Fear of the unknown... The consequences of not being… No matter what we think, a stranger is easily noticeable. Emily could be gone, but her sister, Tracey, is determined to generate the wall of fire to free her from the clutches of a fascist king and his backscratching guards who use fear to control the kingdom… Would the stranger amidst us be the trigger we all need to take charge of our lives. Lauren Kirk-Cohen rides the wall… How hot is the wall? Hot enough to burn us all or!!!

“You can’t do that!” I shout. I try to lunge forward at the guards, but something is pinning my arms behind my back, pulling me away. I struggle, but whoever has me is too strong.

A hand clamps over my mouth and a voice whispers harshly in my ear, “If you want to live, you need to shut up right now.”

I kick and scream, but it all goes unnoticed as the hands hold my mouth and limbs silent.

I am dragged back through the crowd into what looks like an abandoned building. Finally, my assailant spins me around and I get a good look at him.

His brown eyes are wide with concern and his hands are still tight on my arms, “They have my sister!” I shout at him. “Let me go, I’m going to kill them!”

I try to bring my knee up into his groin, but he kicks my legs out from under me, catching me just before I hit the floor. He sits on my legs and pins my arms above my head, where I can do nothing except spit at him.

To my surprise, he seems almost as angry with me as I am with him, “Are you insane?” he hisses. “Do you have a death wish? Because I can assure you that there are quicker and less painful ways to go than messing with the guards!”

Realising that I am not going to escape, I stop struggling and speak urgently to him, “Listen, they’ve just taken my sister. We were just shopping and those men grabbed her. They dragged her away and no one so much as blinked! I need to find her!”

The man stares at me, as though confused. I don’t know what he’s confused about; the situation really couldn’t be simpler.

“You’re not from around here.”

Now it is my turn to look confused. I had thought Emily and I were blending in quite well with the local people, “How can you tell?” I ask.

“No one who lives here is stupid enough to provoke the guards,” he says. “You can only be new to town if you don’t know the consequences of being noticed by them.”

He cautiously releases my arms. “I’m Evan.”

“Tracey,” I say. “I think you’d better tell me what this is all about, Evan.”

He slowly gets off me, watching me as though expecting me to bolt at any second. I can’t say I blame him – I’m half considering it myself.

“Do you know anything about the land you’ve blundered into?” he asks.

I shake my head, “We lived by the sea, but most of our land was destroyed by a tsunami. Emily and I came to the nearest land – here – hoping to start new lives.

Evan shakes his head, “That was a bad choice. I don’t know how things worked where you live, but here King Georgin holds sway over the land. No one knows how he took over – the last king was powerful – but one day he was suddenly in control. The rumours say he has magic, but no one I know has ever seen any; he doesn’t need it, not with his loyal army. The guards take anyone or anything that pleases them. People who try to argue don’t live to tell about it.”

I stare dumbly at him, “Why doesn’t anyone do something about it?”

“Haven’t you been listening? Those who try to do something about it are systematically tortured and murdered!”

“But the king is just a man. There can’t be more soldiers than people in the whole land. If everyone rose up, they could overthrow them. The people would run them down like a wall of fire.”

“Even if that were possible – and it isn’t – King Georgin would probably just raze the land to ash with his magic, along with all who even thought of resisting him. No one can counter his magic, and no one is prepared to take the risk.”

“But what about my sister?” I demand.

Evan’s eyes drop to the floor, “I’m so sorry.”

“No!” I say sharply, “She’s not dead.”

I make to spin around and stride out of the door, but Evan grabs my arm in his firm grip, “What do you think you’ve doing?”

“Rescuing my sister,” I say, yanking my arm.

“Tracey, you’ll die.”

“Just because everyone else is too cowardly to stand up to them doesn’t mean I’m going to let Emily die. Now let go of me.”

“Tracey, I can’t, I’d be sending you to your death – ”

Before he can react, I have whirled around and with my free arm, clouted him over the head as hard as I can. While Evan is still reeling, I tear out of his grasp and run.

I’m coming for you, Em, I think.

#To be continued...

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