“
Let's do this.”
“
I suppose it's time, then,” he
says.
We're silent as our group of survivors
gathers together. We're such a small group. It seems like there's
more of us when it's time to eat, but there's really few compared
to how many are in the entire country. There’s not even enough here
to start a real rebellion. Not really. Yet as they crowd into the
main cavern, it seems as if there's many of us gathered
together.
My palms grow sweaty. I discreetly pat
them on my pants. If Annabelle and Cynthia can wear them, so can I.
Of course, with Annabelle everyone thinks it's endearing. With
Cynthia, they think it's fitting her stati
on since doing magic at the tournament and
winning
. With me, well, I'm just the barbaric one. The
crazy one. And they're all about to think I'm even
crazier.
Jack and I decided if we're going to go
through with this, we might as well be honest about the fact I'm
involved. Hopefully Serena, Cynthia, and him are enough to dissuade
any negative impact I may have. I can't lie to them, though.
They've been through too much of that already.
Once they're all here, Jack says, “We've all
been together for a while now. Gotten to know each other a little.
I'd like to think things are different here than what you're used
to.”
Several heads in the crowd nod in
agreement.
“
To that end, I believe we can be
honest with each other.” He pauses, in which all my hopes seem to
teeter on a cliff. “You've all gained a little more freedom here,
albeit a cautious sort of freedom that comes with hiding from the
law. I've discussed so
me
of
this new freedom and different attitudes with these ladies, and we
think, we believe, there is a better way of living.”
“
What are you saying?” someone from
the crowd calls out.
“
I'm saying, we should make this our
way of life without interference from those now leading us,” Jack
says. “I'm saying we should try to overthrow the Grand
Chancellor.”
As one, those gathered gasp. And my hopes
jump off the cliff, soaring somewhere unknown. I can only hope they
land in a better place than they began.
“
This isn't just your idea, though,”
Theodore says.
“
No, as I said, it is something I've
discussed with Serena, Waverly, and the tournament winner,
Cynthia.”
“
We already know how you feel,”
someone else calls out. “We've seen how you act, Jack. You're a
leader like a man should be. These ideas are mostly from them. That
Envadi bringing her strange ideas here.”
“
Why should we follow
her
?”
Whether it's wise to speak up or not I say,
“Because it will lead to a better life for everyone. Don't you want
more out of life? More freedom? More happiness?”
“
You're an Envadi. You’re probably
just here trying to get us to overtake our government so we'll be
an easy target for your people to come in and rule us.”
“
Haven't you seen what Chancellor Zade
was doing before they captured him? Haven't you seen how he's
helped?” I say.
“
And haven't you all seen how Waverly
has tried to help us? She's worked harder than anyone else here,”
Cynthia says.
“
It could all be a ruse,” another
says. “A trick to make us think she's helping, but as soon as we
let her in, they're going to take over our lives. Make us all like
the tarnished to support them.”
“
They want to take away the little
that we have gained,” Phyllis says.
“
They want to help,” Tawny calls from
the back.
“
I understand your fears and
reservations,” Jack says. “Only a short time ago, I was questioning
the same ones. Yet after thinking on it, I believe these women are
correct. We need to do this. We need to fight against this. Though
we don't have warm homes and food readily available, haven't you
enjoyed the freedom we've found not living under the Grand
Chancellor's constant threat? Even having to hide from them,
fearing they may discover us at any time is better than being told
you have to be tarnished or a slave for those greedy
slobs.”
The crowd is silent now and no longer
restless. His words are having an impact on them, making a
difference. More than he thought they would.
“
What if we did want to overthrow the
Grand Chancellor? Then what?” Theodore asks.
“
Then we would do it,” Jack
says.
The crowd begins to murmur amongst
themselves. I bite my lip, hoping against all hope that they
understand how much this is really needed. How they are the ones
that need it. And how much I wish I could say more. How I wish they
would trust me to help them.
“
I'd be willing to try,” a woman calls
out.
“
And so would I,” says a
man.
Soon, the whole room is full of
affirmations that people want to do this. We are going to do
this.
Together. Whether wise or not, we are taking on
the Grand Chancell
or
.
***
After the meeting is over and the crowd
disperses, I say to Jack, “Thank you. We wouldn't have been able to
convince them to help if it wasn't for you.”
“
I only used your words to convince
them. Perhaps after some time they will grow to understand how much
you're trying to assist them. How good you really are.”
Heat floods me. “I'm just trying my best.” I
clear my throat. “Now that we have the people on board, what do we
do?”
“
This was your plan. I thought you
knew.”
I suppose I should have thought about that
better. “Train them I suppose. And we have contact with Nathaniel.
He should be able to give us some insights on where would be good
places to attack.” I hope. If he doesn't have the information now,
maybe he'll be able to get it for us. “That's what we need to work
up to fighting them. Somehow taking them out.”
“
There's truly not another woman like
you.” He shifts his weight. “It's a good start. I'll see if we can
get some of the warlocks in place on the outside. Ones who are the
most all right with this plan and won't give under pressure. See
what information they can collect for us. Between the two plans, I
believe we'll be able to make some progress.”
“
If
we can
get the people to cooperate.”
“
We'll be able to do it.”
“
It'd be easier if they didn't hate me
so much.”
“
They just don't know you yet. Look at
us. We fought when we first knew each other, and now we're planning
a rebellion together. Give it some time.”
