Danine winced at the yells of panic when she tossed a stone over the barricade. The exploding pebbles that Cato had supplied them in reply to her reports were deadly and now everyone was terrified of small round objects. Just throwing ordinary pebbles generated mass panic.
She crawled behind the stacks of wood piled up in the street leading to the Fuka part of the slums. Ryulo was just a few steps away and busy activating a real exploding pebble from their dwindling stockpile.
Danine managed to get three steps before yet another human crested the top of the makeshift barricade. He spotted her and she kicked him, channelling magic down her leg to harden it just before impact. There was a bonecrunching snap as the man's ankle was smashed and he toppled back screaming. Ryulo tossed his pebble over the side, ducking down just before a loud bang and more screams added to the noise. He must have held it until the last moment of the three second trigger timer.
The piled up furniture, wood and excess bricks rattled as stone shards rained down around them.
She got over to Ryulo. He nodded towards the barricade and she nodded back. Together, they popped up over the top to take a look.
The street on the other side was covered with a fresh coat of blood. The gangs were already retreating, taking their dead and injured with them.
One more wave they had survived.
"Will they come back again?" she asked Ryulo, who merely shrugged.
Two days ago, it seemed as if the entire town of Corbin had gone crazy. The gangs had suddenly sprung into action, even when the Ironworker spies had reported that the dissidents were not ready to revolt.
Besides the gangs, entire crowds of peasants were rioting, most of whom had recently immigrated from the outlying villages. At least two gangs were outright hostile to Fukas and from the shouted curses and riotous yells, the rioters also seemed to blame the Fukas for... something. The shouts and accusations weren't coherent. It was a very bad time to be a Fuka in Corbin, though humans didn't seem to fare much better.
After the first battle in the street, in which Ashild had managed to get her arm broken, Ryulo had directed the Corbin Fukas to build barricades at both ends of the street that ran through their section of the slums. Other areas had been plugged with smaller blockades and the rooftop patrol was in constant rotation.
Cato's stash of weapons was all they were going to have until the siege was broken, and they would run out of wands, bowgun bolts and pebbles eventually. The Fukas were lining up to learn Ems now but that was also going to take too long. Food and water was fine, it was in the nature of marginalized Fukas to stockpile supplies and the Ironworkers had paid well for the months they had worked.
Messengers couldn't risk leaving, with the streets of Corbin ruled by the gangs and rioters. They just had to hold out with what they had until relief came. Not for the first time, Danine wondered what was going on out there. Why weren't the Guard or knights responding to this?
Or did they somehow lose?
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The streets were filled with utter chaos. The knights and Guards still loyal to Minmay were holed up in the town square and the Academy buildings, under siege by the roving gangs, rioters and rebel knights. Or knights hired by rebels, some parties were known to be mercurial in their loyalties.
Kobel crouched under behind the abandoned pushcart enchanted to block magic by a friendly knight. He aimed his new gun at a yellow-ribboned gang member hiding behind the opposing barrier. There was a loud crack and the bullet instantly punched a hole through the stack of empty barrels. The man he had aimed at collapsed screaming.
With that, the enemy barricade was unmanned. Kobel and his scout group could finally get some much needed rest-
Or not. There was a chorus of yells as another differently coloured gang, red this time, charged the Guards. Kobel was still setting a new bullet at the start of the acceleration track when the spellstorm sitting beside him snapped off a salvo of six firebolts. The charging red gang suddenly turned around and began to run the other way, except for a group of four behind them who blocked the firebolts with a shield. More enemy knights.
Kobel took aim at the enemy battlemage and pulled the trigger. Trying not to pay attention to the sudden scream, he dove below the enchanted cart just in time to feel it shudder under the impact of a forcebolt. The front handle exploded into tiny splinters.
He was strongly regretting accepting the mission to Corbin now. Sure, it was supposed to be a simple sentry duty, an off-duty post for the scouts that participated in the Duport campaign, but Kobel knew his luck wouldn't hold up. Ah, if only he was safe and sound in Minmay.
On open streets and without much cover on either side, the first battles were brutal and deadly. Then as both sides found themselves unwilling to risk too much danger, attacks like this became rarer and rarer. The enemy and whoever was commanding them, had boxed in the Guards and knights loyal to Minmay and seemed to be content to let them sit there.
What they all desperately needed was information. Where was the enemy and what they were doing, how long until Minmay came for them, and what made the entire world go crazy with no warning.
No, this was not going to be a simple sentry duty.
