Revolution - C M Raymond & L E Barbant

by Michael Anderle

  Hannah’s face twisted in confusion. “Why the hell would you tell me this?”

  “Because if that bastard killed my brother, I want to see him burn. And apparently you’re the one who can make that happen, Hannah.”

  A small smile lit Hannah’s face. “Thank you, Violet. And for the first time, I think that you and I just might agree on something. Adrien is a bastard.” Her face became as serious as death. “He killed your brother, and he killed mine too. Day by day, he is killing all of Arcadia, whether they know it or not, all for his own selfish gain. But if your intel is correct, that all ends tomorrow. Would you like to help?”

  Violet put her tea down and stood. “Just point me in the right direction.”

  Hannah stood as well. “Then welcome to the revolution. You’re just in time.”

  ****

  Hannah stood by the window watching Sal, still affected by the druid’s brew, fly loops and turns over the tower’s lawn. Even with the weight of everything that was about to happen, she couldn’t help but smile at her seemingly possessed dragon.

  She turned and looked around the room. Everyone sat at the table and talked, unaware of the meeting they were about to have. Only Gregory sat quietly at his normal seat. His hands were crossed, and he stared at his white knuckles. She knew that while the others were discussing their day and trying to best one another with the achievements of their students, Gregory sat going over the design of his machine in his head, currently only partially built in the basement, and trying to figure out the final steps to complete it.

  The door swung open and everyone turned to see Ezekiel standing in the doorway. His face bore a severity they had seldom encountered.

  “Take your seats,” he said, and the room complied. He made his way to the head of the table and pulled out his chair, but remained standing. After giving his leaders time to get settled, he began. “It is time for us to consider the plan for battle. We must make haste, for—”

  Karl cleared his throat with a violent cough, and everyone turned to face him. The rearick, though rough around the edges and more likely to speak a hard truth than a word of praise, was loved and admired by all of them. Clearly, he was also the most experienced warrior in the room.

  “Prepare for battle? My men are hardly marching in a straight line.” He smoothed his beard and looked at Amelia. “And the magicians, if ya want to call ‘em that, couldn’t conjure a fireball big enough to warm me scrotum.”

  “Surely it couldn’t take much,” Parker quipped with a grin, drawing laughter from the room.

  Karl waved his hand at his friend and continued, “Scheisse, I’m just saying let’s learn to walk before we go kick some arse, Ezekiel. Get the fundamentals, then we take the fight to ‘em.”

  “I appreciate the sentiment, my friend,” Ezekiel said. “Problem is, I’m not talking about taking the battle to them. Quite the contrary. I have just met with Hannah,” he motioned to his student, “and she has come upon some very interesting and, frankly, terrifying information. A young woman from the Academy has defected to our community. She brought news from the city. They know where we are, and they are coming tomorrow.”

  Karl snorted. “Gah! Nothing good will come from this. A tactic older than your beard, wizard. Send in one of their own lookin’ for protection. I say it’s perfect horseshit, but if ya let me talk to this lass—”

  Ezekiel ignored the rearick, continuing without missing a beat. “Violet, an Academy student, has allegedly come to the realization that the people she thought wanted good actually desired only ill. Her brother was among the misled souls whose power and life were sacrificed on the altar of Adrien’s mighty ship. She came for truth. She’s staying for justice.”

  The room seemed to darken. All eyes were fastened on him, knowing there was more.

  “Young Violet found us because they know we are here. She came this day for information because she knows that by this time tomorrow we may have already met our demise.”

  The room exploded, everyone speaking at once. Ezekiel tapped his staff on the floor, drawing their attention back to him. “There is no time for this. I have not gathered children, but magicians, warriors, and masters of various crafts. Now is the time to finalize our plan and agree on our separate roles in it, or else the young noblewoman’s fear—our defeat—will come true.”

