When the bonfire started, Aquafina went in disguise to it. She sat there for a while, finally pulling a piece of meat and a stick out of her bag. She stuck the meat on the stick, and thrust her stick in the flames, purposefully putting it in the biggest flame. Her plan worked, and as she pulled out the stick, it caught fire. Pretending to be surprised, Aquafina jumped up, and hopped away from the fire, towards the houses. People quickly lost interest, and turned back to the fire. Aquafina smiled to herself as she used the flames to light the closest house on fire.
Emerando spotted the flames first. Then Altomia. Suddenly Emerando stood up.
“I’m going to save them.” He mumbled, trying to muster a confident voice when really he was shaking with fear. Altomia lunged and grabbed him before he could run. As soon as she grabbed him, he fell to the ground, shaking and sobbing on the cave floor.
“It’s okay,” Altomia said, patting Emerando on the back “Everything is going to be okay.”
Aquafina looked behind her at the ruins of the village. Just a half an hour before she had been laughing alongside the villagers. The bonfire had been blazing, the village alive with light and beauty. Yet Aquafina was not thinking of any of that. She was thinking of how the mission was going, and if she should have taken some food before burning the village down.
Emerando kicked up some ash with the tip of his boot. It was morning, and Emerando, Altomia, and Elmerita had taken a little field trip to the ruins of Emerando’s village. Emerando could barely recognize the bonfire pit where he and Elmerita had spent so many nights laughing and playing. The fire had left no survivors, no traces of civilization, nothing. Ash covered bones littered the ground, and the stench of smoke filled the air. Altomia knelt down and picked up something. It was a small metal toy soldier. The rifle had melted to a stub, but Elmerita still thought it a useful chew toy. Emerando looked at the horizon. The sky was gray. It seemed as if the weather corresponded with Emerando’s innermost thoughts.
The life seemed to drain from Emerando’s eyes as he neared the ruin of where he had once lived. If it had seemed ash covered before the fire, this ruin must have been pure midnight. Altomia stepped forth and put her arm around Emerando’s shoulder.
“We have to save this place from destruction.” Said Emerando.
“I agree.” Answered Altomia.
Emerando looking genuinely surprised, knelt down to pick Elmerita off the street, where she had fallen asleep.
“Really? I thought this would be harder.” Said Emerando.
“No.” Said Altomia with a stony cold look on her face. “This is not a matter in which I care about my own personal safety.”
The two were silent for a while. The breeze blew back Altomia’s hair so that it showed her furrowed brow. Finally, Altomia spoke.
“If we are to catch them in the act we have to leave now. We have everything we need. After all, I brought my bow, and we don’t need much else."
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