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Corbin sighed as she threw down the letter. The Guards keeping her in her mansion had run away at the small army of rioters that had 'liberated' her, and she was once again free to govern her town as she felt like. Darn that two-faced Selabia, he had never faced such humiliation as house arrest, only the comparatively greater one of crawling to Minmay for mercy.
Such obvious opportunism did not earn any trust but Minmay couldn't get rid of him as much as he couldn't get rid of Corbin herself. And that man had dared to write little messages about joining the conspiracy against Minmay. Yet she had no choice but to take what help she could.
One river over, Selabia had quelled his own rebellion amazingly quickly, within a single day. How he had done it was still unclear. Did Selabia promise the rioters better conditions? Did he really agree to everything the guilds had wanted? No, Selabia was probably hedging his bets and preparing to jump either way when it became clear who would win.
After all, his latest letter about the fierce fighting in Corbin town was full of nothing, once one looked below the pleasant surface of rhetoric and empty promises. Promises he wouldn't have to keep if Minmay won.
"How did this turn into a siege? They're just fifty Guards!" she snapped as she threw the latest report onto her desk.
"Minmay has apparently anticipated the riot, we think he sent his most loyal supporters large caches of weapons which they then distributed once the fighting began," the Ironworker smith explained
"And how did the riot start six months early? I may be eager to be rid of Minmay but even I know we are not ready!" Corbin said through gritted teeth, trying not to scream, "we might barely scrape by here, but if Minmay still has control of his city and all the Guards there, this is all pointless! We were sowing discontent so nicely and the peasants were getting ready, but we haven't even started making enough weapons!"
The man at least had the decency to look apologetic, "I'm sorry Mayor, but we don't really know what happened. A number of guild members received communications from Minmay contacts saying that it was an emergency and to launch the attacks immediately before they were caught. "
"I find that hard to believe," Corbin said.
"But Minmay branches really were under attack, we have verified that three days ago a number of high profile Ironworkers were arrested by the Guards. That Minmay had spies were present was obvious since he can't have identified so many of ours without them, but that only helped fuel the panic," the Ironworker said.
"It's a lie," Corbin tapped her fingers, thinking, "what were the messages like?"
"Chaotic. Many of them seemed to have only gotten the warning of Minmay's purge out just before they themselves disappeared. Some said that Minmay was coming for us too. Once the first craftsman broke and starting recruiting the gangs for themselves, it was impossible to stop. "
"A lie," Corbin repeated. She was sure of it now. May Selna's light strike that man down! She snarled and threw the report at the window. Papers fluttered through the air, marring the Ironworker's shocked face. "It's all a lie!" she screeched.
"What... what did you figure out?"
"Did it never occur to you that perhaps Minmay faked those letters? That maybe his spies wrote them?" Corbin shook her head, "or maybe there are spies here too. You expanded too fast, recruited too loosely. He has surely bought out your colleagues with promises of pardon and wealth. In fact, I am starting to wonder if the first of the guild craftsmen to panic were actually paid to do so! Just to force our hand!"
The man sputtered, "you can't be serious! There has to be a limit to what the Chancellor can do. We know he has spies, but you can't belive he has spies everywhere or we'll be too terrified to move!"
"Then where does that leave us? With a bunch of rebels doomed to fail and our necks exposed? The fighting in Minmay is dying down and I'm quite sure we're next," Corbin snarled, "at least we still have the crossbows from the last battle. "
The one that she lost. To normal knights, not even these terrifying Guards.
The Ironworker didn't say anything, there wasn't anything to say.
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Minmay watched as the last cartful of unclaimed bodies were dumped into the mass grave. The Guards standing next to nearly full hole began to shovel dirt in grimly. Closer to the city was the much smaller row of neat graves for the fallen Guards.
The air was clear after the light drizzle but to Minmay's nose, it stank of death. So many had died in the slaughter before the rioters had finally surrendered. The rioters, provoked by Minmay's own plants and spies, were a leaderless mob, each crowd had to be surrounded and convinced to surrender on pain of death. Often at high cost, both in the lives of the rioters and Guards.
On Minmay's right, Arthur stood respectfully, still looking as neat and ready as a Chancellor's butler should be. But the hardness around his eyes betrayed the man's uneasiness. And on Minmay's left, stood Curasym, the Guard Commander who had lead the battle. The man still looked unruffled, Minmay wondered how that man could look at this and not feel anything.
There was a scramble from behind them as a messenger's bicycle ground to a halt. The metal wheels skipped harshly over the stones but the boy only grunted. Curasym turned to address the boy, Minmay continued to watch the grave fill.