  Gregory slowly put his hand in the air. Ezekiel gave a permissive nod. “How do we know it isn’t some sort of trick? I knew Violet well in Arcadia. I mean, I grew up with her. She’s always been a…” his eyes caught Hannah’s. “Frankly? A real bitch. Her story about her brother, while moving, was the perfect excuse, and, no offense, Hannah, she delivered it to the right person, someone who could relate.”

  “We know,” Hadley interjected. “After Hannah reported to Ezekiel, he brought in Julianne and me to do our thing.”

  Julianne took over. “It’s true. The girl is both terrified and angry. She wants to see Adrien fall as badly as any of us. I have no doubt she’s telling the truth. But…” The Master Mystic let her words trail off.

  “But what?” Hannah asked, crinkling her nose.

  Hadley leaned in. “It’s the problem with our mental magic. We’re very good at getting inside people’s minds. Once in there, we can read their emotions and motivations, and understand exactly what they are thinking.”

  Gregory laughed. “But you don’t know if Adrien is really attacking tomorrow or if Violet just really, really believes he is.”

  “Exactly,” Julianne replied.

  Shaking his head, the engineer continued to laugh. “Brilliant. I never thought of it like that. It’s so simple. Just imagine what one would be able to do if they were to—”

  “Gregory!” Hannah shot at her friend. “Not now.”

  “Oh, right. Sorry!”

  Ezekiel pulled out the chair and sat. His team waited for his words. “Regardless, we have to prepare as if it were true. I know the timing is bad, but with his forces coming to us, we have a strategic advantage. What’s more, they don’t know that we know, so we should retain some measure of surprise. But the roles remain the same.” He looked at Karl. “Your men are the muscle on the ground. Believe in your men. They are more ready than you can imagine.”

  Karl nodded. “Hope so, wizard. We’re going to need ‘em.”

  Without a response, he turned to Amelia. “The physical magicians will support the ground crew. Block their magicians’ attacks and offer some sort of cover support. Make sure your strongest are ready to fight.”

  “And the others?”

  “We’ll get to that.” He shifted his eyes to Marcus. “Your crew with the magitech weapons will provide our cover fire. They might not have accuracy, but when you’re dealing with a large mass of people a volley of power with adequate aim will be effective. Without your ranged attacks, their magitech gunners will walk right over us. Ida and Markell, the two mystics who have decided to help, will join with Hadley as our eyes, ears, and minds on the ground. They can gain access to Adrien’s forces, and their information will be invaluable. But they will also be our communications team. We will have a perfect line of communication throughout the entire battle, an advantage that should not be underestimated.”

  “Aye, I can hear the tales now.” Karl grinned. “And it wasn’t steel or brute determination that won the fight, but the force of mind jabbering.”

  Ezekiel gave him a quick glance and narrowed his eyes. Karl took the hint.

  “We can expect that they will be bringing the airship,” Ezekiel continued. “We all know what it did to the Boulevard. It has more power than all of us combined. But Gregory there has been working on a mechanism to bring it down.”

  Gregory stood. “You see, I have a hollowed-out beam that I have modified with the use of some physical computations and—”

  “Not now, Gregory. We’ll get there. You’re on your own, son. And I know you can accomplish the task.”

  “Actually,” he began meekly. “I could use some he
lp. Laurel’s, to be exact.”

  Ezekiel nodded. “Fine. Laurel, once you’ve finished crafting your defenses, you’re to report to Gregory. Do whatever he wants.”

  Laurel raised one eyebrow and stared at Gregory. “Sounds like fun.”

  He immediately turned a bright shade of pink.

  “Not whatever you want, Loverboy,” Hannah retorted with a grin, causing Gregory to shrink into his chair.

  Pointing his staff toward the roof, Ezekiel told them that he would orchestrate the fight from above. It would also be a vantage point that would allow him, when possible, to assist the different teams’ maneuvers.

  “And what about her?” Hadley asked with a nod toward Hannah.

  Ezekiel smiled. “Hannah’s job is to kick as much ass as possible and drive the fear of the Matriarch into every fool who thought it was wise to come against us.”

