Abi ran towards the stone bridge. Her thin soled boots slid on the mud slicked path. She’d worn them because of the heat, not expecting the ground to be this muddy at this time of year.

She pulled her skirt up above her knees to avoid splashing it with mud, regretting not taking the time to go home and change into more practical travelling clothes when she had decided to go investigate the situation herself.

Her muddy boots hit the large stones of the bridge embedded in the path.

Abi skidded to a stop. She almost overbalanced as her boots slipped.

She teetered on the edge of falling face first, but her pinwheeling arms helped right herself.

“You can’t sacrifice him.” She tried to shout, but it came out as more of an intelligible shriek as she ran out of air to speak.

“This is no concern of yours, go back to your village.” The man dressed like a priest said. His robes were a deep burgundy and he had a high collar with gold details. The book in his hands had to be a holy text of some kind judging by its thickness.

He didn’t even turn to look at her, just shook his book in her direction as if that would be all that was needed to make her obey. It didn’t help that the arch of the bridge put them all above her, if not by much, but the priest’s followers needed no help in looking down at her.

How could he think she’d just walk away? Although looking at the people standing around him, maybe it wasn’t such a crazy idea that everyone would automatically obey him. He was in for a surprise.

The bridge was wide enough to fit a horse pulled wagon easily and had high enough walls that you’d have to make an effort to fall in the river. When the river was calmer the braver kids would come here to jump in on a warm day. She’d only tried it once, and found she didn’t like how hard the water hit you when it was at its normal height.

The priest stood in the middle of the bridge at the highest point, surrounded by mostly male villagers, because they’d have the muscle the priest would need to sacrifice someone against their will.

She recognised a few of the people but had never spoken to them or learned their names. Their villages were in contact with hers for trade, and she was the last person anyone would choose to send for something that important.

Abi was glad she didn’t know these people if this is how they acted. She’d also only ever met one priest and that was the man who travelled between the villages on her side of the river. He didn’t sacrifice people, and he didn’t really know much about the main gods, but he helped people believe what they believed. When she had been a child she’d liked listening to his stories, it didn’t matter if they were true or not.

This priest she completely ignored and continued towards the middle of the bridge, close enough to get a better look at Grus, with his upper body bound in rope and arms pinned to his sides. He was a few years younger than her and he had a slight build, but had grown tall like the rest of his family. His clothes were well made and looked like they were his best set, which meant he had been sent to Cahan to carry a message or trade at the market. He was the most likely to be sent because he was a good runner, long legs and light on his feet.

They had the nerve to sacrifice her people on this side of the river. They should be using their own people from Cahan. Or better yet, no one.

His eyes were wide with terror but he was still standing there obediently as he had probably been told to. What was it with people doing as they were told with no question just because a priest said it?

“Of course it’s my concern you’re about to kill him.” She was closer now but she still yelled as loud as she could. This wasn’t the time for inside voices or being polite. Something had to get through to these people that this was wrong.

“It’s a sacrifice not murder. There’s a very big difference.” A wealthy looking man said.

He stood next to the priest, and he had the fancy clothes of someone who paid other people to do his work for him. His tone was dismissive, and this was emphasized by the fact that he didn’t feel the need to explain the difference. Apparently they should just take his word for it.

She took a step closer, but one of the men she had taken to be a follower grabbed her arm and stopped her going any further.

He was a big man, at least a foot taller than her, and had big hands to match his size, they wrapped around her arm in a firm grip.

“Let me go.” She tried to shake him off, then when his grip tightened she changed tactics to prying one finger off at a time.

He easily ignored her, which only made her angrier, instead he looked to the priest for direction.

The priest sighed. “Escort her off the bridge.” He waved his hand to the side she had come from. “Why did you let her on in the first place?” It was less a question and more a criticism but the man answered anyway.

“I thought she was crossing to get to the village on the other side.” The guard mumbled an excuse as he lowered his gaze. “It’s the only crossing for miles. Lots of people use it.”

“That’s not the point. No one is allowed on while we’re in the middle of a sacrifice. I don’t want to have to tell you again.” The priest turned his back on them, muttering under his breath.

The guard holding Abi grunted in response and dragged her back towards the side she’d come from.

“Wait, can’t you put me on the other side?”

“Umm…”

“We’re pretty much in the middle now anyway.” That wasn’t strictly true. They were much closer to one side than the other, but there was only one side she wouldn’t cause problems on.

“I don’t think…”

“I’m going to fight you all the way to that side, and I’m not going to leave, but if you take me to the other side then I won’t cause you trouble and I’ll go about my business.”

He looked at the priest, who had gone back to preaching and then looked down at her. “You think you can fight me?” He smiled and carried on to the bank.

