Everywhere he looks, 15-year-old Urmillian sees his people suffering under brutal foreign occupation. High taxes drive poverty and malnutrition, while the execution of anyone suspected of resistance has the people of Tarlah on their knees. Urmillian longs to join his father's uprising and free his people, despite father's orders to protect the family home. When occupying soldiers turn on the Tarlahans, Urmillian's younger brother calls for aid. But the streets are filling with soldiers. If Urmillian doesn't help cut them off, the city will be overrun. So he risks both their lives by abandoning his household's defence and joining his older sister on the front line.
An action-packed YA Fantasy short story (7500 words), set before and prequel to Manipulator's War, without spoilers, so both books can be enjoyed in any reading order.
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