Morey waved to the cheering crowd lining the street. One town freed from their oppressors, the local Lawi was killed in the savage night fighting and by morning, the town was firmly in the hands of the ISL. With a single decapitation strike, the ISL had laid claim to the area and kicked off the actual rebellion.
Most of the knights had woken up to a new world that day and wisely decided not to interfere. Some even joined up.
And now it was nearly a week afterwards, with the rebel zone of control spreading to the neighbouring villages. This town was the most friendly to the ISL and the population was almost pathetically eager to join. They all seemed to believe the Hero could bring them all to victory with ease. Morey wasn't sure what would happen when the true reality of the fighting sunk in.
"Come in," he said, turning away from the window to face the door.
The man entered his room and presented a stack of letters. "Communication from the neighbouring town," he said.
Morey opened the top one from a cell on the other side of Illastein, weeks old news by now. It spoke of the Wiis cracking down on dissent and banning the presses. Old news indeed.
The next letter was from the capital itself. Two rebel cells had been found and the people tortured publicly. Purges of anyone daring to speak out or even act as if they were friendly to slaves. That didn't help of course, dissenters were multiplying like weeds and there were so many people claiming to be ISL when they really weren't that the real rebels had some camouflage.
Morey sighed heavily. Such things were heavy news but he had already seen the result of the purge in his local area, and knew what it would do from the perspective of Earth's history. The vicious tyranny only invited further anger and resentment. Eventually...
He broke open the third letter, dated just three weeks ago. From an old friend, Alawi Zain's territory, of course. The Alawi was brutal in his crackdown, with mass arrests and executions. His territory had devolved into an open riot that the ISL couldn't not control. The protestors were armed, but not enough to win a battle with the Alawi's knights. At the time of the letter, the fighting had been going on for days and the knights were now firing spellstorms into any crowd that dared to gather. But young men and women with nothing left to lose built bootleg wands in their backyards, and were killed as they fought hopelessly. Their friends and relatives then continued the cycle of anger, the city spiraling down into an orgy of violence and death.
Thousands dead, more property burned and the city tearing itself apart. It was all a pattern Morey had seen before, because it had happened in this very town. Until Morey had said enough and lead the ISL on their strike.
And now he was stuck with a rebellion that was not as well armed as he wanted.
Morey sighed again. The time delay of the ISL letters was like a a time lapse of events throughout the country. He could see a similar progression everywhere. Some areas were more stable, others less. One group of villages had even rebelled on their own, the local ISL killing their governing Wii and kicking out the knights.
To be honest, Morey wasn't sure he was the one who was truly responsible. Resentment at the economic oppression and slavery was already there, the spreading of magical knowledge and how to make wands and other weapons might have been enough to cause widespread rioting. The story of the girl who died in that warehouse might have just been the final spark. Maybe more of the responsibility of the coming slaughter lay at Cato's feet than his own.
... Nah, who was he kidding? Morey started this, he would have to take responsibility for it.
He read the last letter and nodded to himself.
"Nal," Morey called as he left the room, "how goes the preparations?"
Nal looked up from her desk where she was reading yet another report scribbled on tree bark. "We're ready to march any time, four hundred soldiers and weapons and food for all of them. If they give us another two weeks, Arain village has another fifty more arriving. "
"They'll have to join the next supply train as guards," Morey said, "the Alawi Zain is raising mercenaries to crush the riots in his city. Since he has kindly given us a target, we'll take a shot. "
A worried look on her face was quickly concealed.
"Don't worry, we'll win this. They can't have as many weapons as we have, we have everyone giving us magic for Locoss's magic circles. We even have spell cannons. And Zain has to split his forces to cover the city or our ISL there will overthrow him. "
"I know, but I still sometimes worry if this is the right thing for us to do," Nal muttered.
Morey went to her and patted her shoulder. He hoped it was reassuring anyway. "Ending the horror of slavery is the right thing to do. And even if you think otherwise, we're in this too deep to back out now. "
She stood close to him, biting her lip. Then she nodded and leaned on him, her head barely coming up to his shoulder. "All right, I'll trust that you know what you're doing. "
Morey held her for a few moments longer than necessary. Nal always liked to project an aura of knowing all the answers but right now, she was looking unusually fragile. Was this just another act of hers?
The Hero put idle thoughts aside. There was a battle to fight.