  The team fell silent and stared at her. They had all seen her power, and they trusted that she would use it without hesitation.

  Hannah shrugged. “Not only will I kick ass, I’ll look damned good while doing it.”

  The team laughed. Hannah was glad to break the tension, even though she knew they might not all come through the battle.

  “So, now you know your general roles,” Ezekiel muttered. “It’s time to lay out the plan in detail. If we stick to it, stay strong, and manage to find a little bit of luck, we should be able to make it through this. I for one am ready to see Adrien’s rule come to an end. Whatever happens tomorrow, that man dies. I can promise you that.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Hannah tossed and turned as Sal laid next to her, snoring as loudly as a broken gristmill. Laurel’s kaffe had taken its toll on him and after nearly two hours of flying crazy loops around the tower, he had finally crashed hard.

  At least he got some practice in, she thought as she turned to her other side.

  She was surprised that anyone could sleep after the meeting, but the gentle sound of her roommates’ snores accented her dragon’s rumblings.

  Finally realizing that resting was a lost cause, she swung her legs over the side of the bed, slid on her shoes, and tiptoed out of the room. Images of battle and her own fight against faceless Arcadians continued to swim through her mind. She needed some air but didn’t want to see any of the men guarding the tower, so she went to the stairwell and climbed to the roof.

  Her eyes widened as she saw a familiar silhouette in the moonlight. She wasn’t the only one who couldn’t rest.

  “Remember the first time we were up here?” she remarked into the cold night air.

  Ezekiel turned. His face was solemn, but then, as he pondered the question, it softened into a warm smile. “Of course. We meditated here, one of our first days together.”

  “You meditated here. I just sat, thinking ‘What the hell did I get myself into?’ if I remember correctly.”

  “That’s why you couldn’t do shit your first few days.”

  She knocked her teacher with her hip as they both looked out at the woods, illuminated by a moon that was nearly full. “That was a lifetime ago.”

  “And not even a year. Life is funny, is it not?”

  She nodded, not needing to answer with words.

  “Have I ever really thanked you, Zeke?”

  He turned, and his face looked older than she’d ever seen it in the light of the moon. “Why would you? I am the one who owes you thanks. You have given the people hope, just like she did in the days before the Age of Madness.”

  “Let’s not get religious tonight.”

  Ezekiel laughed. “We’re always getting religious, Hannah. Religion is simply a collection of practices we ritualize based on the things we believe, even if we don’t understand them. Your use of magic is pretty damned religious.”

  She thought about it for a moment and realized he was right, at least by that definition. “Will I ever really understand it? Magic, I mean?”

  The old man stroked his beard. “Maybe.”

  “Why maybe?”

  “I have a feeling that if we live through this fight, you will have a chance to learn more than you want to know about the means and ends of our magic. But let’s finish this quest before we move on to the next, shall we?”

  Hannah shrugged. “I guess. Only sometimes I think that if I understood my magic better, I could control it more, use it better. Like Gregory and all of his damned machines.”

  “On the contrary.” He shifted his staff from his right hand to his left. “Sometimes true belief in that which we do not understand makes the power fiercer.”

  Hannah glanced over at him. “You know that half of what you say sounds like complete nonsense, right?”

  “I do.” He smiled.

  “Good. As long as we have that clear.” They stood in silence for a moment, and she finally asked, “Do you think we have a chance?”

  Ezekiel reached into his bag and pulled out his pipe. Carefully packing it with the final scraps of his good herbs from the Heights, he tamped the bowl, lit it, drew on it, and nodded. “We do.”

  She watched his smoke rings float into the moonlight. “I can’t imagine how. They have hundreds, maybe thousands of soldiers. They’re all trained to kill and destroy. Most have been doing it all their lives. A year ago, I was only a pickpocket.”

  Ezekiel took a step forward and squared his shoulders with hers. “Those men and women who will advance on us tomorrow? Some of them are the best fighters in Irth, you’re right about that. But what are they fighting for?”

