The circle became tighter as people were pushed closer and closer together, the soldiers closing in on us, their spears and swords raised in front of them. One prisoner stumbled, tripping forward, and a soldier smacked them with the back of hand, sending them tumbling right back into the crowd.

  I felt Lilan's grip on my shoulder tighten as more people pushed us further into the circle. When I glanced over at him, he was busy searching the crowd—probably looking for any signs of the others. His eyes shone with panic, the same kind of panic you might see in an animal that has found itself cornered by predators.

  Turning my attention back to the crowd I began to use [Insight], looking for any names I recognized. I started opposite of the direction that Lilan seemed to be searching, and dismissed any windows that didn't spell out a name I recognized. I was searching the faces closest to the line of soldiers when I spotted something unexpected. I had already dismissed the window, so I focused my gaze on one of the soldiers once more and cast [Insight] again.

  The window appeared, though the golden text shifted between various flickering runes.

  "Sil…" I whispered, focusing on the soldier's face. Most if it was hidden behind a brightly shined helmet, but I thought I saw a flicker of realization or recognition in the man's eyes. Brown eyes. Weren't Sil's eyes blue, though? Before I could stare any longer the soldier stepped out of line, vanishing behind the others. I shook my head and dismissed the window. I didn't have any way to read the text that it was spewing at me, so there wasn't much point in letting it obstruct by view. I'd only met one person who made the System respond in such a way, though, and he'd been missing since we'd come to this place. If that was him, then he'd somehow managed to get into the soldier's ranks—which might prove useful. If it wasn't him…

  I shivered and filed away the implication. There was enough going on right now that it wouldn't do me any good to get lost down threads I couldn't fully explore. Instead, I turned my attention back to checking the faces of the crowd around me, still using [Insight] until I spotted a window with Hina's name in it.

  "This way," I said, tugging at Lilan as I began to push through the crowd. To his credit, he didn't put up a fight, and instead followed without a word. I wove our way through the crowd, pushing here and pulling there. Voices continued to rise around us, some yelling back at the soldiers, others trying their best to calm down those around them. I let the sound of their voices dim against my ears, instead focusing my attention on Hina's face in the crowd. After a bit of circling, we finally pushed our way through to her.

  "Oh thank the Seven," she said above the din of the courtyard. "We were looking for you two." She turned and motioned to some of the others, who had spread out a little to search the crowd, too.

  "I'm not sure our plan is going to work now," Lilan told Hina and Truan as the others gathered around us.

  "Can we move it up?" Kev asked, stepping closer.

  Lilan nodded. "Possibly, but it will make things dicey. Far more chance of getting caught."

  "I don't think we have much choice," I chimed in. "I know I'm new to all of this, but based on what I've been seeing, and today's events, I'm not sure we can wait any longer."

  Lilan and the others eyed me for a moment before finally, Kev let out a long sigh. "She's right. We need to get out of here before the place explodes completely. The soldiers are angry about what happened—apparently whatever the explosion was today set some of the supply tents on fire."

  I made a face, which must have caught their attention because Kev turned his attention fully to me.

  "Don't tell me you had something to do with that…"

  I shrugged. "It wasn't intentional. Not wholly."

  Kev's gaze jumped between me and Lilan, and Lilan responded by running a hand down his face, pinching two fingers against the bridge of his nose. "She's not lying. But she has a point. We can leave today, but we have to get out of this circle first, before they lock us down further."

  "How are we supposed to do that?" Hina asked, her hand motioning outward.

  I followed the movement and saw why she wasn't convinced we could do it. By moving into the crowd to meet up with the others, Lilan and I had actually pushed ourselves deeper, and as the crowd continued to roar around us, the soldiers were pushing back harder, congesting things even more.

  "We need to start moving," I told them all, my eyes already searching for a gap that we could exploit. I found one, near the back of the circle of soldiers—leading further into the camp. It wasn't an ideal exit, as it would technically put us going further into the enemy's grasp. But if we could get beyond their swords and spears in this moment, perhaps we could fall back on whatever Lilan's escape plan had been from the start. And once we got out of the crowd, hopefully I could slink away and find Ophelia. I still wasn't wholly sure the man I'd seen in the soldier's uniform was Sil, but considering I hadn't found him at all over the past couple of days in the camp, and the fact he hadn't found me, I might just have to cut my losses and let him find his own way out.

  That was a tragedy itself, though, as I got the feeling he might have a lot he could teach me, if I could get him back in the same space. He'd also done some remarkable things before my other self had shut down our infiltration into the vault. Against her we'd all been insects. Swattable. But against these soldiers he was probably a giant's hammer against pebbles.

  "Stick close," I told Lilan, who passed it along. Then I began to push through the crowd.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  It was slow going, especially with so many of us, but we finally managed to reach the outer edge of the circle, the gap between the soldiers even more visible now. I glanced around, making sure none of the soldiers were directly paying attention to us, and then leaned over to Lilan.

  "We need a distraction. Have Kev and Truan push people into the soldiers."

  Lilan's face fell, his eyes growing dark with a sadness that I hadn't expected to see in them. "They could be killed for that."

  I met his gaze. "Do you want to get out of this place? Because we need a distraction and right now, it's either them or us. You have to choose, Lilan, because I already know my choice."

  He held my stare for a moment, that sadness expanding within his eyes to the rest of his face. "I know," he said, his voice low with defeat. He twisted and passed the message along to the others, Truan and Kev spreading out to either side of us as he turned back to me. "Get ready to move."

