Read The Boy in the Field Online
Authors: Jo Oram
KINTA EVENING
GAZETTE, ISSUE 659
CITY
ARRESTS LIBERATIONISTS
Twenty-seven people have been arrested in early morning raids
on suspected Liberationist hideouts, according to a military spokesman. The
arrests were made after information was passed to a magister late last night.
It is believed that several of the Liberationist movement’s leaders were
amongst those arrested.
YOUNG WOMAN FOUND
DEAD IN ALLEYWAY
The body of a young woman found stabbed to death was discovered
in an alleyway off Karjhana Road by residents this morning. An investigation
team is appealing for witnesses who may have seen or heard anything in the area
around midnight. Investigators do not believe the murder is related to the
Liberationist movement.
The End
(Back to start)
“Where is Ethan?” you asked again.
Noah smirked. “Don’t worry. You’ll see him again soon. I’ll
take you myself.”
You shook your head and took a step back as Noah reached behind
him. Whatever he was going for, you weren’t sticking around to see. You ran,
darting down alleyways and narrow roads, hoping to get away from him.
“Did I mention that I’m a magister?” he shouted after you. “I
could chase you for miles and you’d never get away from me.”
You grabbed the handles of dustbins, pulling them over as you
passed, knocking over anything that could impede his progress towards you.
Every time you looked over your shoulder, he was still right behind you, not
even breaking a sweat.
“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” a cab driver yelled at you as
you ran in front of his therin, the animal whinnying as it tried to avoid you.
“Sorry!”
You continued to run, heading for a crowded street in an
attempt to try to lose him. The people around you slowed you down and the fuss
you caused as you pushed past only made your position more apparent to Noah. It
also alerted the other soldiers in the area, all of whom began to close in on
you. Surrounded, you raised your hands above your head and knelt on the ground.
* * *
“Noah is your son,” you said, looking across at Noah Senior in
the back of the prisoner cart.
You had been moving for hours, Noah escorting you as you
changed carts, only his name wasn’t Noah anymore. Whenever others addressed
him, it was always as
Superius Vapasi
or
Your Eminence
. The
Serlorans respected him. He was nothing like the boy you had once known.
“Talk all you want,” he replied. “Nothing you can say will
change your fate.”
“It’s the truth.” You sighed. “What’s going to happen to him?”
“Same thing that should have happened to you. He’ll be sent to
an orphanage somewhere. You’re never going to see him again.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because I can. Because you deserve to suffer.” He grinned. “It
took a
long
time to make Ethan talk. I’m just glad he’s too stubborn to
die.”
“I did love you, No—”
“Stop calling me that!” He planted his foot in your ribs. “Do
it again and I’ll break bones.”
You groaned. “Is this your plan, Noah? Are you going—?”
He kicked you again, crouching over you with his hand to your
throat. “Are you deaf or stupid?”
You dug your nails into your palms. “Are you going to torture
me? Are you going to kill me, Noah?”
“Go on. One more time. I dare you.” He took your hand, bending
your fingers back until they wouldn’t move any further.
You pushed yourself forward, your face inches from his, and you
looked him in the eye. “I’m glad I married your brother.”
He pushed you back hard against the side of the cart. “I should
have knocked you unconscious before we left.”
Instruction:
218. Kesene
“It wasn’t like that at all, Noah.”
“Don’t call me that. It’s not my name anymore.” He wagged his
finger at you. “Were you sleeping with him the whole time? Was it all a big
joke to you? Did he know?”
“Noah, I—”
“Did he know?” He screamed in your face, making you take a step
back.
“I wasn’t sleeping with Ethan. Noah’s not his.”
“Then—”
“He’s yours. He’s named after his father. You.” You shook your
head. “I ran because I was scared. Ethan promised to look after me and it was
too dangerous to go back to Landia.”
“I have a son?” He stared at you, both blank and bewildered. “
That
was my son?”