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The woman driving the cart up the palace gates looked just like any other merchant. With her cloak drawn around her, the two Rekis plodded their way up to the gates. The only thing out of place was the copious quantities of magical power contained in the covered cart, but that wasn't too unlikely given how weapons were being stockpiled by all the nobles.
"Halt, show your identification," the knight guarding the post raised a hand as the cart approached the small entrance cut into the main structure of the closed wooden and iron doors.
She nodded at him expressionlessly as her cart drew up in front of him. Then the woman put a hand under her cloak and drew out a short barreled gun. Before he could even react, she pulled the trigger and blew off his head.
To their credit, the rest of the guards were shocked for less than a breath. But that was long enough for the woman to whip the Rekis into a headlong charge towards the wooden and iron gate of the Rawi's palace.
A few of the knights managed to pull of weak disruption bolts but the woman merely threw up her cloak, sending a wave of magical power outwards and sweeping aside the attacks. Incoherent shouts and demands to halt went unheeded.
"For freedom and the ISL!"
Her shout drew attention from across the street, just before the Rekis charging at the gate instinctively swerved aside at the last moment, sending the heavily laden cart careening into the gate doors. Crushed against the gate by her own cart, the woman gave one last savage grin at the knights rushing towards her before letting go the pair of metal nails clutched in her other hand. They fell down, breaking the contact between them that kept a signal flowing in the spell covering the cart.
Three steel staffs buried in the cart suddenly exploded into a ball of magical fire, and that touched off another six barrels half-filled with low quality black powder. The explosion swept up bags of iron scrap positioned strategically around the barrels, sending shrapnel scything outwards in all directions. Men and women screamed as the iron tore their flesh to ribbons. A gaping hole was punched through the gate doors by the shockwave.
For a few seconds, there was nothing but screams of the wounded and dying. Shocked by the audacity of the attack, the nearby pedestrians and what remained of the guards just stared on dumbly. There was nothing remaining of the woman. Bits of her cart were scattered all over the street and the two Rekis pulling it had been reduced to lumps of minced meat.
Slowly, with great ponderousness, the two halves of the ruined gate doors crashed inwards to the Rawi's courtyard.
And then the chaos started.
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ISL Manifesto
It is clear to anyone with any sense of compassion, honour and intelligence that the current system of slavery is self defeating, self serving and self destructive. It falls to all good people to resist and abolish this unethical practice that is destroying our land, our businesses and our lives.
Chief among reasons is simple heart. A system of slavery is inherently cruel. Not just to those unfortunate people caught by the slave holders. The very people who own slaves are themselves victims of this economic order. All of us can recall the Lawi and Alawis who own thousands of slaves, but the vast majority of slaves are held in bondage singly. Owners, shopkeepers and even common people.
But the economic order of slave holding requires an engine of debt to keep a stream of victims flowing. Everyone knows how the debt is forced on those who need none, including the very people who own slaves! Take away the debt and there will be no more slaves to sell. The system only favours those at the top of the structure: the slavers and the aristocrats.
Thus we see that slavery chokes the life out our commerce. The system of debt is abused to leech the life out of us, bleeding away our work for the benefit of the creditors and preventing any from challenging the order. Why have we not moved beyond our outdated system of selling expensive goods to the fat Lawis and nothing to the rest? Why have we not become rich like those of our neighbours in the Inath Federation? Because of this system!
Knowing this, all good men and women must rise up to overthrow the old order and replace it with an equitable new. Such is the goal of the ISL. Such is the goal of people of Illastein who yearn for freedom. Such should be your goal.
- Further addition to the copy of the ISL manifesto, written in a different hand. Found in the home of the first recorded suicide bomber in Illastein
Many of you question the need for force, the need to fight and die for the change. I ask you now, how have the people in power kept their boots on our necks? This system of slavery is enforced by power. People like us have no voice and no hope. Our mothers are taken to be playthings, our fathers worked to the bone. Our husbands beaten and broken. Our sons and daughters orphaned.
They shall not take my life from me. I will take their life from them first. We will become an endless army that will bleed their life unto the ground. A deathless army. Though I may die tomorrow, countless brothers and sisters shall follow my footsteps to strike them down.
We are given the tools. We are given the opportunity. Our Illastein needs us.
And so I go without fear.
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The arrow glanced off the wooden barrier with a metallic twang. Nal ducked beneath the window hurriedly.
