Out of the Wild Lands

Chapter One

Hagniwar ran into the alley to hide behind the stack of crates. He had heard the familiar rise of surprised shouts and stern orders off in the distance, and knew there would be trouble if he got caught up in the patrol coming his way. After catching his breath, he peeked out over the crates, looking past the wall of the rundown building: a multi-colored banner with gold lettering bobbed up and down over the street, beneath it an enforcer riding on a large stallion. The horse and rider were both armored, the metal brightly polished and gleaming in the light. With a start, Hagniwar saw the rider had wings on their back that had black and golden-brown feathers. They raised a cone to their mouth to amplify their voice, and Hagniwar dropped back down behind the crate.

"Hwértotte," Hagniwar said to himself, not quite able to correctly pronounce the foreign word. Though, he knew it was the name for those riders with wings- the ones who were the most cruel, the most tricky. He listened carefully, trying to hear if there were any more words he might recognize.

"Pí Nevírtotte, Nedekkréth sö Génvar..." The enforcer shouted. Hagniwar slumped down against the wall after hearing that. He recognized the phrase as the beginning of an order, one that had the worst punishments if not obeyed. The word génvar also stood out to him- it was one of the few foreign words the enforcers used he knew the meaning of: it meant king. Hagniwar could barely stand to even think about the king. He knew some served him willingly, but he thought the king was a hard and terrible person.

Hagniwar was in the neighborhood of shabby buildings around the edge of the big city where the king lived. There were many places to hide, but the neighborhood was crowded, and it was hard to stay hidden for long. Hagniwar squinted and looked towards the end of the alley. It was light, and he could see houses and a stall- meaning it was one of the main streets through the neighborhood. But he knew he couldn't stay behind the crates, it was too out in the open. So, he stood up and started creeping along the alley.

At the end of the alley, Hagniwar waited and listened. The street sounded busy, but he didn't hear any horses, so he carefully looked out. Everything seemed normal. He sighed in relief and walked out. There was a woman, hunched and with a weathered face, hanging something on the stall he had seen from the alley. "Hey, lady! What's the banner for?" He asked.

"Lady?" She asked, turning to look at Hagniwar. "Your accent is terrible, I thought you said something else. And didn't you hear? The vírtotte have been going all over the place telling people to get ready for the king's parade." The woman walked to the other side of her stall and hung the other end of the banner in place. Hagniwar could see now it was a multicolored one similar to those the enforcers carried, with the letters of their language saying something on it. "Don't just stand around," The woman said, without turning to look at Hagniwar. "A boy like you should be helping to move stuff out of the way." Hagniwar sighed angrily, and walked over to pick up one of the woman's fruit baskets and set it up on the wooden counter of her stall, and walked away.

Hagniwar continued on down the street, staying on the sides and looking for an alley he could slip into out of the corner of his eye. He was going in the direction that led out of the neighborhood towards the mountains. He had never been close to them. Sometimes, when he was alone, he would climb up onto the rooftops and look out at them, looming large on the horizon like dark clouds. But no one he knew had ever been out to them- there was a wall around the city, and Hagniwar had heard the land between it and the mountains was barren and empty.

There were more people hanging up banners and cleaning the fronts of their houses. Hagniwar walked faster, unsure of when the parade would be starting. He caught a glimpse of someone moving on the other side of the street. They pointed straight at him, and then loudly shouted, "Thief!" Looking, Hagniwar could see it was the woman he had talked to moments ago. And, indeed, he had taken one of her apples as he put the basket up on her counter. He could feel everyone on the street stop to look over at him. People stole things all the time in the neighborhood- boys like Hagniwar, older men and women, even the king's enforcers- but generally, you could get away with it if no one saw you, or if what you stole wasn't that valuable. Between the king's parade coming and getting caught for stealing, Hagniwar knew he had to get away, and started running.