It was time to show him what a pain she could be. Sure she’d never be able to properly fight him, but she’d get a few hits in before he subdued her. This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened to her, and it probably wouldn’t be the last.

First she went limp in his arms.

He stumbled trying to keep hold of her unexpected dead weight.

Then she tripped him by making sure to get her feet in the way of his. But he still had hold of her so his hands were trapped between them when he fell.

He landed on his face.

Unfortunately he also landed on her but it was only his lower body.

She grunted at the impact and the sudden pain. She hoped nothing was broken but there wasn’t much to be done about that now.

Abi recovered before he did. She found her feet before he could get over his broken nose and the blood streaming down his face.

She raced back to the group in the middle of the bridge.

Then slammed into the man in the fancy clothes.

He hadn’t been expecting it, so failed to keep his feet and ended in a heap on the floor.

Then she slipped past another man who was too slow to catch her.

The priest didn’t do anything himself, he actually stepped back to avoid her, but he did shout at the others to grab her. That was showing real leadership.

She reached Grus and pulled a knife out of her coat.

Everyone pursuing her froze at once, and then took a step back.

She ignored them and hacked at the ropes tying Grus. It turned out to be harder than she thought it would be to cut him free. Either her knife wasn’t as sharp as she thought it was, or the rope was a lot tougher than it looked.

Abi had to abandon her rescue attempt to fend off the braver of the group who got too close.

She brandished her knife at them and hoped she wouldn’t have to actually cut anyone.

A few of the men drew their swords. They were big heavy weapons with very little edge to them, and looked like they would have a tougher time cutting the rope than her knife did.

The knife suddenly felt like a lot less protection than it had before. When she’d left Hulna this morning she’d thought she was being smart by bringing it. Her mother had used it as protection when travelling before she had settled down in Hulna.

She wasn’t going to let them see her doubt though.

So she held the knife up as threateningly as she could, and advanced on the nearest man to get him to back up and give her space.

He backed off with his hands in the air until his back hit the bridge wall.

Another man took the opportunity to dart in close.

She had no time to turn the knife in his direction before he had her arm twisted behind her back.

She couldn’t struggle without risking injuring herself with the knife or breaking her arm.

His large hand wrapped around her wrist and he squeezed until the pain made her drop it.

“Sorry, I’ll take her back to the other side.” The guard who had tried to escort her off the bridge mumbled, while holding a bloody rag to his nose, and standing dejected at the edge of the crowd.

“No, she’s proved she’s a troublemaker and we can’t risk her trying anything else.” The Priest said.

“We’re going to kill her?” A woman exclaimed in the crowd.

At least they had some morals, even if Abi couldn’t work out where they drew the line exactly.

“No, that would be a waste. We’re going to sacrifice her. There’s a difference.” The fancy man from before said, annoyance lacing his words.

“You’re letting me go.” Grusade asked.

He was still wrapped in ropes and hadn’t made even the slightest attempt to escape in the confusion. There was wary hope in his voice, but the look on his face clearly showed he didn’t believe it.

“No, two sacrifices are better than one. We may be able to appease the gods better this way.” The Priest proclaimed as if this was completely reasonable.

“You’ve got to be kidding. You could at least let him go.” Her demand was met with silence and no one but the priest would meet her eyes. It was time to try a different tact. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with. My mother will have you killed.” This didn’t sway them either but Abi refused to go silently.

She put as much self importance into her voice as she could, and tried to mimic the way the priest and wealthy man expected others to listen to them. If they thought she was important they might let her go. Her mother was held in great esteem by the community but she didn’t have the power to execute anyone, not to mention she wouldn’t want that power.

They didn’t listen anyway, as they moved her over to the other sacrifice and bound her with another length of rope.

She struggled and kicked so they bound her legs as well. Then they set her on the wall of the bridge.

At least the wall was wide enough that it wasn’t a struggle to remain where they put her. She looked down at the water rushing by with it’s fierce current. There would be no way to survive that even if she wasn’t bound. She would be washed downstream, and would probably drown before she entered the rapids and the rocks broke her body.

Abi swayed as dizziness took over her. No one steadied her, and with her legs tied her balance was already precarious. She had to stop looking at the water or she’d fall in without their help.

She was going to be sacrificed first because she was too much trouble. Somewhere her Grandfather was saying I told you so. Actually, there were quite a few people back home who would be able to say I told you so after this. That was if they ever found out what happened to her.

On the bridge everyone had assembled again into a semicircle around the priest who had begun his intoning of the ancient words of whatever religion he practiced.

She didn’t even know which god she was being sacrificed to.

She opened her mouth and started screaming. There was no way she was just going to give in and die. Even if it was fruitless and the only thing she accomplished was drowning out the priest’s words. She was going to fight them until the end.