  I nodded back and turned my attention to the gap in the soldier's line. Depending on how the next few moments went, we might either all make it our alive or end up skewered on the spears of the empire. It wasn't a particularly welcoming thought, but I was too focused on the sound of my heartbeat as it pounded up my chest and into my ears.

  Bom, bom, bom.

  Like a war drum's pace increasing with every step toward the battlefield.

  Bom, bom, bom.

  I felt Lilan's hand on my shoulder again, his grip tightening for a brief moment and then vanishing. It was reassuring.

  Bom, bom, bom.

  The crowd's roar grew louder around us as it surged outward toward the line of soldiers, spears and swords coming down to meet them. But the soldier's response was slow. Despite their own roars and cries for the crowd to settle, they were unready for the outward surge that Kev and Truan orchestrated.

  The prisoners crashed into the line and chaos erupted throughout the courtyard.

  "Go," I said, rushing forward toward the gap. The soldiers on either side of us met the surge of the crowd and we slipped through—me, Lilan, Hina, Jau, and Lano all pressing through the line and beyond. A soldier turned to stop us, but Kev's fist met the side of his unhelmeted face as he and Truan hurried to meet us.

  We kept pushing, moving deeper into the camp as the roar of the courtyard settled over the night. Screams of pain and yelps of surprise continued to fill the night air behind us, but I kept my focus forward, weaving my steps between tents and down back pathways that kept us out of sight of the other soldiers that might still be present within the camp.

  "Where are we going?" I finally asked Lilan, slowing enough for him to catch up to me.

  "Eastern wall," he responded, picking up speed. "We have an exit there. It should be ready."

  I noticed the hesitation in his tone. "Should? I thought you said you had a plan?"

  He shrugged. "I told you it would be ready in a few days. Things have been moved up exponentially."

  We turned another corner and came face to face with two soldiers sitting on crates around a fire. Surprised, they shuffled to get to their feet, but weren't nearly fast enough to stop Kev and Lano from surging forward, knocking them to the ground and grabbing their spears from the ground. I eyed the blonde-haired woman, the way she held the spear, and how quickly she'd moved. She was either a quick study or well-trained in using weapons and blunt force. She offered me a rueful grin, which I returned with one of my own.

  Turning back to Lilan, I said, "I need to get my friend."

  "I'll come with you. The others know the way to the exit."

  I nodded, and he relayed orders to the rest of the group, who had already begun to tie up the soldiers that they'd incapacitated. When everything was squared away, we parted ways, Lilan taking the spear that Kev had looted, while Lano led the others off, her spear still held tightly in her hands. We watched them go for a moment and then turned toward the interior of the camp again.

  "She's in the healing tents," I told Lilan as we hurried through the camp.

  Chaos still reigned somewhere far away, back toward the courtyard, but none of it had poured this far into the camp. At least not yet. We passed the smoking remains of the tents that the fire must have spread from, and I could see what looked like the remains of crates and half-burned barrels in the destruction. It was honeslty surprising that they hadn't found me sooner, asleep on that crate in our meeting spot. I said a quick prayer of thanks to the Seven and then turned down the main path that led to the healing tents.

  The tents themselves were unguarded, the flap to the front held open by a string, letting the dying light of evening inside. I stepped through the gap and peered into the dim interior. The sleeping forms of the injured met my gaze and I began walking down the center, counting the rows as I went. If my memory had not forsaken me, then I'd find Ophelia on the forty-eighth row. We reached her bed in moments, and I pulled the blanket down to find her sleeping peacefully, still dressed in the same clothes that we'd been brought to the camp in.

  I checked her breathing, found that she was still alive, and then looked up to Lilan. "Can you carry her?"

  He nodded and held out the spear, which I took with slow movements. The weapon felt foreign in my hands, and I wasn't even sure I could use it effectively, but I at least knew to stab things with the pointy end if needed. Lilan pushed between me and the bed, leaning down and lifting Ophelia up with ease.

  When she was situated on his shoulder, her arms dangling almost lifelessly down his back, he turned back to me. "Keep close and don't stop for anything."

  I nodded and we hurried out of the tent, winding our way back through the paths and congregations of tents. We had to double back once, as a patrol rushed past us, no doubt headed toward the continued commotion at the front of the camp. No matter what happened in that courtyard, this camp was never going to be the same. I wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad thing—I supposed that all depended on who came out on top; the soldiers of their prisoners. But, I didn't have time to save everyone.

  I followed Lilan toward the eastern wall, our steps quick and our breath just as hurried. My chest ached from the exertion of the entire day, and my arms were finally starting to feel the burn of having been overworked while chopping wood earlier in the day. Even with my [Ironclad Body], I needed to rest, and that short time waiting for Lilan had clearly not been enough.

  "We're almost there," he said over his shoulder, his body shifting as he moved Ophelia from one side to the other.

  Turning a corner, Lilan came to a stop, his hand immediately shooting out to stop me from going any further beside him. I glanced up at the path ahead of us, where a lone soldier was standing, his spear resting against the shoulder of his armor, his brown eyes staring at us both. He was just one man. One man I could surely take, even with a weapon I didn't have much experience with. I readied the spear, holding the blade out toward the man.

  His gaze jumped to Lilan's face and then to mine, and then a bright smile with sharp fangs split across his face as he tore the helmet free from his head. Long white hair poured down from his shoulders, and he opened his arms in an almost welcoming gesture. Soft music began to flit across the air, mingling with the distant sounds of chaos running rampant through the camp.

  "I thought I'd never find you," he said, his gaze settling solely on me. "Didn't think you could leave me behind, did you?"