Free The Harvest Tide Project by Oisin McGann Page A

her. Taya was cut off.
    Lorkrin ducked under an axle, pushed past a flailing hand on one side and dodged a spear thrust at him from the other. He could see large booted feet on both sides, but the soldiers were having trouble seeing him. They were holding lanterns under the vehicles to try to light the blackness. With the soldiers getting in each others’ way, he had managed to stay out of their grasp. But as long as he stayed under the wagons, he was going to keep going round in circles. He could not escape the guards for long.
    In the gaol wagon, Groach was trying to get the other prisoners to join him in an escape. The turmoil caused by the two children had resulted in the door being left unlocked. Wulms had run off after the boy he had dropped and everyone seemed to have forgotten their captives. Surprisingly, Groach was having some difficulty in persuading anyone else to come along.
    â€˜â€¦ but we can escape! The door’s open! Come on – what are you waiting for?’
    â€˜You go. I’m staying right here,’ one man replied.
    â€˜Me too. I’m fine where I am,’ said another.
    â€˜Safer in here than out there,’ muttered a third.
    â€˜I don’t understand,’ Groach whined, perplexed. ‘You’ve all been taken from your homes against your will. Thesepeople mean you nothing but harm. We can break out of here and make a run for it. Why won’t you try?’
    He did not want to admit that he was afraid to try it alone, but he found their attitude bewildering.
    Lorkrin came to a space between two of the vehicles. There were sacks and a couple of metal barrels on the ground in front of him. The guards had lost sight of him for the moment. He crouched in the shadows, glad of the rest. He poked at the sacks by his side, grain or corn or something . The barrels were about half his height, but wider than the wooden ones he was used to. He wondered what was in them. Unscrewing a cap, he put his nose to it and took a sniff. Bule oil – the refined stuff used for fuelling engines. In a moment of mischievous glee, he tipped it over on its side. It gurgled out and under the sacks and around them to the carriage.
    A guard saw it fall and rushed over, holding a lantern. He stuck it in through the gap and Lorkrin shouted and kicked out, knocking the lamp against the metal grill of the wagon, smashing the glass. The burning fuel spewed out and fell upon the oil-soaked grass. Lorkrin yelped. The flames were creeping under him. They reached out for the still gushing barrel. Lorkrin and the soldier bolted in different directions in time to escape the explosion. The boy was thrown to the ground by the force of it. He lifted his head and could hear a fast, popping sound in his ears. At first he thought he had damaged his hearing, but then he saw white fluffy tufts springing from the flames.
    That’s popcorn, he observed, dizzily.
    The soldiers were rushing about, trying to put out the fire. He was lying outside the circle, a short run from the nearbytrees. He got up and started running towards them.
    Taya was trapped. There were guards on all sides. While her body froze, her mind raced. She had to think of something , fast. Nothing came to her, so she charged at the three soldiers on the roof, diving between the legs of the first, rolling away from the second and finding her feet in time to leap to the neighbouring wagon before the third could snatch at her. A quick sprint across that roof and she was launching herself over the next gap when it exploded.
    A wave of heat lifted her up and caused her to miss the edge of the wagon’s roof, but dropped her neatly into the arms of a soldier. Though grateful for the soft landing, she poked him in the eye and he let go. She slipped away into the darkness as chaos took hold of the camp.
    â€˜Hilspeth? What about you?’ Groach did not know what was going on out there, but it seemed a perfect diversion for an escape.
    â€˜I