• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Members of the city guard in the area give immediate chase. The boy races through the crowd, dodging nimbly as he makes his way to one of the streets which merges onto the plaza.

“Stop!” one of the guards hollers to the boy but the lad ignores the command and reaches the street. Soon, both he and the guards are out of sight.

At first, Miko had thought this some ploy of Paul and the others, but when he didn’t recognize the one who stole the bread, he dismisses the idea. As their group crosses the plaza and come near the beautiful fountain of three women who are pouring water out of earthen jugs, he sees the boy who Paul had sent running back at the docks when they were being led away by Lord Colerain. He’s standing on the edge of the fountain.

Suddenly, he raises his hand and the crowd around them surges as dozens of boys, ranging from older teens to a couple who couldn’t be more than eight or nine, jump the guards surrounding Miko and the others.

As the guards are thrown to the ground, a melee erupts and soon the whole area is one big mass of fighting. Regular citizens scream as they race away from the combatants. Paul appears out of the maelstrom of fighting, struggling people. “Come on!” he cries as he takes Miko’s arm.

Leading him away, Illan and the others follow right behind as they make a break for the far side of the plaza.

“Get them!” “Smash their face!” Cries ring out throughout the plaza as the boys pummel Lord Colerain and his guards. Miko glances back and sees a guard run one boy through with his sword just as two more boys tackle him from behind. A knife flashes in one of the boy’s hand and the guard soon lies still upon the ground.

“We don’t have much time!” urges Paul as they enter the street and leave the plaza behind. Soon, horns can be heard as the city guard makes its presence known. They begin flooding into the plaza from all directions.

“Who were those guys?” Jiron asks him.

“Friends,” Paul replies. Taking them through back alleys, he leads them on a circuitous path back to the harbor. When they get there, they see the Empire’s ship already away from the docks and heading out to sea.

“Damn!” Illan cries. “We’re too late.”

Miko turns to him and asks, “What can we do now?”

Illan stands there in indecision.

When no answer is forthcoming, Jiron says, “We have to do something!”

“Jiron?” a voice off in the crowd asks.

He turns to find Meliana standing there in disbelief. “I didn’t think I was going to find any of you,” she says. Breaking into a smile, she says, “Father said it was unlikely, but I thought…”

“Meliana!” he cries, startling her with the intensity with which he said her name. “You have a ship!”

“Well yes we do,” she replies. “It’s my father’s really. He was nice enough to allow me to…”

Miko comes forward and says, “Take us to your father.”

“Quick!” insists Jiron.

Her eyes widen as she recognizes him from when he had originally spoke to her and her father earlier. She glance to him, then to Jiron, “Miko?”

Jiron nods and takes her hand. “Yes. We don’t have time to explain. James is in trouble and we need to see your father right away.”

Gasping, she says, “Trouble?”

“Yes,” replies Jiron. “Now, where’s your father.”

Turning slightly, she points to a vessel at the dock, “He’s just finishing loading our cargo…”

Dragging her quickly, he heads in that direction. The rest of their group follows. “What’s going on?” she asks as they run toward where her father is directing the unloading of the last wagon.

“James is being taken back to the Empire,” he says. “I think they mean to execute him.” He hears her gasp as she begins to understand the gravity of the situation.

As they reach the docks, Jiron sees her father at the top of the gangplank checking off the manifest as the cargo comes aboard.

“Father!” Meliana cries as they reach the ship.

Looking down to her from the deck of the ship, her father says, “Where were you? I was almost ready to send someone to find you.”