“
Time is the one thing Zade and Daniel
don't have.”
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
W
hile we have
tried to include others when teaching the girls magic, not many
have wanted to participate. Now that they have agreed to help us
overthrow the Grand Chancellor, this changes drastically. Almost
all of them want to learn, save for a few stragglers, the ones most
disinclined to our plan. Cynthia takes over most of the teaching,
but Bethany and I continue with Serena and Jack's help. Tawny also
helps but in a more subtle way. She guides those teaching, giving
them new spells to lea
rn
.
None of the women know how to
fig
ht, whether with magic or
not
. A few of the warlocks know how to cast magic, but
only the simplest of spells. Of course, that's because most of the
stronger spell casters have been recruited for the Grand
Chancellor, whether be it as an 'elected' council member or a law
officer, or some other person he can keep a close eye on and
influence.
But it doesn't matter if we all still have a
lot to learn. It doesn't matter if most have done nothing but cower
under others’ commands. It's those reasons that will make them
strong. Those reasons that will give them the will to fight and win
an enemy who has held them back for so long.
The only question I have now is whether my
presence here is weakening them instead of strengthening them.
When they watch me doing spells easily, they
chatter amongst themselves and stare a lot. So I keep casting
spells, even when I grow tired and my magic low.
“
She seems to know what she's doing,”
one says to Serena.
Finally. Progress. I throw out a spell
that Tawny taught me last night. A bright, flashy spell that's
nothing more than fuchsia coloring, followed by an almost clear
spell, tinted only a little red by my emotions. The red tinted
spell slips around the side. Just as the fuchsia spell bursts, the
other spell stabs into the target, leaving a gaping hole all the
way through
the target as it burns its way
through
.
Phyllis comes up to me. “Do you think you
could teach me that?”
“
I'd be happy to.” Not happy,
thrilled, ecstatic, over the moon.
As she lets me teach her, it's a nice
change, but she still doesn't want to get close to me. Every time I
step a polite distance toward her, she steps back three steps. She
doesn't want to contaminate herself with being too near me most
likely.
“
The first part is easy,” I say,
giving up on being close enough to really help her. I feel like I
have to yell for her to hear me. “It's just using your pure magic.
Throwing one strong emotion into it, and picturing it bursting in
front of your target. Using it as the distraction.”
She doesn't respond, but her eyes narrow at
the target. It takes her a moment before a spell comes out,
bursting almost as soon as it leaves her hand. A few of the
bystanders swear at the bright flash of yellow.
I blink, trying to get my sight back. “That
was good. You just need to focus it out farther so you can blind
your opponent instead of yourself and your teammates.”
Her only reply is to scoff. I guess she
doesn't mind blinding me so much, though I'd think she'd at least
care about blinding herself.
“
Why don't you give it another go?” I
say.
She shrugs her shoulders and puts her
hand up. I want to close my eyes, but I force myself to keep them
open. This time, she's successful; the yellow light is tinted with
orange but shoots straight for the targ
et,
a dummy in the shape of a human made from bags and
straw
. Once it gets there, it bursts just like it
should. She tries three more times, and the burst gets bigger every
time.
“
That's right,” I tell her as she
finally gets the spell down. “You've got it perfect.
She shrugs again.
“
Now let’s work on the second part of
the spell.”
She steps back from me. “Actually, I think
I'm done.”
From the tone of her voice, it sounds
more like she's done with me than with learning a spell. She turns
her back toward me and walks away without a word. Swell. My
thoughts are confirmed when she leaves me to go directly to
Cynthia. I guess I can't hope for too much in one day. It doesn't
make it any easier to deal with, thou
gh
.
J
ack, Bethany,
and Serena join together in what's become mine and Cynthia's room,
a small cavern furnished only with bedding and our clothes. It
isn't the best of accommodations, but it gives us some sense of
privacy. Plus it gives me a chance to voice my thoughts yet again.
Though quietly so someone can't hear me through the
echo.
“
It's time to move to something real,”
I say. “We've got to strike them where it counts, and we need to do
it now.”
“
Agreed,” Cynthia says.
“
We do need to attack where it will
hurt them, but with the least danger to us,” Jack says.
Always so reasonable. I want to huff
at him, but how can I? These people have entrusted their lives to
us. Not just now, but in the future as well. What's the point of
fighting if we get most of them killed? I would rather die myself
than have any one else do so
.
“
I have an idea,” I reply, hoping it's
actually a feasible one. “What if we attacked one of the power
plants and rescued all the people they're taking advantage of? Not
only would they be losing power, but those people need to be
freed.”
Cynthia says. “And they'd likely want to
help us if we're the ones that freed them.”
“
But would they be guarded by men and
spells?” Jack asks. “There's no point in risking our lives if it's
as heavily guarded as the Grand Chancellor's.”
“
I can ask Nathaniel what he knows,”
Bethany says.
She's always so quiet. I almost forget she's
there. “Let's do that. And in the meantime, we can keep training
them. It's going to take more than just the handful of us if we
want to make a real difference.”
“
I have another thought,” Cynthia
says. “We can attack Chancellor Ryan's house.”
“
We'd need to ask Nathaniel about that
as well,” I reply. “I don't know if he'll be able to get that
information or not.”
“
No need. I already staked it out,”
Cynthia says.