The sound was deafening. A sonic blast of red light cutting through the crowd with heat, exploding everything in its path. It blew Bow off his feet, slamming him backwards into the stall, flipped the table over on its side.
Suddenly everything was colors and smoke and screaming as people crushed all around him. What was happening? What should he do? He couldn't see anything but legs as people ran around him, the air thick with fear and burning.
The tide of people kept pushing against him, knocking him back. He was trapped! He took shelter between the legs of the toppled table and tried to think.
He needed to find his brother. Right now. He fought against the urge to freeze and pulled himself shakily upright. Even standing he wasn't tall enough to make out more than bodies, scared and fleeing, slamming into each other in the chaos.
He coughed, his eyes stinging. Something was on fire. Multiple somethings. Dark sour smoke filled the air and gave everything a feeling like it was all a bad dream.
He needed to move. It was getting hard to breathe here. He was just about to make a break for it through the mass of people when there was a grating sound, metal on metal. The crowd parted for a moment and he saw it, rising above the tide of bodies.
Now it made sense why everyone was running.
Was that... a tank? He'd never seen one outside of George's books about the old war, but the blaster on the front looked way bigger than anything he'd seen in old pictures. But there was no mistaking the emblem painted on the hood or the helmets on the soldiers.
But that didn't make sense! They hadn't bothered them! They hadn't done anything wrong! Why would the Horde be doing this?
The tank was grinding forward, crushing stands and people under its massive treads. The crowd scattered ahead of it, the metal monster looming closer. The barrel on the blaster was an angry dark rectangle that had glowed red at the edges.
Oh, no. It was going to fire again. And he was right in its path.
Move! He jumped over the legs of the table and joined the crush of people trying to get out of the way of the blast. But there was nowhere to go. Stalls were burning on either side, blocking every way but straight forward with the mob. Someone knocked into him from behind and Bow fell.
He had to get up, but every time the crowd forced him back down. Feet pounded around him, something slammed hard into his side, thick boot treads stomped down on his leg. He flung his arms over his head, trying to protect himself.
He was going to die. Even if the blaster didn't get him, he'd be crushed to death.
He wanted his brother. He wanted his dads. He never should have left home, should have just stayed in the library where it was safe!
There was a weird sound behind him, an electric buzz. The tank! It was going to fire!
No! He flattened against the ground, but instead found himself yanked up by the straps of his bag. The blaster cut through the crowd, hot red light, and he felt the heat of it against the side of his face… but it hadn't hit him!
Whoever had grabbed him slung him over their shoulder and all he saw was the forest floor sweeping by as they ran from the smell of smoke and battle. By the time he registered that the person carrying him was definitely not his brother, they'd unceremoniously dumped him on the ground. He scrambled to his feet, a disorganized process since he was still lightheaded from being carried upside down, and got ready to run again as soon as his feet hit the ground.
"Hold on, kid." Someone grabbed his bag again, the person who'd carried him out. The lady with the horns from the tech stand. "You don't want to go back there."
"But my brother—" How far away had she taken him? They were somewhere in the Whispering Woods. He could still hear the screams and another scorching blast, but it sounded much farther away. But even from here, the smoke was still thick and acrid, as if the whole woods were on fire.
"The best thing you can do for your brother is—" She whipped around. There was suddenly a long stick in her hand and she held it up, ready to fight. "Who's there?"
"Just me." It was the cloaked figure from the market. Their voice was a low bark. The woman lowered her staff. "Did you get the plans?"
"Yes. But they got Zank."
"So they know." The woman swore, one Bow hadn't even heard before, even with all those older siblings. "They'll destroy everything."
"We need to signal Bright Moon." The hooded figure said. Bow could hardly make out the figure's face under the cloak, but when they spoke, there were a lot of very sharp teeth in that long muzzle.
The woman nodded. She reached into her jacket and took out something that looked not much bigger than an apple. Bow noticed the ridges on the side, gears like the toys at the market. The woman pressed something on the side and tossed the object up into the air. The mechanism activated and a small propeller took it higher and higher until it exploded, shooting bright lines of light in every direction.
Where had they said they were signaling?
Bright Moon?
Bow gasped. "You're with the rebellion?"
The cloaked figure looked at him for the first time and seemed ready to lunge at him, but the woman held out an arm. "Leave him. He's just a kid. We've got to go back, see who else we can get out." The cloaked figure growled in Bow's direction but did as the woman said, running back towards the smoke.
"You're... with the rebellion." Bow said again, stupidly, but he was trying to wrap his head around it. He'd liked this woman, liked her gadgets and the way she seemed to want him to understand how they worked. And she'd saved him back there, hadn't she? But she was with the rebellion? He took a step away from her. She narrowed her eyes at him and then fixed him with a finger like Dirk had done before.
