"Where are they?" I look up through the loose web of branches above me, but all I see is a clear sky empty of everything. Especially airships. I sigh and lean back against a tree to catch my breath.
My hand closes around my father's necklace, feeling warmth radiate from it as if it were a real sun. I close my eyes and let myself think just for a second of the distant but powerful memory of my father's face, of the years I've spent searching for him with no luck. Even though I trust Fang about as far as I can throw him, if there's even a chance my dad's alive… that has to be worth something, doesn't it? But the lives of complete strangers? I drop my hands and shove those dark thoughts deep into a corner of my mind, burying them to examine much later. I straighten up, letting the sun clatter back into place on my sternum.
As soon as I cast my eyes back to the sky, the ground beneath me lurches with a loud burst of noise that nearly sends me tumbling into the trees. I catch my balance as the sky erupts with screaming birds and the nauseating smell of smoke and fire. Something in my stomach churns and I gather myself to run, fleeing into the forest behind me.
There's a second explosion as I run, nearly tripping over a dozen roots in my wild escape. The stench of smoke follows my every step and dark memories flood into my mind. I shove them all back and focus on the ground in front of me.
Only a few minutes later there are shouts the woods nearby. I quickly dig my heels into the ground and duck behind a tree, steadying myself as I catch my breath. I flatten myself against the cool bark and pull two knives from their sheaths, straining my ears to listen for whatever's joined me in the forest.
There are a few more shouts and a dark shape lurches into view, flying past my hiding spot and crashing to the ground just ahead. I recognize it as a young guy dressed in loose black fighting clothes, not a far cry from what I'm wearing. He looks ragged and beaten and I notice his dark hair and clothes are tousled and choked with smoke and ash, as if he were just caught in an explosion. He struggles to get up but falls back to the earth and doesn't move again.
I start to leave my shadow when another crowd of noise emerges from the forest. I flatten myself back against the tree as three men barely old enough for their facial hair lumber into the clearing. They're wearing the colors of a local gang, one known for the not-so-occasional violent outburst. Their meaty hands clutch broad bats, and they snicker as they circle the unconscious shape in front of them.
"Look, our friend's taking a little nap," the lead thug chuckles, poking the unconscious boy's shoulder with the tip of his bat. The other two laugh along with him. A malicious look splits his face. "Maybe we can help him sleep a little deeper. What do you think, boys?"
The other two nod with dark laughs, watching with sadistic excitement as their leader slowly lifts his bat over the boy's head. As it starts to swing down, I step out from behind my tree and send a knife spiraling toward it. The blade stabs into the wood of the bat, knocking it out of the guy's hand and sending it crashing into a nearby bush. He stares comically at his empty hands for a second before he raises his eyes and catches sight of me. He and his friends look shocked and maybe a little scared, but once they get a good look at me their faces break into matching smirks.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" the lead thug grins. "Is this your boyfriend, sweetheart?"
"Back off before I have to hurt you," I raise my second knife toward them.
The three look at my knife, then at each other, and burst out laughing.
"Sorry, sweetheart, but this isn't your kitchen," the leader smirks as he takes a few threatening steps toward me. "Out here, we call the shots."
"The next thing you'll be calling is an ambulance," I narrow my eyes. "Because unfortunately for you, I don't wait until you're unconscious to beat you bloody."
I throw my knife fast and it hisses through the air, lodging itself in the sweater of one thug and the next before it thuds into the tree behind them. The thick, heavy blade traps them there, though not for very long.
"You're playing with fire, girly," the leader growls as picks up one of the dropped bats and advances on me.
"Believe me. I have plenty of experience with fire," dark memories cloud my mind, but I shove them aside as I throw another knife from my belt. The thug ducks as the blade hisses over his head. He swings his bat wildly toward my face. I block it with the padded leather on my left arm, jarring my shoulder painfully but ignoring it to grab another knife and slice into his clothes. The blade tears a wide whole in the front of his shirt, but I pull back enough to leave just a shallow slice in his bulging stomach. I shove him away from me and the condescending smirk disappears from his face, replaced with a dark rage.
"Lucky shot," he growls. His friends finally detach themselves from the tree, and one of them throws the knife wildly toward me. I deflect it easily with the heavier blade in my hand before I pull another two knives and throw them all in a wide arc toward the thugs. Their heavy hilts slam heavily into the three men, knocking them all to the ground. I stalk closer until I'm standing above the leader, my last two knives already unsheathed as I flatten my foot on his chest.
"Leave now and I'll let you go free," I command, hovering the point of the blade just above his throat. "I won't follow you and I'll pretend like this didn't happen. All you have to do is walk away and never enter this forest again."
"Okay, okay!" the leader nods, eyes crossed to watch the blade. "Never come to these woods again, got it. Just don't kill me, please!"
I step off him without a word and let him and his cronies get to his feet. One of them moves to pick up his bat, but a glance from me changes his mind.
"Who are you?" the other thug asks.
"You can call me Ash," I answer. "Now get out of here before I change my mind."
The three of them lurch back into the woods, muttering curses and other assorted words as they go. I return my knives to their sheathes and gather up the others before addressing the body still lying in the dirt.
I kneel down next to the guy and carefully push him over onto his back. He moans softly, but doesn't wake up. His dark hair falls on flickering eyelids, and I realize he's young, maybe just a little older than me, and surprisingly fit. He doesn't look like anyone I've seen from around here, and if the thugs were attacking him then he's obviously not a friend of theirs.
"Who are you?" I ask myself more than him, and I'm answered by another few distant shouts coming from the direction he fell from. I vaguely remember a town in that general direction, one I haven't visited very often because of its magnetism for violence. I let out a sigh. "I guess there's only one way to find out."