"Sir! Sir! The Guard post on the northern gate of Lakeside road is under attack!"
Stolen story; please report.
"What?" Curasym's surprise was evident in his voice. The man spun to look at Minmay.
Minmay merely shook his head slightly, still looking at the Guards shoveling soil.
"The message, boy, what did the on-site commander say?" he urged the messenger boy again.
"He only told me to say that rioters were attacking! They have wands and at least three spellstorms! I thought the fighting was over, sir?!" the boy sounded almost panicky.
"Calm down boy," Curasym said. His voice deepened into a commanding tone, "messenger, I have an urgent task for you. "
"Sir!"
"Message to Third Division Barracks, gather two companies and advance along Lakeside, orders to engage only if necessary. Third division proper to make way towards the fighting. Now go!"
There was a clatter as the bicycle disappeared.
"Messenger!" Another two young voices stepped up.
"Message to First Division, stand ready as relief force, go! Message to Headquarters, send messengers to all Second division patrols, proceed to nearest street junctions and lock them down. Shut all gates to the city. Go!"
"Sir!" "Yes, sir!" The boy and girl mounted their bicycles and pedaled off.
Curasym turned back to the Chancellor, "Sir, is this your doing again?"
"No. But I can guess what happened," Minmay sighed, "these are the remnants from the first wave of arrests. They know that I will come for them eventually. Those who blame me for these deaths will join them. "
"Sir?"
Minmay winced at the Guard Commander's tone, that man could be perceptive. "When we crush this wave, a new set of grievances will be generated. The new deaths will fuel yet more resentment," Minmay said.
"We can't fight this endlessly," Curasym said.
"We will convince the dissidents," Minmay said, "if I can gather enough supporters among the peasants, clear away the root cause, I should be able to maintain control. "
"You will dismantle the University?"
Minmay could see Arthur glance worriedly at him out of the corner of his eye. "No, it is not possible now. But every man and woman has their price, this includes peasants. The changes in trade in my region must be causing them to riot. Cato's book said to use their hearts and minds. So I will use the peasants themselves to cut off all support to the dissenters," Minmay's smile was mirthless, "and promise a better way of life. One the University will provide. Why, it is the very thing Cato was working towards!"
The irony was not lost on Arthur and Curasym, judging from their expressions.
"What about Corbin and Selabia?" Curasym asked.
Minmay closed his eyes. "I cannot overlook their actions any longer. After securing Minmay, the First division will march to Corbin and capture it," he opened his eyes and saw the commander's unspoken question, "when the Guards seize the town, they will secure all communications from the mayor. After capturing Selabia town, seize both mayors and execute them. I trust you to leave the task to your most loyal unit. "
The two men blinked.
"I have thought this through," Minmay sighed, "I don't like it any more than you do, but I will focus the blame onto them and the guilds. Which has the advantage of being true. If I gain the support of the peasants, I can remake the entire political landscape. I will remove the post of mayor and administer all towns directly from Minmay. Centralize all government functions, as Cato said, absorb the Recordkeepers into the government and end our disunity. "
Curasym asked, "will Ektal even allow you to do that?"
"We nobles never considered the peasants a real threat, this riot has shown me otherwise. The Hero's gun is immensely deadly and we were very lucky I did not give them time to arm themselves before provoking the riot. Imagine what would happen if peasants were conscripted into an army wielding the Hero's gun and supported by spell cannon. If enough peasants support me sufficiently that I can conscript say, a third of the population?" Minmay shrugged, "the goodwill of the people has just become a whole lot more important. And I dare say the majority of us nobles are ill-prepared for the change.
Of course, if I fail to gain the support of the peasants, then we're back to where we were, only a lot poorer. And the Mayors Corbin and Selabia will have been killed in a desperate last stand. "
"You already knew all this, didn't you, sir?" Arthur said quietly, "that it would come to this?"
The Chancellor didn't answer. There was no need to.
Finally, the Chancellor turned away from the mound of loose soil. "We should return to the command post. And get those Guards to dig another hole. "
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"... second wave of riots attacking the barge docks on Minmay's lake," the reader picked the unfamiliar words off the broadsheet. The sheet had come direct from Minmay city at a high cost, one that he expected to make back. Being the only reader left in this village had its benefits. "and... oh Selna, the Chancellor's house was been burned?! They burned the Chancellor's mansion!"