"Yeah, I think they saw us," she said.
The twenty ISL soldiers tasked to capture the fourth district of Zain's city had run into a considerable force of well-armed thugs. They didn't have many magical weapons but bows and hatchets were more than a match for the cheap short swords and spears the ISL rabble were armed with. Even if Nal's power was like a cannon in a knife fight, she hadn't managed to prevent her squad from being scattered when they got ambushed from the back by a second group.
The ISL had too many hands and not enough guns. So much so that Morey had instated what he called Russian tactics; in the main army, two soldiers shared one gun. Although the way he said it implied he didn't believe the Russians, whoever they were, actually did it, or that he was seeing a joke that only he understood. It was probably an Earth thing.
Four men and women had followed Nal into this rickety house. Nal had already sent up her signal rocket and all that remained was to hold down until they could be relieved. Morey should finish crushing the main force soon.
Or she could do this.
Nal waved for the soldiers to cover the door and closed her eyes without waiting for them to acknowledge. With a push, her magic flowed out of her body to form spheres hanging around her. She set portions of the magic to convert into the force-exerting form, triggered when the outer shell impacted on solid objects. Spells ready, she set the waves bouncing inside to give them motion.
Opening her eyes again, Nal peeked around the door frame. She noted where Zain's thugs were charging up the street at them and stepped out, moving the balls of magic with her. A slight adjustment to the waves inside them later, she let them go flying down the street, a full third of them she directed at the archer perched on the roof of an opposite building, punching holes into the brick work. The bolts poured forth like a river of destruction.
The river swept away the charging men, killing and breaking like an angry fist wielded by her lifeforce. The damage to the city buildings was unfortunate but if it was that or savage fighting in melee, Nal would take the damage every time. Screams and yells filled the air, the one man remaining standing amidst the wounded gulped and stumbled backwards in shock.
The moment Nal was out of bolts to fire, she darted back into the building. Another trio of archers had just appeared around the corner of the street, attracted by the noise. They weren't alone either.
"We have to go," she said, "I can continue to shoot them but I'll run out of magic soon if they keep coming. "
Nal paused halfway through her instructions. The freed slaves turned soldiers were staring at her. "Ah, your first time seeing a spellstorm?" she asked.
They nodded. "Well, now you know why we have that name. Now move! Out the back into the alley!"
Nal charged a half-salvo as they jogged quietly away. Half was the limit she could keep active and drag along with her. Shouts and yells chased them from behind and Nal fired her charge blindly behind her as their pursuers began to catch up.
The group at the back crashed to a halt as a building wall gave way but another group cut them off from the front, charging up the narrow alley hollering all the way. Nal snarled to herself, firing all her spells was a mistake!
"Cover her!" one of the men with Nal shouted. The four lined up across the alley, readying their melee weapons. They knew that without Nal's magic, they wouldn't survive this.
Nal bit her lip and wove a half-salvo as fast as she could. There was no time to charge it so she went with the more destructive firebolts.
The only warning she got was a sudden flare of magic. Zain's people had almost reached the two men and two women blocking their way to her when there was a great crash. The wall of the building next to them blew outwards on a wave of force.
Etani popped out of the hole, dragging that ridiculous crysteel door with her. Morey followed close on her heels.
Just in time, like a Hero in a story. Nal stared mutely as Etani laid into the thugs, wading through their futile blows with her Resist armour and that invincible shield. They scattered away from her like piyos before a reki.
"You're here!" Morey exclaimed, watching Etani carefully, "good thing you're so easy to find when you're channeling a spellstorm. "
Nal just stared. No words came to mind. Easy to find she might be, but did Morey really just cut straight through all the walls in his way to get here?! Right there, in a grimy back alley of an Illastein city, dirty and sweaty after a long day of battle, Morey never looked more like a Hero.
"Are you all right?" Morey frowned at her worriedly, then looked at her from head to toe, "you look fine. Any injuries?"
Nal shook her head, still feeling stunned. The relief at being safe now still hadn't quite sunk in.
"Well, thank god you're unhurt," Morey sighed. He looked more relieved than Nal did.
A thought occurred to her and she bit down a giggle. It was just so ridiculous, the way he kept insisting that he wasn't a Hero, when he went around acting like one.
"By the way, what's a god?" Etani's voice intruded on their little corner.
