K'shalt Chronicles - Iceflame (B1)

Smoke

                         ~~~  Two weeks later  ~~~

Scarlett

  I snatched another fish from the water, and tossed it to the bank where Pyro and I had formed a separate pool of water, large enough to accommodate a respectable amount of fish.  It was one of our jobs as protectors, we caught and collected food for the village.  We were chosen for this specific job mainly because of Pyro; his fire could apparently be lit under water, not burn anything there, but could easily scare fish and other animals towards me.

   I looked at all the fish in the pool, this will be fun to carry back to the village... I thought with bitter humour, at least we had something to carry them back in.  "Hey Pyro?" I called down the river,  "I think we've got enough!"

  "Already?!  Just let me get these last few here for our lunch.  You hungry yet?"  I looked to the sky where the sun hung almost directly above me, already midday? My stomach groaned and I laughed,

"My stomach says so, Py, so I must be" He laughed too and I heard splashing around as he grabbed at the fish.  He held two up by their tails triumphantly, and started a small flame in his free hand,

"Do you mind getting some dry branches and tinder to keep this going?"

"Sure, back in a minute"  Tinder wasn't too hard to find, I probably wouldn't even be that.

When I came back with an armload of old branches and moss, Pyro had already stared cooking our fish.  "Hey! I thought you said you wanted something for the fire, Mr. Firestarter!" I shoved him playfully.  He smiled and pushed me away,

"I asked if you minded getting some, I can do it without, it's just easier to cook when I don't need to concentrate on the heat, and besides, you didn't want burnt fish? Did you?"

"Okay, fine..." I took a seat on a decent sized rock near him, "let's just eat, my brain has now informed me that I'm starving."

"Your brain?  But I thought that was you stomach."  He grinned boyishly at his own joke.

"Oh shut up and give me some fish, I'm hungr- ..."  I stopped mid complaint and stood up, earning a confused glance from Pyro, "I smell smoke....  And I don't think that it's from this fire..."

We found the source of the smoke at the same time, and looked at one another, fear evident in our eyes.  The village...  at the shot of an invisible gun, we started a mad sprint through the forest, our fish forgotten, back home.