You nodded and smiled. “Yes.”
“But you’re—but…” He swallowed and blinked. “But Ethan…” He
reached out and took your hand. “You’re married. He called me… daddy.”
“He wasn’t wrong.”
“But Ethan’s his daddy,
hai na
?”
You nodded. “You look a lot like him and he hasn’t seen him in
a long time. He misses him. And I’ve missed you.”
“Don’t say that.” He turned away. “I don’t believe you.”
“Won’t stop it being true.” You smiled. “You know where Ethan
is, don’t you?”
Noah nodded. “Kesene Prison. He’s still being held on murder
charges.”
“How did you find us?”
“He told me where to look. It’s taken a while to make him speak
and a while longer to get the truth from him.” He rolled his eyes. “Or at least
some of the truth. You have moved from where he thought you were and he didn’t
tell me about the kid.”
You shook your head and balled your hands into fists to stop
your fingers shaking. “You’re holding him?”
Noah nodded, hesitating before he spoke again. The movement
seemed unnatural, as if he was unaware of how long he had been doing it. “It’s
like he’s always one step ahead of me. He knows what I’m going to do next and
he sets me up to fail.”
“Noah, I—”
“My name is Vapasi now. Magister Superius Vapasi. Not Noah.”
You sighed. “Then I suppose he’s not named after his father.”
You turned away.
“You’re the only reason Ethan isn’t dead,” he said, putting his
hand on your shoulder to stop you moving. “He held out for so long that I was
beginning to think I would never find you. I wanted him to watch you die. I
wanted to choke you for taking my brother away from me.”
“So what’s stopping you?”
“That little boy already lost his father. And his daddy. I’m
not sure I could live with myself knowing I took his mother too. That would
make me no better than you. And it would make him exactly like me.”
You counted the cash in your pocket. You had barely enough
money to buy yourself a hot meal, let alone a room for the night. It was like
being out in Landia all over again, running away from home with nothing but the
clothes you were wearing. But you had done it before and you could do it again.
You used the money to buy a scarf which you wrapped around your
head, keeping the rain out of your hair and stopping it dripping down the back
of your neck. Then you began to move, following the main road out of town. You
hoped you could get far enough away that you wouldn’t have to hear about Noah
or Ethan or Vapasi or the trial. You hoped you would stumble across some
backwater little village where the biggest news was an outbreak of carrot lice
or what shoes the butcher was wearing.
And if you didn’t, you would just walk until you couldn’t go
any further. Anything had to be better than staying in Ethigos. Nothing out
there could be worse than watching the last of your family die.
The End
(Back to start)
You decided you would go to the trial. It could answer the
questions you still had – like how he had managed to move amongst the Kinn
soldiers undetected. And maybe seeing Ethan again would tell you something you
didn’t already know – like if he had been in on the whole thing.
You returned to the house once you were sure he would be
asleep. You waited outside for the lights to go off and then snuck in, silent.
Running and hiding from your father had been good practice. You slept on the
kitchen floor. The idea of facing made your blood cold.
Instruction:
211. The Trial
“I want to, Ethan. I promise, I do. I just don’t know how I
can.” You shuffled in front of him and lifted his chin so that he would look at
you. “I tried to bring radust, but I had to leave it at the door.”
“Then let me tell you what happen to me. Let me tell you what
really happened.”
You shook your head. “I know, Ethan.”
“You know that Noah is still alive?”
“I told you I was staying with him when you left. I’ve been
with him the whole time.” You sighed. “But his soul is gone. His heart is dead.
It fractured the night that you left and shattered when your mother died.”
Ethan swallowed hard. “How did she die?”
“Bitter. She couldn’t cope with the war and you leaving and
losing her home.”
“It’s my fault she’s gone.”
“She never blamed you. She knew you were doing what you had to
do.” You shook your head. “No, she blamed me for everything. She hated me by
the end. I just put with it. And now Noah is going the same way.”