Morey turned to find Etani standing behind him, finished with her bloody work. The enemy were routed. The rest of the ISL squad following them were already bandaging up the shallow wounds and scrapes the four soldiers had acquired following Nal.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
The giggle forced its way up and she broke out laughing. That sudden sinking feeling of a mistake, the rush of relief, the inane questions that meant nothing. It was just too much. Morey and Etani looking at Nal as if she was going crazy. Maybe she was. She was just so happy all of a sudden.
Morey shook his head again, "it's not important. "
----------------------------------------
"Suicide bombers. That's rather unwelcome news. "
The Hero sighed as he dropped the reports onto the table in Zain's old office. The sheaf of paper included a badly printed copy of a bomber's last message for the ISL. Coming from the capital city, where the Rawi's forces were the strongest, the ISL was the weakest there and the success of the attack had galvanized support. Success as measured in cost to the Rawi, both monetary and reputation. So successful that the rumours of the attack arrived in Zain's city right on the heels of the ISL report.
Despite the original instruction for the ISL there to only collect information and recruit, the local ISL had been so emboldened by the strike that they had gone ahead and started rounding up volunteers for suicide bombings without asking. Less... suicidal attacks were also being contemplated. And neighbouring towns were also picking up on the tactic.
Of course, the Rawi's and his noble's response was predictable. They cracked down even harder on the population, banning rumours and even outright denying any damage from the attack. Slaves and dissenters had confessions tortured out of them and executed publicly, squads of loyalist goons patrolled the streets. The heavy handed tactics only drove more people into the arms of the ISL, a self-perpetuating cycle of violence and death.
The country was beginning to rip itself apart faster than Morey had imagined. The budding ISL army was not really ready to take on the Illastein Order of Knights, no matter how they had won against Zain.
"Oh, there you are," Harlos said. The ISL woman put down the sheaf of logistics reports on the table. "Are you coming to watch the burning?"
Burning? "Burning what?" Morey asked.
"Zain, of course. " Harlos just frowned at Morey, as if he had just asked a dumb question.
"Burning- Wait, you're burning the Alawi?!" Morey exclaimed, "the person himself?"
"Of course! Now that we have freed this town, the perpetrators of slavery will be punished! We must destroy it from the root!"
Morey shot up and was out the door like a speeding bullet.
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The crowd in the square at the center of the city surrounded a series of wooden stakes. The base was piled with trash, broken furniture and other flammables, the desperately wriggling people were tied to the stakes. The ex-slave market had turned into an execution ground.
The cheering of the crowd surrounded Morey as he pushed his way through. Nal padded along behind him, she started tailing him again once he left the ISL headquarters. Harlos and a number of the soldiers were also trailing him.
"We have gathered here, the scum that have oppressed us!" the speaker stood in the center of the ring of stakes. He was surrounded by a ring of people carrying torches, two for each pole. "First and biggest! The man Zain and his family!"
The crowd roared, pelting the three figures on the biggest stake with rotten food and small stones. Even the insults shouted their way melded together into a wall of sound. Their aggression and bloodlust was raw and naked, so much hate directed at the trio that they stopped struggled for the moment, shrinking back under the assault.
Morey tried to shout as he broke out of the front of the crowd but his voice was drowned out. The gnarled woman holding the lit torch approached the stake, the noise grew louder and more feral. Shit, how could he stop this? Morey frowned and took a leap, Em pooling in his feet.
The Hero sailed out of the crowd and over the pile of firewood to land beside the old woman. Her visage of hatred was abruptly replaced by shock as Morey grabbed the torch out of her hands.
The man in the center was equally stunned and the crowd's roaring muted down to something less than unbearable. Then the man recovered and shouted, "the Hero is here! Our freedom and saviour!"
The crowd went wild again, cheering and stamping. Morey frowned at the man and waved the torch to get some attention.
He saw Nal and Harlos push their way to the front of the crowd and ISL soldiers spreading out across the cleared area. The cheering died down slowly as the sea of faces waited for their Hero to say something. His eyes met with the ex-Alawi's. There was no hate and no anger in them, just pure terror. The man hung from his ropes, skin rubbed raw as he had tried to escape.
"That boy and that one," Morey pointed as he scanned the twenty or so people tied to the stakes. "Release those children," he commanded. The ISL soldiers that followed him looked confused but started forwards when Nal echoed his order.
"What-" the man began to ask but Morey cut him off.
