The Hallowed Ground

Chapter One

'You going to give me the answer right now,' said the broad man whose expression was more like a gnarled tree than anything human. 'No one travels anywhere without permit. Where did you come from?' My wry grin only angered him more. Men like this don't know when to quit because they are too dumb to realise that they've been played.

'I told you, already.' With a dissatisfied grunt, his comrade threw a sharp punch at me that I dodged with ease.

'Come here!' the first man yelled, as I slid under their legs and sprinted out of the side street. Out into the crowd I ran, carefully weaving my way through the turbulence and clamour. Looking quickly over my shoulder I saw the soldiers, those men, barging people out of the way in pursuit of me. Grinning, I upped the ante. This trick had taken me some time to master. Out of all my gifts, this was the fluke, the one I'd learned by accident and had to figure to how to use it on command. Whenever anyone asked me how I'd mastered it, usually, my answer lead them to confusion, and I wanted to keep it that way.

Breathe. Breathe deeper. Look them in the eye. I turned to face them. Ten feet away.

'There they are!' The tree-faced man yelled. Five feet.

'Breathe,' I whispered as the crowd parted. A soldier lunged at me. Peoples' gasps were like music. Gone.

'Where did they go?! Find them for me, now!' Yelled tree-man. Little did he know I was stood behind him, smiling. Never gets old, I thought, as I wove back in the other direction.

Skirmishes like that were common, a monthly occurrence at least. I grabbed a roll of bread from the baker's cart and took a well-earned bite. He wouldn't miss the roll even if he'd seen me take it. Did I feel guilty anymore about stealing? Absolutely not. Not for survival anyway, especially in richer towns like this. Since I'd left the Society, I'd had to fend for myself, and getting a job when you are trying to remain hidden is difficult, especially when the Society has spies everywhere. This fact meant I lived out in the wilds alone when I could, and that was my exact destination.

Soldiers were posted on the town walls, stopping me in my tracks, their silver badges glinting in the morning sun. The rest of their armour was leather or iron, but that's not what they were known by. These were soldiers of the Silver Army, the nickname for the The Argyros Order, an empire that had conquered much of the known world. Adala was one of the last standing kingdoms... and now it had fallen to this hungry beast of conquest. The soldiers of the Order were well trained unlike the Adalans but getting past them wouldn't be a challenge. I waited for a merchant to show her travel permit to a young soldier at the gates, and as her caravan of trinkets wheeled out into the countryside, I followed close behind. When I was out of sight of the road and in the thick forest up on the hills, I let down my façade.

'Freedom,' I sighed and finished the bread roll by the time I made it to my camp. I'd hidden all evidence of my existence from potentially patrolling soldiers under a large rock, in a hole I'd dug beneath it, outdoor storage. My roll-mat, spare clothes, food and water pouch were all there unmoved, in the exact placement I'd left them in. As far as I knew, I hadn't been found. It used to be easier to get around before the Silver Army took access to all of the roads. They wanted to count all citizens, to make sure anyone untrustworthy could by weeded out and stopped from inciting rebellion in more towns than one. A clever strategy, one that a dynastic empire had benefited from in the past. Due to my wandering status, I didn't have one of those handy and yet dangerous travel permits. The pros to one would be not having to sneak around and sleep in the rain. The cons would be losing my advantage, my ability to move and be unseen. I didn't relish in being controlled, by anyone.

From out of the trees came a rustling. In the bushes behind me I sense movement. But I knew this game all to well. 'Talu?' The response I got was being pounced on from behind.