Free The Boy in the Field by Jo Oram

the
fence. The streets outside were full of people, running, fighting, screaming.
Ethan kept you away from them, scrambling between gardens and under hedgerows.
Branches snagged at your bare legs and caught on your clothes as you fought
your way through, all the while searching desperately for some sign that Noah
was still alive.
    Eventually, you were out of the town and on the road to the
dilapidated old house you once called a home. It seemed the perfect hiding
place, already fallen into disrepair – the kind of place nobody would bother to
attack. If you kept the candles out and stayed quiet, no one would even know
you were there. You pushed the door open and huddled inside.
    It was empty, the rooms all cold and quiet as you crept between
them, avoiding the creaky and rotting floorboards. You gathered blankets from
the bedrooms, fusty but good enough to keep you warm overnight. Ethan pulled
you close to him, stroking your shoulder as you cried.
    “Don’t think about it,” he said. “Don’t think about them .”
    “I don’t know how you can just leave them behind. They’re your
family.”
    “They’re being attacked by Taatars. We warned them. They
wouldn’t come. It’s their choice to stay.” He smiled at you. “If they survive,
Noah will know to come here. We’ll wait until tomorrow and then we’ll leave.
Okay?”
    “Where will we go? Everything we own is in Landia. Everyone we
know.”
    “Kinta,” he said. “Kinta will be safe. It will be the last
place they attack. The King will have hundreds of soldiers around the city.
You’ll see.”
     
    Ethan was right and he was wrong. Kinta was full of
soldiers but they weren’t the Kinel army. They weren’t Taatars either. They
were Serlorans, troops sent from the Empire to the north. Part of you was glad
your country had support but Ethan read the news reports, calling it a convert
invasion. Ethan wanted to fight it.
    Choice: 51. Join the Resistance or 52. Find Another Job

43.     TRY TO SAVE NOAH
    “No. I can’t leave him to be killed. Let me try to save him.
He might listen now.”
    Ethan hesitated. “Okay. Be quick.”
    You ran back through the house, grabbing a knife from the
kitchen as you did. Noah had moved from the doorway but you could see him
across the street, fighting with a man in Taatar clothing. Two more Landian men
moved to join him, pushing the other man back. You reached out for him,
narrowly avoiding the tip of his sword as he turned.
    “Noah, we have to go.”
    “I’m not leaving!”
    “We’ll be killed if we stay.” You grabbed his wrist and pulled
him towards the house, only to see other men going into the house.
    “Ma!”
    “We can’t fight them, Noah.” You pulled him again, this time
towards the alley at the side of the house, shouting for Ethan as you went.
    “Where is he?”
    You shook your head. “He was in the garden, but I doubt he’ll
be there if he saw those men.” You paused. “He’ll be with your mother. They’ll
find us.”
    You continued to run, scrambling over fences and through
bushes. Stones cut into your bare feet and twigs caught on your clothes as you
fled across the town, making your way towards the house in which you once
lived. If you kept quiet, it would be the perfect hiding place.
    Inside, the house was exactly as you remembered it – filthy and
decaying. You avoided the creaky and rotting floorboards as you searched the
rooms, looking for anything that could get you through the night or help you
locate Ethan. Aside from some moth-eaten blankets, you found nothing.
    “I thought he would be here,” you said. “I thought he would
wait.”
    “Yeah? Well, he didn’t.” Noah scowled. “He left me to fight by
myself.”
    You leaned your head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I should have
stayed with him. At least then we would know where he was.”
    “He would have gone anyway.” Noah stood up, pulling you with
him. “We should keep moving too. If we try to go back, we’ll be