Rebellion

by CM Raymond

  The Master Mechanic howled with a maniac’s laughter. “Destroy it? Why in the name of the Matriarch would I destroy it? The ship is perfect, and I have gotten every detail right. It is my masterpiece. The crowning achievement of my life’s long work. This is my legacy.”

  “No! Adrien is going to use this thing to destroy us all.”

  He reached across the table and grabbed Gregory's forearm. “Son, you have been with them, haven’t you? The rebels, and the traitors, and the Unlawfuls. You’ve been so misguided. Adrien will make it all right; he just needed the tools to work with. That’s where I came in. And now… I am so proud that you are going to contribute to the endeavor.”

  “But... but,” Gregory tried to speak, but the words escaped him.

  “You’ve never been able to cast very well, son. Hell, you were never good at much of anything.” Elon’s eyes were filled with madness and the lust for power. “But it doesn’t matter anymore because you have power inside you. Potential. And my machine will draw that potential from you—in fact, you were doing quite well before I ordered my men to bring you down here, for one last talk. Because you have even more to give, son. You have access. Tell me, tell me everything you know about your traitorous friends. If you give me what I need to know, I assure you no more harm will come to you.”

  Gregory looked up in horror at his father. He knew the man wasn’t bluffing—and the machine hurt so much. Gregory could end it all now, with only a word.

  But it was a word he would never give.

  “Go to hell, Father. Those traitors are more of a family than you’ve ever been. I’ll gladly die screaming before I give you anything.”

  Elon sighed, then nodded to two techs behind him. They grabbed Gregory under the arms and pulled him to his feet.

  “So be it, son. Take your secret to the grave. Not that it matters. My ship is nearly done, and your contribution is important anyway. Your magical energy will be a part of Adrien’s amazing work. The last piece of the complex puzzle, and for that, I will remember you with pride. In fact, you may live long enough to see it—if you are strong. Adrien plans on using his ship tonight, to send a message to the world. It will be a glorious sight to behold.”

  The power of magic churned inside of Gregory as the two men dragged him away from his father and to the machine that would cause his death—and the death of so many others. Fear, and rage, and loss fueled him. Abandonment by the one who is supposed to care for you most is powerful. Gregory clenched his teeth as the men strapped him to the device. He considered attempting to call on fire or ice, but he could never do either of these. Even with the passion inside of him, those spells were never his strength.

  But he had learned one spell that could work.

  As pain filled his body, Gregory pushed all thoughts from his mind. He pushed away his father, Adrien, the fate of Irth, and his own impending death. His breathing calmed, his pulse slowed, and with his mind finally empty, he let it fill up with one all-consuming idea.

  He closed his eyes and thought of Hannah.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Hannah paced the room as Hadley, Parker, and Karl sat fidgeting in their seats. Sal sat on a chair of his own, head weaving back and forth as he watched his master.

  “Scheisse, lass,” Karl grunted. “Sit the hell down before you walk yer way through the damned floorboards. You’re driving everyone crazy—even the damned lizard!”

  The rearick was on his fifth pint, and Hannah knew he was on edge as well. Karl hated sitting still while others risked their lives. He also had the most misgivings about their new plan, which gave her pause since he was the most experienced fighter out of all of them. The cards were stacked against them, and everyone knew it. Ezekiel and Amelia were trying to assassinate the Chancellor, Gregory was risking his life to try to talk some sense into his father—even Julianne, who had just returned from her harrowing trek north, was heading back to the barracks.

  The potential reward for all of this was enormous, outpaced only by the risks. And Hannah hated the fact that it was her friends who were the ones doing the risking and not her.

  “Maybe you’re right, Karl,” she said as she pulled up a seat of her own. “It’s just that a shitstorm is rolling in, and we’re sitting here mouths wide open. How can you stand it?”

  “Like this.” He grabbed a pint of beer and slid it in her direction.

  She smiled. “I guess it can’t hurt.”

  As she went to take a drink, the glass slipped from her hands, smashing to pieces across the hardwood floor. Hannah screamed as a piercing pain rocked through her entire body. She gripped her temples trying to keep it out—and failing miserably.

  In a beat, she was flanked by Parker and Hadley on either side.

  “Hannah!” Parker yelled. “What’s wrong?”

  “Someone is there,” she mumbled. “Calling to me. Can’t seem to hear them.”

  Hadley kneeled and whispered in her ear. “You can do this. You are the master of your mind. A true mystic. All it takes is concentration. Focus on the hum, push out anything else.”

