had already taken my hand and set us running, ducking, and jumping over and under roots, back towards our village. My heart's beating hard, thrashing like the temperamental waves of the Nylon ocean. And by the jumping pulse connecting our hands, I can tell hers is too.

I was tempted to glance behind, but it would prove fatal. Already I could hear the spindling of firy mayhem rising through the grand Fo Gi trees, soon one would-

A loud boom erupted, followed by a descending ancestry of echoes. The dirt ground rose up to smack my whole body before I was harshly wrenched back up to my two feet. Tears welled my eyes, both from the pain of my scraped knees and the knowledge that centuries worth of growth was slayed to the ground somewhere far behind us. Had a Fo Gi tree fallen near Lacey and me it would have been the end.

After what seemed like forever, we made it out of the woods and into our village. Our warning message to the villagers had long been sent by the blazing site we left behind. Chronicles of ashy smoke towered into the night sky, several kingdoms grander than that of Lazaruh. In front of us the villagers scurried in panic, reminding me of the insects under the rocks Lacey and I loved flipping over as a pastime.

Merchants, fishers, barkeepers, and servants blindly grabbed whatever they could save, already expecting the worst. Mothers and fathers huddled their children together, counting them like precious gold coins before taking off on their bare feet. We stood on our lonesome, hand held in hand.

I'm amazed at Luvlace but I don't say it, lest her head grow bigger than it already is. She's had moments like before, where she precedes her twelve years of age with her tact and quick thinking.

"Bard...Bardouire did," I murmured grudgingly.

"Hm?" Luvlace snapped her steel gaze in my direction.

Her response is phrased like a question but I could tell she heard me clearly by the way the corners of her lips made a bold attempt to reach her twinkling metal colored eyes.

I rolled my own, but my hardening grip on her hand spoke louder than me. It reminded me of something my mother used to say, about how spoken words aren't the only language this world knows. I wanted to chop off the traitor of a hand, and then to my mortification my cheeks decided it was time for them to talk too, reddening to match the scrapes on my body.

"King Bardouire conquered Atlas," I said louder now, slowly so that my stutter won't poke its unwanted head.

Luvlace beamed impossibly wider. She led me again, this time through the mess of a village, the citizens sliding past us like a thrumming stream curving around two tall rocks in a river bank. I found myself mirroring her excitement by my eager steps and the occasional squeeze at Lacey's hand.

"C'mon, Viselle, now that everyone's leaving their shacks we can sneak in and steal new robes for us. Robes fit for a king and his squire."

"Maybe also a sword. To...to match."

I could tell I'd said something good because Luvlace looked proud, she patted my head, draped an arm over my wiry shoulders, and took us to the first abandoned house. Meanwhile, a few rows down, the fire licked the village border walls.