"What is wrong with us?" Morey shouted, trying to make his voice carry to everyone there. He probably failed though, the crowd was just too large.
"What is. wrong. with us?" he repeated, looking around the crowd, taking care to meet the eyes of the torchbearers. "Do we want to repeat the mistakes they made?"
"Surely you don't think these people deserve your pity," Harlos said, stepping out of the line of soldiers. The crowd looked on silently, slight murmurs of confusion rippling through the square.
Morey replied, "They are still people, just like the slaves whose lives they destroyed. Being burnt alive is far too cruel. "
The crowd seemed even more confused, Harlos just stared at Morey.
"Have we learnt nothing? Have we not learnt what their cruelty has done to the slaves? To the people who worry about becoming a slave? All of us have experienced being burnt by fire or by hot water. You know how painful it was. Being burnt to death? Can you even imagine that? Why are we continuing the same cruelty they performed? If you do this, you are just the same as him!" Morey panted, catching his breath for a bit.
"Then what does the Hero propose?" Harlos asked, sounding incredulous, "are we just going to forgive them? Let them go?!"
The crowd's murmurs started to turn ugly. He could already see some of the crowd fingering their weapons, clearly thinking about doing the killing themselves. No, it was clear the Alawi was not getting out of this place alive. Nor did Morey think he really deserved to anyway.
"Their crimes are clear, I won't say not to kill them. " Morey saw Harlos looking confused again. "But do it cleanly, without needless cruelty and all this... spectacle. We're better than them, so we should act like it. "
He gestured to the soldiers, "take them down and use the wood here as a backstop. Nal, hear their crimes from whoever is willing to testify. If they're responsible for the system of slavery, we just shoot them. Harlos, I also won't say the people can't watch but we do this properly and without celebration. An execution is never a good thing. "
Morey met her gaze, staring her down until she finally nodded reluctantly. She wasn't done yet though. "What about those two children? Are you going to let Zain's son go? He'll only cause trouble. "
Morey looked at the boy held trembling between two soldiers. He was less than six years old. The other girl was even younger. It made Morey sick to think the ISL was going to kill children. And celebrate their killing.
"Are the children responsible for their parent's crimes? Do we hang the sons of murderers or daughters of thieves? Do we kill people just because they may become a threat?" he let the rhetorical question hang and turned away. "The ISL will be responsible for them. We'll teach them the right way, to understand what happened and why. And if they still oppose us, they are powerless and penniless anyway. "
Morey looked at Nal, who nodded back. He could trust her to lead the dirty work, he didn't want to be here.
The Hero left the silent and nervous crowd standing the square.
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Nal pushed open the door to the office and entered quietly. Morey didn't look up from his writing. She stood in front of the writing table, waiting.
"Are the executions over?" Morey asked.
Nal nodded silently.
"Any problems? Did the citizens get their sense of closure?"
"Order was kept by the ISL soldiers. We couldn't stop them cheering though. "
Morey sighed, "that's fine. "
He tapped the pencil against the paper, leaving the two of them in the silent room. Not even Harlos had dared to intrude after that outburst. Etani and Ereli also stayed away. Honestly, he wasn't that scary right? Were they all schoolchildren? Hiding after getting a scolding from a teacher?
"Are... are you all right?" Nal asked him worriedly.
Morey looked at her flatly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you even have to ask?"
"Because the last time you did something like that, the result was a slave rebellion and a civil war?" The attempt at humour didn't lighten the atmosphere at all, the streak of worry was still too obvious in her tone.
"No. It's true that I'm not in a particularly good mood, but I'm not about to do something drastic," Morey sighed.
"You still look angry. "
Morey shrugged, "I'm more angry at myself than anyone else. The ISL is an organization that I have great power in. It's... sort of my responsibility to foresee what will happen and try to avert disaster. "
The Hero put down the pencil and looked at Nal, his most trusted subordinate. "We've started this movement to free slaves. Along the way, I decided that it wasn't possible to do without destroying the system that encourages it. But if we destroy those who govern this country, if we stir up hate against the old order, if we leave nothing in their place but a band of freedom fighters, what you get is that. " He pointed at the wall in the direction of the main square. "If tomorrow, all the Illastein aristocrats and slavers fell down dead, we will not have a country. It will be anarchy and chaos. Lynch mobs in the streets, desperate soldiers and knights turning to crime and banditry. "
Nal seemed frozen. She had clearly not thought of what happened after. Not to throw stones of course, Morey was equally guilty until that ugly reminder.