  The mystic continued to talk in his deep, calm voice, but Hannah didn’t hear him. The echoes of the speaker in her head were all that she was aware of. Pushing harder, it came into focus. She heard a familiar voice, then slid to the ground.

  “He’s in trouble,” she shouted.

  Parker grabbed her hand gently and rubbed her skin with his thumb. “Who is it, Hannah?”

  “Gregory. They have him.” Hannah fought against the mental fatigue and sat up. “He’s going to die. They’re sucking the life out of him.”

  Parker’s face lost all color. He looked at Karl and then over to Hadley. Neither of them said a word.

  “Ezekiel’s not back yet. He told us to wait here,” Parker said.

  “No,” Hannah whispered. “That’s not all. Adrien is launching the ship tonight. Gregory, he... he told us we need to run.”

  The pain stopped, and the peace which followed was even scarier. Her mental link to Gregory had been broken.

  Hannah gritted her teeth as Parker and Hadley helped her to her feet. She looked at the three men. They were the bravest she knew, and they trusted her.

  They would follow her lead.

  “We can’t wait for Ezekiel to get back. Gregory will die before then, and I’ll be damned if I flee when one of my friends is in danger. We’re going tonight. Now.”

  Karl grunted. “It’s a damned suicide mission, lass. No Ezekiel? Against the whole lot of Guards at the factory. We’ve got nothing.”

  “No, Karl,” she said. “You’re wrong. Between the three of us, we’re stronger than even Zeke. We can do this. And even if it is a suicide mission, it is the right thing to do. Remember when you told me about your raids on the Madlands with the other rearick? When you were all a bunch of young guys, pissing your pants and killing remnant?”

  He squinted an eye at her “Aye.”

  “Well, tonight is our Madlands. And Adrien is our remnant. You did not go because you knew you would succeed. You went because there was no other choice. Tonight, I have no other choice. I need to know, who’s with me?”

  Parker nodded. “I’m in.”

  “Me too,” Hadley added.

  “Well, shit,” Karl sighed and stood up. “You’d all be dead without a rearick and his hammer.”

  Hannah called Eleanor and Maddie into the room. She instructed them to take Sal and all the supplies they could carry and escape the city. She drew them a map to the sewer pipe she and Parker had used months before.

  “Get outside of the walls, then head to the abandoned tower north and east of the city. You’ll be safe there. If all goes well, we will join you soon.”

  Eleanor kissed Hannah on the cheek. “Might the Matriarch and Patriarch grant you success this night.”

  Sal was at her feet, a hunger in his eyes. “Next time, Sal. I promise,” Hannah said. “Right now, I need you to go with Maddie and Eleanor. Keep them safe, OK?” The cr
eature almost nodded, and Hannah knew that whatever dangers the two women would come across that night, they would be the safest people in all of Irth.

  Sal would see to it.

  Parker grabbed the spear Gregory had made for him, and Karl patted his hammer in his thick calloused palm. Hannah grabbed her silver knife. Hadley carried nothing but his mind, but it was a powerful enough weapon on its own.

  Hannah smiled. “This is the night we’ve been waiting for. It’s time to kick some ass.”

  She turned for the door with her team on her heels. Justice was calling for those who were willing to listen, and she was going to answer.

  ****

  Sapphire’s eyes were filled with hate, but the anger slowly faded as pain and confusion set in. The woman looked down at the hole where her chest used to be.

  “Fuck,” was all she said as she dropped to the ground.

  Standing behind her was an Arcadian soldier, with a cooling magitech rifle in his arms.

  “Marcus?” Julianne said.

  “I knew there was something off about you. I liked you way too much to believe you were a Capitol Guard.”

  Julianne smiled and scrambled to her feet. She grabbed Marcus and pulled him into an embrace. “Thank you,” she whispered into his ear.

  He stepped back and nodded. “Like I said, there is still room for decency in Arcadia. Now, are you going to tell me what the hell is going on? If you’re not Stellan, then who the hell are you?”

  Julianne shook her head. “I’m someone who cares about this city.”

  “Shit,” he said. “That’s not quite good enough.”

  “Marcus, I’ll tell you everything. I promise. But right now, we have more important things to attend to. We’ve got to go.”

  “Where to?”

  “It’s time for you to do what you swore you would do.”

  Marcus furrowed his brow and cocked his head to the side. “Yeah, and what’s that?”

  “It’s time to protect Arcadia.”

