THE SOLDIERS MARCHED THROUGH TOWN, their hardened faces, sparing none of the frightened women a glance. They had a mission and they will not stop until they had carried it to the later.
Most of the woman ran, men tried to stand and fight. To try and defend their wives and children, their homes but who were they against soldiers of the dark lord's men who were on a mission. They were cast aside like toys and houses were stamped upon.
Any home with anew born child or a child who was born a month before or a woman with a stomach who was expected to give birth in the next two months were killed. No one was left out of this punishment. It was a sin to house a child who might grow up to become the next Yajan and the punishment was death.
This was the decree of the dark lord.
Barnet held the child who was only one week old in his arms and pushed through the wooden door into the inner room where the midwife who had assisted his sister in birthing him hid. She laid flat on the ground and buried her face in her hands.
"Please," she cried. "Don't kill me. I have no children or new born here."
Barnet crossed her. "It is me." He said, looking around the room for anything which might give them away. "It is me, Barnet." He repeated.
The midwife raised her face up only a little and peeked up at him, then gasped when she saw the child in his arms. She jumped to her feet. "Why would you bring him here?" she fired. "Are you trying to get me killed?"
Barnet rocked the child, hoping the boy would not make any sudden sounds which would bring the soldiers here. "You said he was special and the soldiers are out there killing children." He answered, glancing around the bare room one more time.
"Exactly!" The midwife leered. 'They are looking for him and you thought the best place to bring him was close to me? I can see that you do not want my progress."
"We have to protect him, I did not know where else to go."
"And what made you think they will not come here? They will kill me if they find me. I am a midwife after all, I aided in more than seven births on the night of the awakening and more than three dozen since then and I will not give them the information they need." she glanced furtively at the door behind him from which he had come in. "Did they follow you here?"
Barnet shook his head. "No, I was extremely careful."
As if to prove him wrong, a loud knock sounded at the door, startling both Barnet and the midwife. She narrowed her eyes at him. "That knock says otherwise, Barnet." Again, she glanced at the door, the fear in her eyes increasing.
Her eyes fell on one wood on the ground which was different from others. Of course, the difference was very subtle, it won't be noticeable by the eyes unless you knew what you were searching for. It led to her dead's husband storage, he had been a drunkard.
"How many?" She asked.
Barnet shook his head, hugging the child in his arms closer to his chest. "I have no idea."
The midwife slapped his arm and he winced at how much it stung. "How many?" she asked again. "Concentrate."
The knock sounded again, harder this time, more urgent and Barnet's heart which had already been beating too fast began to beat even faster. Any more excitement, and his heart would be shooting out of his chest. He was mere human, but his sister had been a soran and a very good one.
She had the ability to connect with the threads and weave them to her will.
It was her who should be here now, she would have known what to do. It was she who had been touched by magic and he had only been trained by his father to be a tracker. It was all he had, all he could do. And now, that was nothing against the might of the soldiers.
He closed his eyes and listened, trying to tune his own heartbeat as his father had thought him. it did not work. He suspected it was the fear, it was pumping through all of his veins and scattering all of his senses.
"Open up." A thick voice sounded from outside followed by another knock which could shattered the wood. "Or we will break down the door."
Barnet closed his eyes again and tried to concentrate, despite the rage his heart and body were in. He sniffed the moist air, the moss infested earth, the chemicals which laid in the corner and had recently been used to spray the wood to prevent the insects from eating them, the blood on the midwife's hands which she thought she had washed off completely.
And the sweat of the soldiers. He tried to listen to their ragged breathing and the sounds of their erratic heart, beating. The voice as it said. "Open up now!! We are coming in!" and the stomping of feet as they prepared to knock down the door.
Barnet opened his eyes and almost fell to his knees. He used the wall as support and his breathing was even more ragged than the soldiers. "Seven," he gasped. "Maybe eight."
It had been quite a long time since he tried to track anyone. Using the ability again ate him up quickly, his energy which he had been saving in the case he had to fight the soldiers were completely depleted.
"They are about to break through the front –"
The sound of splintering wood caused him to pause and hold his breath. They are inside. He had the sudden urge to throw the child out through the window or cover its mouth and sink it through one of the barrels of water behind them
He turned to the midwife, his eyes filled with desperation. "What do we do now?"