The Crafter's Tower

          I remember the night the Tower was attacked, if only vaguely. I was only six years old at the time, and I didn't know what was happening.

          I remember being cozy and warm in my bed, cuddling with my stuffed lava-toad, when Ms. Willins, the  woman who took care of us kids, woke me up and told me we had to go, and quickly.
          I remember stumbling out of my bed in just my sleep-shirt and my socks, and I remember trying to get my hair out of my eyes while I clung to my stuffed toad and stumbled down the huge hallways behind Ms. Willins.

          I can remember that the floors of the Tower were polished, because my stocking feet slipped all over the place as I stumbled along. And I remember the floors were marbled burnt orange, white, and black, because I got a close look when I fell and bumped my nose on the floor.

          I remember asking Ms. Willins to slow down, because I was falling behind, and whatever the problem was I didn't want to face it alone. But she'd just chirped at me to hurry up. She gave no explanation. It was as if those were the only words she knew: "Hurry up, Aivah, we must go quickly!"

          I waited outside the other rooms while she woke up Toby, and then as she hurried across the hall to wake Rahm.

          I remember Toby holding onto the hem of her skirt as she rushed us along, and I remember Rahm rubbing his eyes with his sleeve while he asked me what was going on. I didn't answer, because I had nothing to say.

          The three of us waited while Ms. Willins got Feara out of bed; back then she was only four; I considered her a baby.
          She didn't want to walk because she was sleepy and cranky over being woken up. So Ms. Willins carried her. And I remember being surprised, because Ms. Willins never carried anybody unless they were hurt.

          I kept falling behind because I kept slipping, and it brought tears to my eyes because I was little and confused and scared of all this rushing. Rahm had seen me falling behind just as we got to the stairs, and he told me I should take off my socks so I could walk better.
          I hadn't really wanted to, since the floor in the Tower was always cold and I hated being cold. But I didn't want to get left behind, so I took them off and shoved them into the pockets of my shirt, and hurried to catch up with them.

          A strange little detail that stuck in my mind that night is the sound my feet made on the cold steps as we went down, down, down to the lower floors.

          I remember being sort of excited because I hardly ever got to go downstairs; all our training happened on the same floor our bedrooms were on. Little kids hardly ever went down, and even fewer actually left the Tower.

          We'd been walking down the stairs for what seemed like forever when the whole building suddenly shook like it was one of Toby's block towers like the ones he made in the playroom, about to fall over. The noise was like the noises the oldest Fire-crafters made when they practiced outside, but it was the middle of the night. We all sat down on the stairs and Feara started crying. I'd wanted to cry too, because now I wasn't excited at all, just scared.

          Ms. Willins told us again how we had to hurry, but this time she added that it would all be okay, as long as we hurried and got downstairs as fast as we could.
          I reminded myself that I was a big kid, and that big kids didn't cry when they were scared, even when their whole head was full of things like the Tower falling down and burying us all forever. Hot tears were running down my face the whole walk, but it was so hard to see in there, with only a few torches to light our way and no windows, that I doubt anyone noticed.

          The Tower shook again when Ms. Willins was just about to open a big wooden door, and it was loud like the first time, but the floor didn't shake as much as before. It still shook, though, and if I couldn't trust the floor to stay still so I could walk on it, what could I trust?

          Ms. Willins opened the big door to the main room, where people were shouting and running around all over the place. Looking back now there must have been some sort of order in it all, but my six-year-old eyes saw chaos.
          I let out a tiny little gasp of a sob, and Rahm was next to me and heard it but he told me it was okay because he was scared too, and I knew he wasn't lying because there were tears in his eyes when I looked at him. I remember thinking that his eyes looked even darker brown when he had tears in them, like wood when it's wet.

          We couldn't go out the big front doors, because Ms. Willins told us it was too dangerous, but she didn't answer when we asked what was wrong. The outside had never been dangerous before.
          She'd led us down more hallways and passages that twisted and turned so much that I had no idea where we were anymore. I wasn't even sure we were still in the Tower.