  Hannah waited, hoping he would supply the answer to his own riddle. When it was apparent that he really wanted her response, she replied, “I don’t know. Glory. Honor. Maybe wealth.”

  He nodded. “Yes. I think you’re right. Some of them, also power and a seat at Adrien’s dreadful table. All of those are powerful motivations, but they don’t amount to a fraction of why we fight.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Religion,” he declared, exhaling smoke through his nose.

  She shook her head. “You’re a stubborn man, Zeke. We don’t all believe in the Matriarch and the Patriarch like you do.”

  “I know. But that is not necessarily the religion I mean, though, for some of us it plays a part. We fight for something we believe in, but we don’t fully understand. We fight for justice.”

  Hannah laughed at his response. “We use that word a lot. Maybe so much I don’t know what it means sometimes.”

  “Aye. That’s exactly what makes it so richly religious. Justice is the vision of how things ought to be. And we are ready to lay down our lives for that vision. Whether for the poor kid sleeping in the rubble of the Boulevard, the farmer who is cheated at the market, or the young woman, defenseless as far as she knows, in a back alley of the city I once loved.” The corners of his mouth turned up, almost in a smile. Hannah knew exactly what he was talking about. “We fight because we know things are wrong. We fight because we trust they can be better.”

  “Things will be better once I shove a fireball up Adrien’s ass and push it out his eye sockets. Only then will I consider justice served.”

  Ezekiel nodded, drawing on his pipe. The bowl glowed red, like the color of his eyes when he cast magic. “Yes. That will be an act of justice, indeed. And then…”

  “Then what?”

  “Then we continue, pushing the darkness further and further out until there is nothing but light.”

  Hannah pivoted so they were standing side by side again, both watching the moon run its course. “Will there ever be rest?”

  “Yes, I believe there will, but maybe not for us.”

  “Shit. I was afraid you’d say that.”

  Hannah was about to object, to talk about how she wanted to settle down, have a quiet life, but before she could, a voice broke into her mind.

  It was Hadley.

  They are passing the Arcadian gate. There are hundreds and hundreds of them. Maybe a thousand. This is happening.

  A c
hill ran up Hannah’s spine. In a way, she had hoped that the rearick was right, that Violet’s presence was a hoax to scare them, to drive them away from Arcadia for good. Then she exhaled and pushed the fear away, just as she had tried to do months ago on that very roof.

  “They’re coming.”

  Ezekiel kept his eyes on the glowing orb in the sky. “I know. Better get that fireball ready.”

  ****

  As dawn broke, Hannah stood and watched people run in every direction, readying themselves for war. They had all come to the tower for different reasons—nobles, the poor, men, women, children, and the elderly. But she couldn’t help smiling now as she watched them move as one body. As rebels, working together for a common vision of a city worth living in.

  The Arcadian rebels had their act together, and Hannah trusted that their team leaders could handle the details. She headed for her room to prepare herself for battle.

  She turned the corner of the corridor leading to her room and saw two figures standing close to each other. It was Julianne and Marcus. While she hadn’t spent much time with him, Marcus had won over Parker, which, considering her friend’s suspicious nature, was saying something. That and the Master Mystic’s vote of confidence had sealed the deal.

  Hannah stepped back around the corner. She felt badly for eavesdropping, but not enough to stop. Marcus could still be a double agent, so she considered it reconnaissance.

  “You going to be ok out there?” Julianne asked, her voice tinged with concern.

  Marcus’s voice was low, but confident. “Nothing to it. I’ve been in the shit more than once, and this’ll be easier than following you and Doyle into the Frozen North, that’s for sure.”

  She laughed. “Yeah. And you almost died out there, if you don’t remember.”

  “I did. Until you saved me.”

  Julianne laughed as she said, “There’s something I never told you.”

  “What’s that?”

  Her voice grew serious. “I came this close to throwing you into that ravine.”