Page 6 of Ironhold, Trial One

I frown. Surely my mother is overstating that? “They can't justtakepeople.”

“Of course they can,” she insists. “Quick, we need to get inside.”

We hurry back to our hovel, and my mother shuts the door behind us, locking it as firmly as if the bear were still out there. Together, we move the man who has been wounded onto the table. His wounds look bad. I'm not sure if we'll be able to save him.

“I'll go get needle and thread,” I say.

Even as I do it, a fist hammers on the door. The voice that follows is that of the official from before. He seems to have recovered his wits enough to come after me.

“Open this door! Open up in the name of the emperor!”

CHAPTER THREE

“Open this door!” the official bellows again.

I can see the terror on my mother's face now.

“Lyra, they’re here for you. You need to get out of here. You need to run.”

“Run? Why? They were grateful to me for saving them.”

My mother's expression hardens. “And how long do you think the gratitude of an Aetherian lasts? They’ve seen what you can do, and now they want you. I told you, they’re looking for talents.”

More fists hammer on the door, obviously those of the soldiers with the grey-robed official.

“Open the door,” the tax collector demands, “or we will break it down and claim everything within.”

“Go!” my mother says to me. “Get out of the village and wait for them to leave. Quickly, go out the window!”

The urgency in her voice is enough to spark me into movement, even though I'm still reeling in shock in the moment. I hear a heavy thud as a shoulder hits the door. It holds for now, but I can't believe it will hold much longer. I also can't believe that they're doing this. I just saved their lives, and now they’ve come for me? That is wrong. Absolutely wrong.

I make it to the window. There is no time for me to grab any of my few belongings. Instead, I push back the shutter and clamber out, even as I hear the splintering of the door beneath a second charge by the soldier attacking it.

“There!” he yells. “She's getting away!”

I make it out of the window into the space between the houses. There are lines of washing hanging here, drying in the sun. I dart between them, hoping to get away before the soldiers can pursue me.

I hear sandals slapping on the shingle between the houses, following. Angry shouts come from behind me.

“Stop there! Stop in the name of the emperor!”

I keep running. I am not going to slow down, even for an instant. I don't want to find out what will happen if they catch up to me. I dodge between the buildings, trying to make my way down to the shoreline. If I can do that, maybe I can get to a boat and row out somewhere they cannot follow. Maybe I can lose them in the water.

I do not know, because I have never been pursued before. All my life I have been safe in Seatide. My mother has been respected, and I have been treated well by the people of the village. I have only ever been greeted by friendly faces, and now I am being chased. And for what? Because I saved people using my talent? It makes no sense.

I keep running anyway, hitching up the hem of my dress so that I can move faster. I glance around to see one of the soldiers following me, a terrifying sight in his armor. It is enough to make my heart hammer in my chest, making me dodge this way and that, trying to lose him. I leap over a small fence, running through a garden where people have planted vegetables, sprinting past a small shrine, continuing to try to make it to safety.

I take twists and turns at random, striving to confuse my pursuer. I suspect he is faster than me in a straight line, so my only hope is to use my greater knowledge of the village. I move through the houses, determined to lose him.

For a moment, I lose sight of him, breaking contact in the pursuit. I look around, desperately trying to find somewhere to hide. I throw myself at the wall of one of the shacks, climbing it as best I can, pulling myself onto the roof and lying flat in the hope that the soldier will not find me. I feel sure that he will hearmy ragged breathing, hear my heart pounding, it is so loud. I force myself to stay still, waiting as I hear sandals thudding past.

I dare to breathe a sigh of relief, and the moment I do, I know I have made a mistake. A hand grabs my leg. I cry out and look around, seeing that it is the other soldier. He must have seen me climb up here, and now he is trying to drag me from the roof. I kick out at him, feeling my own sandal come loose as I try to break his grip.

I tear loose from him, and then I’m running again, across the tops of Seatide’s houses, trying to find a way out of the predicament I’m in. I kick my other sandal loose, running barefoot, hoping that I can move faster that way.

The soldiers are keeping pace with me. I look this way and that, but they’re following smoothly, not giving me a way to break for the shore. Instead, I can only leap from roof to roof, trying to find something that might help me.

It only takes one misstep. I miss my footing on one of the leaps. Not by much, but it is more than enough when my situation is so precarious. My arms pinwheel, my hands scrabbling at the edge of the roof, but I still fall. It isn’t far, but I hit the ground hard, groaning. It takes me several seconds to rise, and now the soldiers are almost on me.

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