The Price {Completed}

Chapter Thirty-One

Ferdinand jerked his head back, smashing into the soldier behind him, and gaining enough time to pull his other arm from his jacket. Just as he freed himself from the jacket and took a few steps toward me, the soldiers leapt on him from behind and tackled him to the ground. His chin hit the wood with a sickening smack, and his eyes unfocused for a moment at the impact. One of the men drove a knee into his back and slapped a hand on his face to keep it pinned to one side on the ground. Ferdinand bucked and fought, but the other soldiers pinned him.

"Nadia! Get out of here!" he shouted, his voice muffled into the ground.

"But-" I started toward him, somehow thinking that I could help him get free, but he jerked sharply to the left in order that I could see his face.

"Now, Nadia!" he shouted, before the soldier shoved his head back down.

With a groan, I turned and flew down the two flights of stairs left to the common room. The old man behind the desk ducked out of sight as I dashed to the front door and threw it open to the frozen sunlight.

As I dashed across the road and through one of the alleyways toward the heavily crowded bridge, I heard the sound of a soldier in pursuit. From the sound of his boots on the cobblestone I could tell he was lagging, but I didn't want to risk the chance that he would stay winded from his battle with Ferdinand for long.

The alleyway spilled into a crowd and I slid through the bodies until I found a group of women trudging toward work.

"Can I borrow one of your scarves?" I gasped. One of the older women, her young face lined with too many wrinkles, pressed her lips thin. I glanced behind me, seeing the soldier entering the crowd and slowing as he scanned for my face.

The woman's gaze followed mine. For a moment I had the terrifying realization that she could raise a hand and signal to the soldier where I was. She wore the flower of the Vigilant Men, just like everyone else in the city, and her Cause was more important than a skinny girl with wild eyes.

I moved to dash between the women and disappear into another group, but the woman gripped my arm. She stared at me with eyes sunken into her skull, her skin thin and yellowed. I balked, already wrestling to be free, but she only tightened her grip.

"Keep quiet and do as we do," she mumbled, whipping her headscarf off and quickly securing it around my hair. Another woman volunteered her ragged coat, little more than a strip of fabric with sleeves. She wrapped it around my shoulders, hiding my dress. The others filed in around me, their skinny shoulders blocking my view of the soldier as he searched through the crowd.

We walked at a slow pace, that of the bone-tired and exhausted, shuffling with glazed eyes. It took everything I had to not bolt when the soldier sauntered right up to us, peering at the faces of a group of school girls a few feet away who giggled at his attention. My heart hammered against my ribs, my hands twisting in the fabric of my skirt. The soldiers turned, scanned our group...

And then kept walking.

Just to make sure, we walked to some of the vendors and picked through their wares. I glanced over my shoulder to see the soldier throw his hands up in frustration and turn to head back to his fellows. I let out a sigh of relief and sagged against a nearby wagon.

The women edged toward the road, their eyes darting. What they'd just done could cost them the highest price. I swiped the scarf from my head and the jacket from my back, and offered them back to their owners. They took them without a word, just nodding before slipping back into the crowds in the direction of their work. I wanted to run after them, let them know how much I appreciated their risk, but I knew it would only make it worse for them.