  ****

  Hannah led her men in silence out of the Quarter and toward the factory—toward their fate. Once they cleared the tallest of the noble mansions, they could see the sky lit up red with fire over the Boulevard. As they moved closer, they were struck by people running in the opposite direction, fleeing whatever was happening in the Queen’s Boulevard.

  Hannah grabbed a kid, not much younger than she was, by the arm. “What’s happening?” she shouted over the chaos.

  “The Prophet and his Disciples… They’re laying waste to the Boulevard… burning it all and killing anyone who tries to stop them.”

  “They’re hunting Unlawfuls?” Parker asked.

  The boy’s eyes were wide as saucers. “No. Anyone. It’s a slaughter down there.”

  He pulled free from Hannah’s grip and ran toward the gate.

  Hannah turned to Parker. He knew immediately what she was thinking. He would have to go to the Boulevard.

  “Are you sure you can you handle it on your own?” he asked.

  She nodded. “I have to. We’re no good if we can’t save our people. I’ll take Karl with me. You take Hadley. Save them, Parker. The Boulevard needs you.”

  He shook his head. “The Boulevard needs both of us. You get in and get out, OK? No unnecessary risks.”

  Hannah smiled. “I won’t do anything that you wouldn’t do.”

  Parker rolled his eyes, grabbed Hadley by the sleeve and ran off toward the Boulevard.

  “What the bloody hell is happening?” Karl yelled when the two of them were alone.

  “It’s you and me against the world, Karl. You think the two of us can take down an army?”

  The rearick hoisted his hammer high, a wicked grin spread across his face. “We’d eat em for breakfast and shit em out by dinner. Now, let’s go save your damn nobleman!”

  ****

  A pair of Capitol Guards stood at the entrance to the factory, both at attention with their magitech weapons ready for anything.

  “Why don’t I take em from the front, and you flank em. Blast them from the side,” Karl grunted. “Surprise is our advantage.”

  “Screw that,” Hannah hissed. “Power is our advantage. Stay right behind me.”

  Without waiting for a response, she picked up the pace and advance directly at the men.

  “Hey, douche nuggets, you waiting for me?” she screamed as she started to run. Her eyes blazing red.

  The men raised their weapons and engaged. Streams of blue lit up the night sky.

  Hannah twisted her wrist and held her right hand in front of her. Sparks flew in every direction as the blast from their rifles crashed against her shield.

  The men held their ground and continued to fire.

  In the light of their blasts, Hannah could see the sweat dripping on their brows and fear in their eyes. At the last second, she dropped the shield and attacked the man on her right. Remembering the lessons the rearick taught her, she grabbed the rifle and twisted it up behind the guard, spinning him in the process. She shoved him against the great metal door, slamming his face into the cold, solid surface.

  In one swift move, she pulled the silver knife from her belt and sunk it into the exposed neck of the guard. Warm blood pulsed over her hand.

  She dropped him and turned just in time to see Karl crush the head of the man’s companion with his mighty hammer.

  “Guess we didn’t need to flank them?” She smiled.

  “Aye. Yer a crazy ass woman,” he agreed. “Are you sure yer not half rearick?”

  “Fine line between crazy and driven,” Hannah replied, yanking the body out of the way. “And I’m all rearick in spirit.”

  She pulled open the doors, holding her breath as their creaking announced their arrival. The building was lit by the magitech lights along the walls. As she stepped into the empty hall, she could hear the faint voice of her friend calling for her in her mind.

  They pushed down the hall and hit a T. Hannah could sense Gregory’s call to the left. She pointed to the right. “Karl, that way. Go release the prisoners. I’m going for Gregory.”

  “No… I need—”

  “Damn it, Karl. I’m not the girl you saved from the boar. Get your giant head out of your tiny ass and listen to me.”

  The rearick grinned bigger than she’d ever seen. “Yes, ma’am. I serve at the pleasure of the badass Bitch from the Boulevard.”

  “Damn straight, you do. Now go set them free!”

  They ran down their separate halls, and Hannah was alone.

  Lights flickered as she pushed deeper into the factory. Power pulsed inside her and her skin felt electric as it had that first day in the market square. She turned a corner and found a guard standing in front of a set of double doors.

  With no thought at all, she arced her arms in front of her chest and flung two deadly fireballs in his direction. He didn’t stand a chance. The man dropped to the floor dead before he knew what hit him.

  Stepping over his sizzling, charred body, she pushed through the doors and into the room that housed Adrien’s war machine. Her jaw dropped in the face of the airship that could destroy a city faster than she could say “douche nuggets.”