As promised, here is the rest of Chapter One!

 

The door of the depot flew open and Irzazenhoy came rushing in. Minkhoy looked up, expecting her sister-in-law to be bringing fresh biscuits, but then she saw how pale and wide-eyed she was. Irza ran straight into Koreni’s arms and held onto him as if her life depended on it.

“What is it, Irza? What’s happening?” Koreni demanded.

She took a shuddering breath. “The Union’s here!”

Minkhoy leapt to her feet.

“Why? What are they doing?” Koreni urged her.

“They’re here to arrest the Skri family for not paying the tax! They’re taking them to a debt farm!”

Just then the door to loading dock opened and Minkhoy’s parents came in.

“Father, the Union—”

“I know, I saw them coming down the street,” he replied, going to the window. They all followed him except for Koreni, for Irza held him back, her hands still shaking.

A full squadron of Union soldiers were gathered around the Skris’ house, facing outward, guns ready. As they looked on, two soldiers each dragged a member of the Skri family out of the house; first the three young boys, then the mother, then the father, and finally the grandmother, bent over nearly double but her frail hands steady on the handle of her cane. Looking at her, Minkhoy knew she wouldn’t last more than a month in the squalid farms.

She gritted her teeth and charged toward the door. With a shout, her mother grabbed her and held her fast. “No, Mink, you can’t go out there!”

“I’m not going to just stand here and watch!”

“There’s nothing else to be done,” her father said in a terribly flat voice.

Her mother’s eyes were wide with fear. “If the Union even sees you—!”

Minkhoy’s fists clenched, but she allowed her mother to drag her back from the door. She watched in silence as the Union soldiers dragged the Skri family away into the back of their transport. The soldiers filed in after them; the doors glided shut, and with a roar of engines, the transport shot into the sky and was out of sight in a matter of seconds.

The townsfolk slowly seeped back into the street now that the danger was passed. They all stared at the sky where the ship had disappeared in solemn silence. Muffled weeping echoed across the square and several women drew their veils over their faces in grief.

“Why do we just let them do this?” D’june asked in a thick voice.

Her father sighed. “Because we can’t stop them.” He placed his large hand on D’june’s shoulder. “I know it’s hard, D’june, but you’ve got to learn to just hunch your shoulder to the wind and carry on. The Union can’t be stopped, so we have to do our best to survive. That’s just the way things are.”

Minkhoy wrenched her wrist out of her mother’s grip and stormed around behind the counter. She pulled out an empty sack.

“What are you doing?” her mother demanded.

“I’m going to Beacon Hill,” she replied shortly. She shoved the folder into the wooden box still open on the counter, and gathered a box of figs and an orange before stuffing all of it into the sack. Pulling out an iron box from under the counter, she punched in a code and opened it. She pulled out a small handgun and stuffed it into her pocket.

“But why—?”

“I’ll be back by midmorning.” She headed toward the door.

“You won’t do anything foolish, will you?” her father asked warily.

She paused, her hand on the doorknob, and smiled bitterly. “No, don’t worry. Like you said, there’s nothing to be done. There’s just nothing to ever be done, except to just keep plodding on.” She opened the door and marched down the street without looking back.