The Humanarium.

The Humanarium. Prologue.

Wind whipped against Harl Eriksson's face as he sped across the fields. He leapt over a rotting fence and landed at a run, his feet pounding clouds of dust into the air. Troy raced at his side and glanced back over his shoulder at the town the moment he landed.

'Guards!' he yelled.

Both men threw themselves into a gully and splashed through the water as they scrambled out of sight.

'Damn!' Harl groaned. 'How close?'

Troy was holding his side and breathing hard.

'Just... leaving... the barracks,' he said, collapsing against the clay bank.

'And the boys?'

'Far edge of the forest,' Troy jerked a thumb over his shoulder in the direction they had been running, 'right where it breaks against the barrier.'

Harl risked a quick look back at the town. The guards were marching along the road towards them. Their spears glinted in the harsh light thrown down from the roof of the world. Harl slid back into the gulley and grabbed Troy. He hauled him up and they stumbled along until a curve in the wrong direction forced them to scramble up out of hiding.

A dark tangle of forest sprawled ahead of them, but it was a haven of light compared to the barrier that rose up behind it. Smooth and unmarked, a vast black wall spread along the horizon and climbed up to the roof of the world. It marked the end of everything. Impenetrable. Unknowable. It was the edge of their world and surrounded them on all four sides, like the shell of a giant cube slammed down around them.

This was their world, their prison. Harl couldn't think of it any other way, no matter what the priests claimed.

'Oh Gods.' Troy whispered.

Harl glanced over his shoulder to find the guards much nearer than he'd thought.

'We can get to them in time,' he said, determined.

Troy looked at him as though he was mad.

They scrambled across the rolling grassland in a crouch and stumbled into the dark mass of trees that backed against the barrier. Harl found a narrow animal trail leading in the right direction and the two men followed it.

They ran on. When they burst out of the forest, the barrier rose up before them as though the gods had struck them blind. The two boys were hacking into the soil at its base. Both their black-haired heads popped up over the edge of the hole at the sound of Troy and Harl charging towards them. Fear clouded their muddy faces. They scrambled out of the hole, dragging a pair of shovels with them as they sprinted for the nearest trees.

Harl jumped on top of them before either could get away.

'What do you think you're doing, Luke?' Harl demanded as he dragged one of the boys across the clearing towards the trees.

'Digging,' Luke said, as though tunnelling under the barrier was a common occurrence.

'You daft buggers,' Harl said.

Troy snatched the shovels from their hands and tossed them into the hole.

'What were you thinking?' he hissed.

'Please mister!' Luke pleaded, 'We don't want trouble.'

'It's not us you want to worry about,' Harl said as they reached the first tree.

'But, father's tools...' Luke said, looking back at the shovel handles poking up out of the small pit.

'It's too late,' Harl said. 'The Elders know you're here. Just run. Run!'