Preya ran down the middle of the street, her sandals slapping against the cracked stone with every step as Los Verion's ruined tower blocks rose ominously on either side of her. She ran around waist-high shrubs and piles of rubble, turning a corner before darting towards the building on her right. Some called it the school though it was little more than a ruin like all the others. Her lungs burned and her legs cramped but she couldn't stop now.
She entered through an archway made of rubble and iron banding before dashing up an old, stone staircase, making her way up to the second level. There she found Oliver playing a game with half a dozen other children as they laughed and shouted and danced.
'Be quiet!' Preya said in a breathless voice. 'Please, God, hold your tongues.'
The children turned towards her with startled expressions. She had never spoken to them like that before. One or two of them looked as though they might burst into tears.
'Still your tears,' she said. 'This is not the time or place for them. The lords will be here any moment now.'
Oliver looked pale. Some of the younger boys looked as though they might start asking questions until she raised one finger to her lips and started ushering them away from the exposed side of the building so they wouldn't be visible from the street below.
'Don't say anything,' she whispered. 'We must all be absolutely silent. Do you understand? This isn't a game.'
The children stared back with wide, frightened eyes. She didn't want to scare them any more than necessary but she didn't have time to explain things to them right now. They were all in danger. They had to be quiet. That was all that mattered.
Preya moved slowly towards the exposed edge of the building, making sure to crouch down low. One of the children started whimpering behind her but she pointed at him and he fell silent once more. A small girl with brown eyes stared back with a half smile. Preya shook her head. Jenny often had the strangest of ideas.
Getting down onto her knees, Preya shuffled slowly towards the ledge, gazing down onto the street below. Four lords strode between the tower blocks, their movements sure and confident. Preya leant back, trying to stay out of sight. All her efforts to silence the children would come to nothing if she allowed herself to be seen now.
When she looked up, she saw a man standing in the opposite tower block in a room with no outer wall. It was a mirror image of the place where she was hiding with the children, little more than rubble exposed to the outside world. He was pointing an old wooden rifle at the lords below. She recognised him at once. His name was Jonas. He was one of the younger men who had joined Kalin's city security patrols. The men had become more active since Kalin's death, taking on the responsibility of protecting the others, but they had little experience in such matters. Most had never been involved in conflicts before. They were little more than peacekeepers for the city's scattered citizens. Jonas hadn't even been born when the lords had last visited Los Verion.
She tried to get his attention, waving her hand to tell him not to do anything stupid. The best thing he could do was stay quiet like the rest of them and remain out of sight until the lords had moved on. But he wasn't looking at her and she didn't dare cry out.
A shot rang out as he fired his rifle, aiming at one of the lords below. The bullet hit the ground where the lord had been standing but he wasn't there anymore. He had teleported further along the road, removing himself from the line of fire. He glanced up with a half smile, his trimmed beard at odds with the black spear in his hands. A moment later he was standing behind Jonas on the opposite tower.
Preya felt a lump rising in her throat. She wanted to cry out - to warn Jonas of his mistake - but if she helped him now it would only serve to reveal her presence. The lords would kill her - and the children too.
The lord stepped forwards, thrusting his spear into Jonas' back before she had had time to complete her thought. He grunted, his eyes wide as the spear's tip burst from his chest. His legs buckled, his weight supported by the spear's black shaft as the lord's strong arms held it in place.
Blood spilt from his gaping mouth as he dropped his rifle, powerless to do anything but watch it bounce over the ledge in front of him. A second later it clattered across the ground on the street below. When the lord shoved him forwards, he slid easily off the spear, tumbling forwards over the ledge. His body followed his rifle, hitting the ground with a sickening thud.
Preya backed slowly from the ledge, all blood draining from her face. When Oliver stepped forwards she held her index finger to her lips, gesturing for him to stay down. Things would only get worse now. Jonas had opened fire on the lords. They would punish the people for his actions.
She took two long breaths before finding the courage to shuffle slowly towards the ledge once more. The lord was still standing in the same place but his spear was nowhere in sight.
'My name is Lord Rackinun,' he called out in a loud clear voice to no one in particular. 'Remember it well.'
Preya hadn't seen him before. There were so many lords. They were all as terrible as each other as far as she was concerned.
'You've been harbouring sky lords in the city again,' Rackinun said. 'You know it is forbidden.'
Preya clenched her eyes shut, touching her forehead to the stone floor. So that was what this was about. Someone had told them about Lisa. When she opened her eyes, she saw Rackinun still standing on the opposite ledge in his long, grey robe, his hands resting on his hips as he stared off into the distance, his voice travelling far and wide.
'Did Ibex teach you nothing?' he said, looking bold, beyond confident. He was arrogant and condescending with the air of someone who was lecturing misguided children, but Jonas' bloody body on the road below was testament to the harshness of his lessons.
Preya stayed out of sight. She couldn't see anyone else in the nearby buildings, but she knew they were out there somewhere, hiding just like her.
'Why are you hiding?' Rackinun called out in a loud, clear voice as a wide smile spread across his face. 'You know I'll find you - wherever you may hide. Come out now and face what's coming to you. You only bring more shame on yourselves if you hide like dogs in the shadows.'
His smile faded and a cruel look spread across his face. 'It'll be much worse for you if you waste my time.'
Preya could see three more lords walking along the street below. One of them disappeared and a moment later someone screamed from a building nearby. There was a second cry before a woman plunged from a nearby tower block, her body smacking onto the road from a great height.
'We're not leaving until we've killed every one of you,' Rackinun shouted from his high vantage point.
When he lifted his head she had to shuffle quickly backwards, dropping flat onto her stomach. Had he seen her? Preya froze, her heart pounding in her chest. If he appeared beside her now she might not know about it until his spear pinned her to the ground. She would tell the children to run, somehow - though she wasn't sure where they could go. They would die if they stayed with her, unless... unless he hadn't seen her.
Glancing back over her shoulder, she expected to see him standing behind her with his cruel expression and deadly eyes, but all she could see was seven frightened children cowering behind a low stone wall.
Someone screamed, further away this time. She couldn't tell whether it had been a man or a woman - such was the pain in their voice.
Preya crawled away from the ledge, joining the children behind her. They had been braver than she could ever have hoped but they needed her now. Their pale faces stared back at her as they sat huddled together, trembling on a warm night. Gathering them in her arms, she remembered the small black dagger in her pocket. It wouldn't be much use if the lords found them now. Her mind raced, searching for options. Silently she prayed that the lords would pass them by.