          While we were walking down one hallway -and I remember this part vividly- I dropped my stuffed toad. When I stopped to pick it up, I glanced up another passageway that branched off from where we were. The passageway went up to a landing with a window, and through the window I saw dragons in flight.
          I could see riders on their high-ridged backs, although it's been so long and I was so little and scared that I don't remember them clearly. I just remember people, and the huge dragons blasting fire towards the Tower. And I remember being scared because I didn't understand.
          
          That was the only time Ms. Willins stopped for me. She came rushing back and grabbed my arm and pulled me along saying something about how dangerous it was here and that we had to get moving.
          "No time for dilly-dallying, sweetie, none at all!"

          Every time I'd seen dragons before then, they'd been nice and quiet, standing in their stalls in the Tower's stable, munching on treats we fed them and regarding us with calm, snake-like eyes. I'd played with the little ones before. Now they were attacking our Tower?
          I was so confused.

          Most of the rest of that walk to 'safety' is shrouded by fear, and I'm left with only vague images of hallways, the others, and flash images of the chaos outside.

          The next thing I remember clearly is standing at what was apparently an emergency exit, with Ms. Willins comforting Feara, who'd begun crying at some point, and Toby demanding to know what was going on as he sucked on his thumb, and Rahm staring in silent terror at that door.
          I clutched my lava-toad tightly in my arms and stared at that door, wondering if Ms. Willins would open it to reveal those dragons and their riders, and if we'd all be burned up. In truth, she opened it to reveal a wide open field.
          She'd told us we had to run, and that we'd be safe out in a secret place in the forest until it was all over. But I hadn't wanted to run. Suddenly my legs were locked up and shaking, and I was afraid I'd just fall over if I tried to run. I kept picturing the dragons swooping down from above with mouths filled with fire, and I started crying all over again.

          But somehow Ms. Willins got us all going, even Feara, and we began running through the tall-grass at her signal.

          She'd told us to run quietly, not crying or yelling or making any noise at all so the dragons wouldn't hear us. I have to admit I broke that rule, because I was whimpering to myself the entire time.

          To this day I clearly remember the feel of the stiff, green grass bending under my bare feet, and the shorter bits of tall-grass smacking into my face, and I remember the way the grass standing tall around me separated me from everything else until the world was no longer fire and shouting, but my own panting and sobbing.

          I ran until I was under the cover of the trees, and even then it took someone grabbing the back of my shirt to stop me. It wasn't Ms. Willins though, and at first I was afraid, until I recognized Bail.

          Bail Smather was the dragon-keeper of the stables, or at least one of them, and he'd always been nice to me. He'd even promised me once that when I was old enough he'd help me train my own dragon to ride. And he was a Fire-crafter just like me, the only other one I'd ever been friends with back then- the others were too busy for a little kid like me.

          He'd caught me and hid me with him in the shade of a big tree, and he'd hushed me and promised that I was safe now, and that once Ms. Willins came out of the grass we'd all dash off somewhere even safer.
          He caught Rahm and Feara too -they'd run together, Rahm pulling Feara along by the hand-, and Toby found us a little while later, but not Ms. Willins.
          We waited for a long time, until finally Bale told us we had to go, and that Ms. Willins knew the place we were going and she'd find us. "Maybe she's already there."

          So the four of us went with him through the woods down an old trail that was so overgrown it was barely a trail, and we found a big oak tree. The tree was hollowed out and so we could all hide in it. Ms. Willins wasn't there.
          Bail helped us inside and hid us under big warm blankets that smelled like tree sap, and he told us that we could go back to sleep, that it was all over.
          At first I couldn't imagine going to sleep, but once I was lying down and warming up, I got tired again and fell asleep. All four of us did, all snuggled together like puppies.

          All I remember of the next day is Bail telling us that the Tower was gone, destroyed, and Ms. Willins never showing up.

          I was sad that day, but I heard the birds singing, or I saw a butterfly, or something like that, I don't remember exactly, and it made me think that if the forest could get over all this so easily, why couldn't I?

          Feara was so little that she got over the excitement a few days later, and Rahm seemed more than willing to put it all behind him. Then there's Toby. He's usually fine, but lately...he's been odd. More so than usual. I don't think he's ever gotten over that night.
          I think he's planning something.

          I only hope I can talk him out of it.