"You're not with the rebellion these days, you're an idiot with your head in the sand." Bow wanted to tell her she was wrong, that she couldn't talk about his family like that, but she never gave him a chance. "If I see your brother, I'll make sure he knows where you are. Just stay here, kid. I'll come back for you."
She left then, disappearing after the person in the cloak. Bow watched her until he was sure she was gone. Then he started running as fast as he could in the opposite direction.
No wonder the Horde had attacked the market! His dads were right! The rebellion was always starting trouble and now look at what they'd done! All those people, just trying to live their lives, and now? He wouldn't be there when they got back, that was for sure.
He'd go home, tell his dads. They would know what to do. An old woman called after him, but he didn't even slow. He couldn't trust anyone. Nobody but his own family.
What if something had happened to Dirk? What if he never saw him again? Tears pooled in his eyes and he pushed himself to run faster.
The colors of the Whispering Woods blurred together and nothing looked familiar, but he was afraid to stop, not sure which side he was more afraid of. When he finally had to slow, his chest aching from running so hard, he looked around and his blood froze as he realized he had absolutely no idea where he was. There was no path, no familiar landmarks, nothing but twisted shadows and branches that grabbed at his shirt.
He finally fell to the forest floor, his tears falling freely now. He was absolutely, definitely lost. And completely alone. He had no idea how to get home or how to get back to Dirk.
He held his head in his hands and tried to think big kid brave thoughts, but it was impossible. Everyone was right, he was just a little kid; he didn't know how to do anything and he was going to die all alone out here.
And, worst of all, he was pretty sure he'd crushed the bread.
When he'd finally cried himself out, he lay on the ground, feeling hopeless and listening to the sounds of the Whispering Woods. The Library where they lived was in the woods and he was used to playing with the others among the strange plants and falling asleep to the sounds of the gentle whispers of the trees, but this was the first time he'd been so utterly alone with it before.
There was a weird feeling this deep in the woods. The forest always felt alive, but this was the first time everything felt like it was breathing around him, watching him. He got to his feet, moving his fingers through a cloud of something he could feel but not see. It prickled up his arms like invisible goosebumps. Whatever it was, the air was thick with it.
What was this? Was it… magic? He didn't really know that much about magic other than the princesses could use it, so that was probably bad... but this didn't feel bad.
He'd heard his siblings say the woods moved around. That was why the rebellion used it for their hideout. It hid them, confused the Horde, kept them out. He'd always thought they were messing with him, making up ghost stories, but as he looked around him now, he wasn't so sure.
He saw one of those bumpy purple ferns, the one he'd seen with Dirk what felt like a lifetime ago. He kneeled down and touched the leaf again, just to feel something familiar.
If the Woods could move around, did that mean it was alive? Could it hear him?
"I-I need help." He whispered, not sure what he was talking to but looking at the little fern in his hand because it felt less ridiculous than talking to the open air. "I'm lost and... I'm scared. Really scared." He wasn't sure if the Woods valued honesty, but it didn't seem right to lie to magic, especially if you were trying to ask it for help. "Can you… help me get where I need to be?"
He wasn't sure exactly what he'd expected to happen. A big poof of magic and then he'd find himself home or something right out of a fairy tale? But nothing happened. OK, maybe it had been silly. But when he stood back up, there was a small path he hadn't noticed before.
Maybe it had been there all along. Or maybe it didn't lead anywhere he wanted to go.
But when you're six years old and lost and scared and basically having the worst day of your life, believing in magic seemed like as good an idea as any.
He walked to the edge of the path, peering through the trees.
There was clearly some kind of building at the end. A really big building. It could be an empty ruin, like the kind his dads were always studying.
Bow hesitated, but he didn't have any other plan. And there was something about this that felt just enough like an adventure that he forgot for a minute to be scared. He started tentatively down the path.
This place couldn't be a ruin. It was way too fancy, nothing broken or tarnished with age. The path let out opposite a golden window, inset in a teardrop shape. He stopped to stare at it. It was elegant, gold filigree all around it. He felt weirdly drawn to it, like he could just climb right up into it if he could only figure out how.
A path of circular stones led around the edge of the forest, and he followed them. This wasn't just one building but many of them, all connected through a series of bridges and paths. What was this place? There were gardens everywhere and weird stone islands floating ahead and impossible waterfalls.
It was like the whole place was magic. And he knew it should scare him, but it didn't. He loved it.
He was trying to decide which of the buildings he should try first when he heard someone shout.
"Halt! Who goes there?"