Under One Banner

Chapter 12

The next day Kalya woke Aryanna eagerly, early in the morning. 

“We get to see James today right?” she asked. 

Aryanna rubbed her eyes tiredly and yawned. “We need to work a bit on our plot for the garden. We can go to see him after eating an early midday meal,” she said. Kalya clapped her hands and jumped to her feet. 

“Let’s go start the garden now!” she said. 

“Have you eaten?” Aryanna asked. Kalya shook her head.   

“Alright, let’s eat breakfast first, then we will get right on it,” she said. 

“Oh yes, Kalya, here is a belt, now you can wear your dagger at your waist,” Aryanna said. Kalya took the belt happily and put it around her waist, slipping her dagger sheath onto it. 

“Thanks Arya!” She said happily. 

Aryanna and Kalya quickly made up some breakfast and scoffed it down. They headed out to their plot of land and began readying it for planting. 

Close to midday they stopped and went inside to wash up and eat a midday meal. Once she was done Kalya waited eagerly by the door for Aryanna. The two of them left again. This time Aryanna had to walk quicker to keep track of Kalya, who was practically running. 

“Slow down Kalya, you are going to exhaust your energy half way there!” Aryanna called. Kalya stopped running and waited for Aryanna to catch up. 

“Sorry, I’m just excited!” Kalya said. Aryanna smiled but didn’t say anything. 

She and Kalya made good time and were at the edge of the Woodlands in a little over an hour. Aryanna was mildly surprised that Kalya’s voice didn’t go hoarse, for she chattered the entire way.

Before they were quite at the edge of the woods Kalya stopped, sniffing. 

“Arya, do you smell that?” She asked. Aryanna breathed deep and frowned. 

“Smells like, like someone had a really large fire,” Kalya continued. 

“Come on,” Aryanna said breaking into a jog. 

They left the cover of the trees and Aryanna stopped abruptly, Kalya bumping into her. 

“Oh no, oh no,” Aryanna repeated. Kalya looked first at Aryanna then towards the village. Or what was left of the village. From their distance they could see that there wasn’t a village anymore, it had been torched, they could see the black scar along the ground from where the fire had spread before being put out. 

Kalya broke into a run, running towards the village. Aryanna followed her, dreading what they would find. Before they got to the outskirts of the village, Aryanna caught up to Kalya and stopped her. 

“I don’t want you coming with me, I want to check out what happened first,” Aryanna said. Kalya shook her head, swallowing hard. 

“No, I want to come with you, don’t leave me,” she said, her voice cracking. Aryanna looked down at her and saw tears forming in the dark eyes. She closed her own eyes against the threat of tears. 

“Alright, but if I tell you to close your eyes you had better listen right away,” Aryanna said. Kalya nodded seriously, her bottom lip trembling. Kalya took Aryanna’s hand firmly. Aryanna looked out across the burned remains of the village, she saw people milling about, some crying, others just looking about in shock. The two of them headed slowly towards the location James’ hut had been. It was now just a blackened pile of ashes, still faintly smoking. When Kalya saw it she burst into tears.