John moved through the ash. The smell of warm, sweaty water filtered through the cloth he had wrapped around the lower part of his face. Ashes lay thick on the ground as Daniel picked up a small boy, his mother watching nervously. He did not envy the woman's position. Leave the island early and make it to one of the dwindling number of available escape ships, or find her boy, and perhaps die with him. She looked up at John. Ashes stained her brow above her own breathing cloth, and her hair was caked with a layer of the ash.

"What will we do?"

John knew the desperation in her voice, and knew that he would not be able to fully convince her that everything would be alright. His comforts he could offer were small compared to her child. He knew what that was like all too well.

"Do what you can. For now, get back to the city. Find somewhere to breathe, away from so much smoke. Daniel, go with her. Lead her back and see if you can get her on a ship. I'll go on to the farm."

Daniel nodded quickly, his eyes narrowing as he turned. The woman turned as he walked off into the falling ash.

As soon as their figures faded behind the ever-thickening grey, John turned, scanning the trees around him. His hair stood on end, his ears strained to hear something beyond the constantly starting and smothered fires brought about by raining embers and choking ash.

Nothing.

And yet, he HAD seen something out there in the trees. he couldn't see twenty feet, but the shadows had shifted earlier, when Daniel was moving the boy. A faint noise, no louder than the closing of a book, rang in his strained ears like a gong. He whipped his head around, instinctively bringing a hand up, covered in arcane metal.

Nothing, again.

The ash at his feet was disturbed, and held a twitching sparrow, spasming as it tried in vain to fly on ash-laden wings. He brought his gaze up to the path, now just a depression in the earth leading away to the east. Something was out there, that he knew, but he needed that book from the farm. He started to walk out, keeping his eyes and ears open.