A TOAST TO CRUEL FATE!
By: Dana Owens
The rain had put the fire out and now the air smelled of damp ashes. Tara drudged down the muddy road, covering her head with the basket she had used to take the wool to the Winstongale seamstress. She felt a sense of serenity, but at the same time, her heart ached with the loss of her family, friends, home, and everything else she once thought was important. As hard as she tried to concentrate on something else, her mind kept wandering back to her now ruined life.
The rain began to fall harder now, and Tara was forced to find shelter under the bows of a large spruce. She sat and waited out the rain until dark, then she continued her perilous march. Her feet ached and her legs grew weary, but she feared that if she stopped, the troops that had burned her town would find her and take her prisoner.
By mid-afternoon, she reached Tamlin, the town where her father, the general, was stationed. As she made her way toward the barracks, people stared at her matted hair and muddy garments. She was stopped at the large gates by two guards.
"See here, you can't go in there!" One of the men said.
"That's where the soldiers train. Women don't belong there." The other explained as if she didn't understand.
"Yes, I realize that." Tara was much to fatigue to try and argue back. "My father is General Cainbridge, I need to speak with him."
"Yes, of course he is, but maybe you should just wait until tonight when he's finished with all his work." The first man said.
Tara grew impatient with the guards. "I have been walking all night to see him, and I will not be turned away now. Let me though the gates, or if not that, tell him that his daughter is waiting for him."
"We're not to interfere with his work, direct orders."
Tara closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. "I will not be turned away by two half-witted men! Let me through!" Terra repeated harshly.
Despite her rage, the men didn't move. "Terribly sorry miss, but we have orders."
Tara marched away aggravated. She had been here before with her father and knew that there was always a back window open. She walked around to the back of the building, climbed through the window, and walked passed the men training in the courtyard toward the berths for the militant leaders. She swung open the door and looked around the room at the startled men.
"Where's General Cainbridge?" She demanded.
"You can't come in here!" One man yelled.
"No, it's all right, she Cainbridge's daughter!" Another said. "I believe he took some men out for field training. He should be back shortly if you'd like to wait."
"Yes, thank you." Tara said as the man lead her toward one of the many bunk houses.
"You can stay here, you look as if you need rest."
"Yes, that would be nice. Thank you so much." Tara collapsed on a bed and fell asleep almost immediately. The man smiled and left the room, closing the door behind him.
"What are you doing here?" He asked calmly.
The image of their burnt home and destroyed city rushed back into her mind once more. She couldn't bare to tell her father what happened, or even say it out loud.
"Your mother must be worried. Did she send you here? Is something wrong?" When Tara didn't answer, he continued. "Tara, what's wrong? Why won't you answer me . . . ?"
Terra couldn't listen to her father plead any longer. "Oh father! It was horrible!" She fell into his arms and began to sob.
"What? What happened?"
Terra could barely speak. She could barely breathe. "I took some wool to the seamstress in Winstongale for mother, she wanted a dress made. When I returned. . . ." Tara felt a horrible knot in her stomach that churned with every word she spoke.
"Go on Tara." Her father said gently.
"When I returned, the Trantons had burned the city to the ground. . . . and everyone in it. There was no one left!"
"Are you sure? Did you look? They had to have escaped!"
"Yes, I'm sure." The gruesome image of charred, blackened bodies lying among the ruins of what use to be her home came flooding back. Tara's father grew silent and his stare distant. When he didn't speak any words of comfort, Tara fell into his chest, crying. He slowly lifted his arms and wrapped them around her, but something was missing from his embrace.