K'shalt Chronicles - Iceflame (B1)

Grandpa?!

Scarlett

     They, whoever they were, would not get away with this.  They didn't deserve mercy, and wouldn't they get any.  We would hunt then down... find them all... and they would pay.

     But for the time being, I needed to keep my cool and be strong.  I saw the bodies... Hetro and Kara.  Even though Pyro tried to hide the couple, tried to protect me.  It set something of in me, something feral, vicious, and I embraced it wholeheartedly.  I wasn't the scared little girl that I had been, and this was my home.  I would not watch it fall apart, would not let something be torn away from me... again...like grandpa... And my old house... No.  Somebody was about to pay dearly.

     

"Hey Scar?" My pet name...  I didn't dislike it, but prefered my full name.

"Yeah?"

"Where should we start asking?" I thought a moment; most people were likely still confused and may not know exactly what had happened. We'd had to find some of the older protectors.

"Let's go find Tammy and Graydon, maybe they can tell us what happened."

"Yeah.... maybe...."    That 'maybe' hung in the air, it was that unspoken thought....  If they're alive.  "I hope so"

  We walked around the trashed streets, everything seemed to be covered in a layer of dust.  There were bits of crumbled walls everywhere, it seemed almost on purpose; very few walls were actually smashed.  There were some fires - those were easily tamed by Pyro - and a fair number of broken windows; but thank the rushing rivers, no more bodies.

     Before we had a chance to find Tammy, or Graydon for that matter, Grem came running up to us.  His face had a bright red tinge, almost like he'd been crying.  But he was running, he must have just been tired.  He stopped within speaking distance and started blathering nonsense.

"Pyre! Scarle'! Aw thank ev'fing yous a'right, dere wes so man' offem weh jest couldn' 'n... 'n....."  His words blurred and became even less comprehensible.  He stopped, realizing that we couldn't understand him.  Then he looked to the ground and shook his head, like we weren't even there.

"Coach!"  Pyro didn't skip a beat.  He strode forward the couple steps to his coach and shook him twice, hard.  "Coach stop it." He sounded as if he were talking to a little kid in a tantrum.  I looked on in wonder; I'd never seen this side of Pyro, but we'd also never had an instructor in such a state, so it was fair. 

     Pyro's Coach looked up, but seemed to look straight through him.  He abruptly turned on his heel a started jogging away, leaving Pyro and I to stare after him.  Pyro shook his head, "What are we doing?  We've got to follow him, this is really weird Scar..." I didn't bother responding, I just shook my head slowly and started jogging with Pyro.

 

Grem seemed to want us to follow him; he was always in sight, or just around the corner.  So when we couldn't find him after rounding the corner of a thatched-roof house, we began systematically searching the houses.  I took the far side, and we opened doors to call for Grem. 

     I had just surprised a family of five inspecting the damage of their home when Pyro called out to me.  I apologised quickly as I backed out the door and raced to the house Pyro was in. 

     He was sitting with his left shoulder to me, talking quietly to Grem, who seemed to have calmed down.  I took a seat on the floor by them and waited.   "back... be alright, we'll help okay?  Soon as possible, but you gotta tell us what happened, where they might have gone.... everything you know."  Pyro finished.  Grem coughed, and started talking between sniffs and throat clearing in his thick accent,

"Happened real fast, came in... all sides, one then the other.  Confuse... us ya know?  Hit... behind...didn't try and kill, jest stop... us from fighting back.  Caught ol' Hetro... said they'd kill him... if we fought.  Kara... caught the sucker on... 'is head.  Both dead now!" He started shaking his head again.  I looked at Pyro, but he didn't seem to have any more of his strict parent act left.  I set my hand on Grem's shoulder, I didn't know what to say, but all I could think of was my grandpa... And the fire.  Yes, fire!

"Pyro," I whispered, "give me your hand." I put my own out expectantly, and he put his on it. "Now flame, just like the ceremony."  There would definitely be questions later, but we trusted one another enough.

     I felt the rush of warmth engulf me, and I knew what I had to say, what was bothering him, I was... enlightened.   So I spoke. "Grem, there's nothing you could have done.  They were old, they lived good long lives.  Kara died honourably, fighting, as I'm sure Hetro did.  What happened after?  And why did we need to come to this house in particular?  Whose is it?"  As I spoke, I tried channelling the warmth in to Grem's arm through my hand.  I didn't feel anything, maybe it was only Pyro who could work the fire.

     He looked back up, but he seemed almost normal this time, something had definitely changed, even his words were more clear, so my words must have helped in some way.

"After Hetro and Kara, they left them there, near the entrance... scare people away.  So many of them, we had no chance if they wanted to kill us... but they didn't.   They... they started searching houses, asking questions... they wanted me Gramps."

~    ~     ~     ~     ~

     I had to cut him off.  I had started wondering if he had been hit over the head with something.  My calm enlightenment shattered.  "What?  Why would bandits want your grandpa? You aren't making any sense now!"  I threw my hands up in the air and immediately lost any remaining strength I had had left.  Just like the ceremony... but worse.  We need to experiment with this fire sometime...  I planted my hands behind me to avoid falling over, and Pyro's arm shot out behind me, just in case.   Grem was looking at me again, his eyes clear.  Did he just look at Pyro for something?

"You don't know who me Gramps is, do ya?"  He didn't give me time to answer, "He's the elder.  An' they took him."  With my already failing strength, that was the final straw, everything began to fade.  The last thing I remember was Pyro's arm drawing me over for support, and the look of surprise on Grem's face.