Eva pushed through the pain in her shoulder, swinging faster. She heard a high-pitched creaking sound as the cable’s anchor gave way under her additional weight. The entire line—flags, Eva, and all—plunged down toward the plaza square.

She held on to the cable as she fell on top of a vendor’s pushcart, strewing baskets of fresh fish all over the ground. In seconds, flocks of turnfins descended on the havoc, gobbling the free meal from the wrecked cart. Villagers came out with brooms and sticks to shoo the birds away. Besteel hopped down from his hovering glider, locating Eva in the mayhem.

Disoriented, Eva stood up on wobbly legs, trying to focus. She shook off her dizziness and realized she was not far from Hostia’s home. She ran toward the hut. She’d soon have help.

Muthr was there.

Rovender was there.

Hostia’s family was there.

Eva thought about what Besteel had done to her home.

She changed direction, dashing down a narrow alley. A loud sound wave erupted, and the wall next to Eva shattered into shards of clay and wood. Dodging the rubble, she continued racing down the winding alley. As she heard grunts and groans behind her, Eva realized Besteel could not fit through the alleyway.

The alley emptied out onto a boardwalk, which went around the immense piling that held up the entire village. For a split second Eva looked over her shoulder to see where Besteel was, but saw no sign of him.

He dropped from the footbridge above, landing right in front of her.

“Gotch you.” Besteel sneered and aimed the humming boomrod at Eva. She fell backward onto the walkway, her hands covering her face. A cluster of angry fishermen grabbed Besteel from behind, throwing off his aim, and the shot fired up into the air, blasting off a piece of the foundation above. Without a moment to lose, Eva scrambled up and sprinted down the nearest footbridge.

The huntsman threw his assailants off his back and charged after her. Eva made her way to the next footbridge that led out over open water toward the next tower of homes. She took off in that direction, ignoring the burn of exhaustion in her legs.

She saw that there was another bridge above her, and one below—full of morning fishermen. In an instant Eva jumped from her footbridge down to the one below, sending a flock of turnfins squawking up into the air, and then she ran faster than she’d ever run before. She looked up and realized that Besteel had taken the bridge above her and was gaining ground. There was no way she could outrun him.

With her attention focused on her pursuer, Eva ran right into a fisherman. Both toppled down onto the bridge, with the fisherman yelling at her in an indignant tone.

Panting hard, she struggled to get up. “Please! Please help me!”