“Magister Vapasi.” Ethan swallowed.
“
Superius
Vapasi.”
“I am so sorry.”
He lifted his arms as if to embrace you, but the chains stopped
him completing his action. Instead, you shuffled further forwards, wrapping
your arms around his shoulders. You could feel the rough fissures in his skin
where blades had struck him. Had Noah caused them? Ethan’s arms dropped to sit
on your hips, the only part of you he could comfortably reach.
“Do you still love him?” he asked.
“I don’t know some days.” Tears fell from your eyes, down your
cheeks and onto his shoulders. “When he told me what he had done to earn his
promotion, I hated him.”
“Please don’t give up on him.”
“I don’t know how I can keep going. If he can do this to you,
what might be he capable of doing to me? I’m not even blood.”
“You’re family. You never left him. He would never hurt you,
masuki
.”
You laughed through the tears. “No one calls me that anymore.”
“You will always be
masuki
to me.” He pushed your hips
to move you back from him. His face too was streaked with tear trails. “And you
will always be
parahi
to Noah. Or Vapasi. Or whatever he decides to call
himself.”
Parahi
: protector. You smiled, but more tears fell. “I’m
not sure I will. I can’t protect him from himself. And I can’t protect you from
him.” You shook your head. “I can’t protect anyone.”
“I know that you will do the right thing when the time comes. I
need you to know that I never meant for this to happen. And even though my
brother no longer loves me, I still love him. Perhaps this is what I deserve
for abandoning him.”
“No one deserves this, Ethan. Even you.” You swallowed and took
a deep breath. “I love you Ethan. I’ll do whatever I can to help you.”
He bit his bottom lip and squeezed his eyes shut. “I love you
too, little sister.”
The doors opened behind you, spilling light into the room and
making you both squint and cover your eyes.
“Time’s up,” came a gruff, tinny voice.
You kissed Ethan on the cheek and stood, allowing the magisters
to lead you back out of the prison.
Instruction:
211. The Trial
“How can I help you, Ethan? You deserted me when I needed you
the most. You abandoned your family. Noah. Your mother. We needed you. Where
were you?”
“I was no older than you or Noah. Everyone always looked at me
like I could solve all the problems. You did it that night. I asked you to come
with me, but you said no. I had to say I would meet you or you would have never
let me leave.”
“And you expect me to help you now?”
“I do not deserve your help, you are right, but I did not
commit this crime. Noah did this. Please don’t let me die for what he did.”
You shook your head. “I know. And I’m not sure I’ll ever be
able to forgive him for it, but if I help you, I condemn him. What am I
supposed to do?”
“You’re giving me that look again.” Ethan smiled. “Follow your
heart, little sister. I know you will do the right thing when the time comes.
And if you really can’t find it in yourself to help me, then I suppose this is
what I deserve for betraying you.”
The doors opened behind you, spilling light into the room and
making you both squint and cover your eyes.
“Time’s up,” came a gruff, tinny voice.
“I love you, little sister.”
“I love you too, Ethan.” You kissed him on the cheek and stood,
allowing the magisters to lead you back out of the prison.
Instruction:
211. The Trial
“Please don’t.”
Ethan pushed you aside as you tried to stop him. “We need to
settle this,” he said. “He can’t get away with this.”
You dodged out of the way as Noah lunged at Ethan, fleeing for
the door. When you got outside, you stopped, leaning on the wall in front of
the house. Your feet refused to take you any further, paralysed by a fear of
making the wrong choice. Instead, you lowered yourself to the ground, crying
into your hands.
You weren’t sure how long you had been there before Ethan
stepped out of the door. There was blood on his hands and face and his skin was
pale. He came towards you and grabbed your arm, pulling you towards the house.
“Help me!”
“What happened? Are you hurt?”
He shook his head. “It’s Noah. Please, I need your help.”
Choice:
212. Help
or
213. Don’t Help