The Twelve Kingdoms: A Thousand Leagues of Wind

square. The rising clamor thankfully extinguished the sound of the falling mallet. Unable to bear it further, Shoukei took a step back. Her heel struck a stone and she almost lost her balance.
    A stone.
    A stone the size of her fist. Similar stones were strewn across the plaza, probably from the crumbling walls.
    The screams echoed against the walls.
    Gobo's son had been executed for throwing a stone like this. How could taxes or forced labor matter so much? Such crimes were hardly commensurate with the extremities of pain that could reduce a big man to such wailing.
    "Stop!"
    Shoukei grabbed the stone at her feet. Why wasn't anybody stopping this? What kind of people were these? Before her mind could sort it out, her arm had acted. She threw the stone over the wall of people. It flew with no great force, striking one of the soldiers pushing back the crowds. The stone fell to the black earth and rolled several paces.
    The crowd fell deathly silent.
    "Who threw that!" bellowed a commanding voice.
    Shoukei stepped back from where she had been standing.
    "Whoever threw that stone, present yourself!
    The eyes of the people next to her fell on her. The distress showed in their faces, as to whether or not to finger her as the assailant.
    "Drag her out here!"
    Responding to the command, the wall of people in front of her broke apart. As Shoukei stepped back again, somebody grabbed her wrist. Shoukei jerked her arm like a whip and broke free. She spun on her heels and clawed her way through the throngs. Once again, that same somebody grabbed her again, hard, yanking her half off her feet.
    "This way."
    Shoukei fell to her knees. She raised her eyes. It was a girl her same age. A moment later her eyes fell upon the long overcoat the girl was wearing and she thought, No, a young man.
    "This way. Quickly."
    The girl spoke forcefully. There was no time to think. She dragged Shoukei along, forcing her way through the crowds. After too many steps to count, crawling most of the time, she was again pulled to her feet. Plowing people out of the way, they finally cut through and saw daylight.
    "Where are you! Show yourself!"
    Glancing briefly in the direction of the angry voices behind them, the two of them bolted from the square.

    Escaping the wave of humanity, Shoukei let herself be dragged along as she ran. They barreled through the countless maze-like streets, arriving at the outskirts of the city near the ramparts. Through a fissure in the wall, they tumbled out of the city.
    "I leapt before I looked," Shoukei gasped. The girl at last let go of her arm. Shoukei took a good look at her, vivid eyes set against her scarlet hair. She was definitely a she. Shoukei said, "Thank you."
    Behind them in the city, the angry voices rang out.
    "I understand the feeling," the girl said. "I tend to act before I think, too."
    "It's like I couldn't stop myself."
    Tagging along behind the girl, Shoukei peered back over her shoulder. Hard as it was for her to believe, she wondered if she'd caused any unnecessary grief to the people around her. She wondered how the prisoners had fared. The girl looked at her, as if reading her mind. "I'm okay," Shoukei said in strangely confident voice and nodding for no particular reason.
    At the same time, some distance off to the side, came a shrill shout. "There she is!"
    Ten or more soldiers turned the far corner of the ramparts. Shoukei froze. The girl planted herself in front of her. " Go, " she said. "Get out of here."
    "But--"
    "Don't worry about me," she said, flashing a bold smile. She put her right hand to her waist and deftly drew out a sword.
    Shoukei goggled at her. She didn't have time to ask, Do you know how to use that? The girl pushed her on her way. She hesitated and again looked back at the girl, who again told her forcefully to go.
    "You'll be okay?"
    "Don't sweat it."
    Shoukei nodded. She'd be out in the open, cutting across the open countryside. So instead she followed along the weaving, undulating ramparts and soon disappeared from sight.
    As she turned the last corner, she looked back and saw the red-haired girl, sword in hand, practically flying about the field. She was acting as a decoy. Shoukei spotted a soldier holding up his arm and pointing towards the girl. Most of soldiers went charging into the field.
    Thank you, she said in her heart, and started running in earnest, looking for a place to crawl under. The wall here was too high to climb over. Maybe there was a hole in the wall