Free The Boy in the Field by Jo Oram Page A

killed. Ethan
won’t come for us. Mother will be…” He shook his head. “We should just go.”
    You didn’t look back as you left the crumbling house. It was
the loss of Landia that really upset you. It was where most of your best
memories had happened. Now it, Ethan and Adina were gone.
    Noah decided that your best hope was to leave the country
entirely. Ethigos, to the north, was part of the Serloran Empire and the home
of their imperial family. It was be safe, if you could just reach its borders
without being found by the Taatars invading Kinel or mistaken for them by the
peacekeepers or magisters of Ethigos.
    It took almost two weeks to reach the capital city, travelling
mostly by night and resting whenever possible. You arrived with only a few
hundred kesas which you had traded at the border for Serloran currency and it
was barely enough to rent a room for a week in a cheap inn on the rough edge of
the city.
    “We need to find work,” you said, picking up the newssheet and
staring intently at the words on the pages, hoping that they would begin to
make sense.
    Noah leaned over your shoulder and turned to the back of the
sheet. “Down here,” he said, pointing to a list in a box. “That’s the jobs.”
    You shook your head. “I can’t read it.”
    He smiled. “Shop workers wanted – you could do that,
peacekeepers – we can both do that, office work – no good for you, junior
medic…” He scanned the list. “And a lot that neither of us can do.”
    Choice: 53. Peacekeepers or 54. Junior Medic

44.     WAIT FOR NOAH
    “No.” You shook your head. “I’m not going without him.”
    Ethan grimaced. “Please?”
    “Not without Noah.” You grabbed his arm as he began to open the
window. “Don’t leave us!”
    “We’ll all be killed if we stay.”
    You swallowed and let go of him. “Meet us at my father’s house.
It’s out of the way. They’ve got no reason to go there.”
    He hesitated, one foot out of the window. “Find Noah. Take
mother.”
    You nodded. “If we’re not there by midnight tomorrow, expect
the worst.”
    You pulled on the shoes and turned to go to Adina’s room. The
streets were full of shouting – she should have been awake. You had your
fingers on the doorknob when a rough hand grabbed you by the shoulder and
slammed you back against the wall.
    “They said the Landia girls were pretty,” he leered, his breath
like a hot sewer pipe in your face. “Don’t scream.” He flashed a blade at you.
“I would hate to ruin you.”
    You tried to push him back, but he was stronger. He pushed his
knee into your stomach.
    “Don’tcha wanna be nice to me? It’ll hurt less if you’re nice.”
    His hand ran up your thigh. Tears formed in your eyes, but you
bit your lip, determined not to cry.
    “Let me go,” you whispered.
    “Pretty thing like you? I don’t think so.”
    His hand moved further under your nightshirt and you closed
your eyes, wanting to make him disappear. Something hot and wet hit your face.
Your throat filled with the taste of iron. His hands left your body and the
knife clattered to the floor. You opened your eyes to see his face wide with
shock and Noah behind him, the silver sword in his hands, the blade wedged in
the man’s neck. And blood. So much blood.
    Footsteps pounded up the stairs and Noah turned, letting the
first man fall gasping to the floor. He swung the blade at the second, pushing
him back across the hallway. He fell as he stepped back, tumbling down the
stairs. Noah chased after him and you leaned over the banister to see him
stabbing the man, over and over and over.
    “Noah, stop.” You moved behind him, putting your hand on his
shoulder.
    He span, the sword finding your throat for a split second
before his eyes met yours, raging and bloodthirsty.
    “ Parahe .” He lowered the sword. “Are you hurt?”
    You shook your head. “I'm okay. Please, Noah. We have to get
out of here.”
    “Where is mother?”
    “Upstairs. Ethan is