The announcement produced a series of growls from the crowded tavern. Farmers, the village blacksmith and the mayor's mistress hung onto the reader's every word. Even the barkeeper had stopped pretending to be cleaning his countertop, no one was buying anything anyway.
"The Chancellor?" "Is our Chancellor alright?" "Those bastards!"
The reader held up a hand to stem the tide of questions and peered shakily at the sheet of paper. With baited breath, the crowd let him read for a few seconds. The tension in the room was thick enough to touch, and somewhere a young child burst into tears before being quickly hushed and bundled out of the tavern.
"The Chancellor was fine, he wasn't there and all the staff were evacuated before the rioters hit. The rioters were all suppressed on the same day, over two hundred were killed in the fighting. He has told his wife and daughter to remain in Duport under guard of the Fourth and Fifth division until the troubles are over. "
A sigh of relief ran through the gathered peasants. The Chancellor was safe.
"Wait, there's more. A... general letter from the Chancellor!" the reader froze and scanned the next few lines before reading slowly.
"To all Minmay citizens, by now you have all heard the news of the fighting in our city. A conspiracy between the guild craftsmen sought to seize the Chancellorship and instigated rebels to attack our lives and homes! But we have weathered their storm. As your Chancellor, I assure you that there is nothing to worry about. Minmay city remains secure and the rebels have been caught.
This blood filled week has brought to my attention your cries and your hardships. My heart goes out to my loyal citizens who labour for my sake, for it was my lack of foresight that caused the recent upheaval in windeye prices. I propose a new deal between the guilds and all of us citizens. The University will provide for new technologies that all of us can share in, work and produce that you will all benefit from. To those who wish for change, for a better life, training in new skills and new jobs will be provided! Factories where all can work will produce furniture, food, sugar and more! Work with us and we will help you change your world!
But to do this, we must ensure that these rebels do not destroy our work before we have even begun! The last holdouts in Corbin and Selabia remain, the brave Guards will meet and force them to submit. Yet the danger still remains in our midst, hiding amongst those who would pretend to be your friends! I call upon all good men and women to rise up in arms and defend our land! Minmay needs Guards to keep the peace and you can help. Cooperate with your barons, cooperate with your friends. Stand with me and we shall see Minmay through its darkest hour!
For my loyal citizens, the Chancellor Minmay. "
Whispers had already broken out after the second paragraph and the crowded tavern exploded with discussions the moment the reader put down his sheet.
"The Chancellor supports us!" the piyo farmer said.
"How can you know that?" said the other farmer sitting next to him, "he's still working with that University. "
"But he's controlling it now, see, he said he will make the University work for us, instead of hurting us!" the piyo farmer exclaimed, "I, for one, can believe that these jobs the Chancellor said he could provide will pay lots of money. "
That got a round of thoughtful looks.
"We should aim to get them first, before he runs out of slots," the other farmer noted.
The looks gained a distinct gleam of speculation. "How about using our press? If we write a letter in favour of the Chancellor, maybe he'll notice us first?" the piyo farmer suggested again.
"Maybe I can make some lead castings," the blacksmith standing behind them said.
"No we should send a messenger to Minmay directly to express our support!" "Hang a banner from our gates!" "We'll build a new house for him!" "What noble would want to live in a shabby hut?"
The piyo farmer leaned back. It looked like the avalanche had started. And if Minmay was happy with his support, then he was promised a headstart in these jobs. Maybe he might even earn enough to become a freeholder! He lifted his wooden mug in a salute to the Chancellor and drained it.
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Propaganda by mass media was relatively still unknown, despite Aesin's prior attempts, and the letter sparked a wildfire amongst the peasants and village presses. No noble had ever written such a letter that seemed to speak to every person in the region. The exhortations did not move many but the Chancellor's reputation allowed them to feel that the Chancellor was speaking to them directly. Not even their local baron had treated them as if they were any more than interchangeable peasants, good only for producing food and maybe alcohol. The Chancellor had heard their dissatisfaction and was making the University do something for them! And he had even apologized to them, though indirectly.
It was echoed again and again as messengers running through the territory actively spread it. And when Minmay's proclamation was immediately followed by textbooks printed from Cato's notes of standardized production and concrete funding for providing training from the school in the city to everyone, peasant or not, they began to take him seriously.
Follow up letters, reporting actions of the First division, citing bravery and freshly issued medals and naming villages or even families for particularly distinguished actions, capitalized on the goodwill. Throughout it all, the Minmay region was emphasized as a single unit over and over again.
Change still wouldn't come for a long time of course, but that day was the time a new spirit dawned over the region.