Summer 80, 124
Sjal had contracted out to a mercenary group for the time being to give her some company on her journey to Hespaeria. She stood by the road, shooting arrows absent mindedly off to the side to kill some time. She and the mercs she was travelling with stood at a fairly large rock that served as a landmark for passersby. She wasn't privy to exactly who they were waiting on, but she was used to not knowing very much. Go here, fight so and so, carry this, clean that. The life of someone low on the totem pole was not very complicated most of the time.
She ought to have picked up on how annoyed her boss was based on how he sucked his teeth and paced exasperatedly but she was blissfully ignorant. She wasn't in a rush. She was much too occupied with the fox that trotted in the distance. She aimed at it and watched as it walked around in search of food. It was a spry little thing that was hard to predict as it moved here and there. Suddenly it started to dig and Sjal took her chance. She let the arrow fly and nearly hit the fox right in the side just as it rose its head to see where the sound had come from.
She had learned from her last couple kills that waiting for her target to sit still for a while was a good time to attack, or spring a trap. She'd learned some basics about laying and checking traps during this leg of her journey. The mercs didn't want to do more work than necessary so it fell to her to do the boring tasks.
"Almost got one!" she said as a smile spread across her face. She looked at her boss and waved to get his attention. "Did you see that?"
"Oh, erm, yes. Good shot," he replied before muttering under his breath, "where are they?"
"Where are who?" Sjal asked.
"We're supposed to be meeting some mercs. I fear they might have encountered some trouble on their way as their leader is quite punctual." He rubbed his head and groaned. "This is going to throw off our whole schedule."
He barked at someone to go fetch some water while beckoning Sjal and another merc closer. "Listen, you two are the strongest we've got so I'm taking you with me to the next town to see if there's been any trouble. The rest of you, if we aren't back in an hour then follow after us. If there's trouble we're going to need all the help we can get."
"Sir!" they shouted in unison before mounting their steeds and setting off.
"Roads are quiet, now that I think about it," the man said. "Haven't seen a single soul come in this direction. There must be something wrong."
Sure enough, once they moved around a bend in the road they saw the unmistakable signs of a fire. Black smoke rose into the air, visible even from a distance. They urged their horses to move even faster until they got to the edge of the town. The mercs didn't speak until they dismounted. They were all thinking about just how bad things might be.
It was chaos. People were running to and from a well at the center of town. There were two homes on fire and there was a good chance more were going to follow suit. It didn't take long for them to find the mercs that Sjal's group was supposed to meet up with. They were helping out, barking out orders, and trying to keep people calm.
Sjal felt utterly helpless. Her magic was useful, yes, but it wasn't so powerful that it could help stop a fire. She stood there shaking until her boss put a hand on her shoulder which helped a little. "We have enough people running buckets," he shouted, "one of the buildings just caught fire and they think there's people inside. We need to go check for survivors."
He led the way and his subordinates followed close behind. He pushed his way through a crowd that was trying to lift heavy pieces of collapsed wood. The building was still standing, but there was a big hole in the roof that was caused by something that had fallen off one of the burning buildings. It'd caused parts of it to collapse and there was a glow of light inside.
"Is there anyone inside?"
"Yes!"
"What, are they stupid? How could they not have gotten out in time?"
"They went back in to get their valuables! Their kid ran in after them!"
"Idiots. Sjal! Do your thing!"
Sjal had no idea how she was supposed to help but she made some portals which helped large logs and planks away in the sense that they could be deposited far away. She and others wrapped their arms around a particularly large pieces and pulled with all their might, using both her legs, back, and biceps to put as much force into her movements as possible. Even with their combined strength they were still limited in what their bodies was capable of.
Slowly, ever so slowly, the heavy log started to ease out from underneath the rubble. They took steady steps backwards as they pulled until the log finally came free. She only just then realized how hot it was. The summer heat combined with the fire made her want to jump into the well. She had to force herself to run back into the heat to grab another one. She couldn't let these people down. Not when she'd been given orders.
When Sjal finished clearing a path into the home, she looked around for her boss… but he was nowhere to be seen. "Where'd he go?" she asked the small gathering of people who were helping clear other debris away.
"He was pulled away! What do we do?"
Sjal gritted her teeth and realized that she was probably in charge of getting people out of the building. She said, "I'm going in. Call for me if the building looks like it's going to collapse. I probably don't have long. Be ready to help if I can rescue anyone."
"Got it!"
Sjal stepped into the gap in the wall and shouted, "is anyone in here?" She didn't want to go any further as it was very hot. She forced herself to stay put, however, enduring the heat for as long as she could manage.
She couldn't hear anything at first so she concentrated. She then could make out someone shouting, but it was muffled by the noises outside. At this point she didn't want to admit that she heard anything. It would have been so much easier to say she hadn't… but her gut nagged at her she had to try. She ran inside, trying to pinpoint the source of the shouting. She made her way into what seemed like a bedroom. A wooden beam prevented it from opening but it was, thankfully, not on fire. She kicked a hole in the door and blinked insinde.
Inside she saw a child screaming on the floor with his hands covering his eyes. She grabbed him, ignoring the bodies of his parents in the room. She wasn't in any position to check whether they were dead or not, and she didn't want to stay in the building for even one more second. She created a portal out with the kid tucked under her arm like a parcel. She turned to move through the portal again but it quickly closed on her, probably because the building had collapsed at that exact moment.
Sjal coughed and dropped the kid unceremoniously to the ground before taking off away from the heat. She teleported to the well. She yanked a bucket out of someone's hands and dumped the entire contents on her head. She let out a groan of relief as the cool sensation washed over her body.
"Sorry about that," she said with an apologetic smile as she handed the bucket back to the confused looking man.
"Sjal! What are you doing here?" asked her boss.
"Sir! I went inside and rescued a child. It was so hot, I had to cool off. There were more people inside but they weren't conscious and I didn't think I had time to grab them."
"There's nothing we can do for them then. Poor kid." The man's expression was hard but he didn't show sadness. He continued, "that was the last building we will let fall. We can beat this fire! Grab a bucket and help as best you can!"
Sjal inclined her head and proceeded to help ferry buckets back and forth. Her portals could help but they were limited by how quickly water could be pulled from the well. Her added efficiency was little help and she was hardly key to stopping the fire, but she still moved with purpose. Within a half hour the fire finally died down enough for people to relax and slow their pace.
It was hours still before it was all over and hours more before Sjal was finally fetched by her boss so they could eat and regroup. They were praised for their hard work and were told that they'd made a difference. Sjal couldn't stop thinking about the newly orphaned child and how his life had changed just because his parents had made one stupid decision.