"The ISL... needs to be more than an army. It needs to be able to step into the power vacuum that will remain after the end of this civil war. We will need to make a way for Illastein to govern itself, before we leave," Morey said.
The last few words made Nal gasp, "You're leaving? I thought you would stay. Harlos and most of the ISL assume you'll become king after this. "
"Ha!" Morey chuckled, "king? Me? No, no way. I'm not really someone who can be the leader of a country and I don't want to be king. Besides, I still have to find the Sword, yes?"
The next question was obvious. "Is that what that letter is? You searching for someone from the ISL to be king or queen?"
Morey shook his head again, "no, that's a letter to Queen Amarante. I'm just one guy. I can't be a government. Sure, the ISL will want a say and it's fair that they form the core of future Illastein. But none of our allies are trustworthy enough or experienced enough to make a real government. I'm going to ask the queen to send advisors and bureaucrats to help the ISL become one. It should be quite a good deal for her; even if none of the people she sends stay in Illastein, the Queen will gain major influence and goodwill. "
He could see Nal nodding. Good to have someone closer to the Queen confirm his guess, Amarante should be favourable. Stabilizing a war torn country seemed to be something the Queen was good at and the ISL could definitely benefit.
Nal nodded and the mood relaxed a little. She smiled at him and asked, "how is it you see so far? You seem to be very sure about what will happen. Yes, I can't think why you might be wrong but I don't see how this isn't just another story someone might tell. "
"It is. Just a story, I mean. It's a familiar story to me though," Morey said, leaning back on his chair. "Earth had many countries who went through similar processes. By revolution, armed conflict or outside invasion, countries have had their leaders violently replaced before. And the very worst outcomes are those countries who don't have a clear successor. "
"So it's secret Earth knowledge. " Nal was grinning now.
Morey met her gaze with his own. "Just recent history. From a bigger sample size. "
"I don't see why you can't be king then. You surely have more secret knowledge that would be useful. "
Morey drummed his fingers in mock seriousness, "one wonders why you're so insistent. Or maybe you have royal ambitions, hm? Aiming to be queen consort, are you?"
Nal blinked for a moment then suddenly looked away in embarrassment. He couldn't help but laugh. This girl might try to put the moves on him every now and then but she was surprisingly weak when he counter-attacked.
He would have to remember that for next time.
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Nal stared at the walls of the tent. Her eyes traced the beads of moisture condensing in the cold night but she wasn't really seeing it.
Ereli came out of the tent after cleaning herself and found Nal sitting there on the tree stump.
"Nal? Is something wrong?"
The small woman looked up at the Iris summoner. She still had a towel hung around her neck, wearing a loose one piece dress. Really, didn't this naive girl know she was in the middle of an army camp filled with potentially lustful men? Nal sighed, obviously not. Ereli had even used a magical light when wiping herself down inside the tent. She was lucky the tent was double walled.
"Nothing, why don't you go put on some clothing? Aren't you cold?"
Nal's attempt to wave her off didn't work. Ereli puffed her cheeks, "you're thinking that I'm being childish again, aren't you?"
Nal winced, naive did not mean she was completely blind after all. "Fine you got me. What did you want?"
"I'm the one asking what you want, Nal. You were just staring at the tent. "
"I guess I can't even hide it from you, huh? I'm worried. " Nal sighed.
"About what?"
"About Morey and this rebellion. "
Ereli frowned. Nal knew she was thinking about the short few weeks where their little party had split, when Morey first declared that he was going to free the slaves. But that wasn't what Nal was referring to.
"I'm thinking about loyalties. I am a knight for the Queen Amarante. So is Etani. Locoss and you are less tied to her. But we are asked to follow the Hero on his journey to find the Sword. What do we do if the Hero and the Queen disagree? This rebellion was one example, I can't imagine the queen would have agreed to let him start this if he asked. But it might happen again. Morey will decide to do his own thing and maybe it will be something the Queen cannot let him do. "
And what would Nal choose next time?
"Nal, aren't you worrying too much? You just have to do what you feel is right. "
The innocent sparkle in Ereli's eyes somehow made Nal irritated. "It's not that simple Ereli. If your father and the queen told you different things, what would you do?"
"I'll do what my father says," Ereli replied instantly. Well, at least one person was sure of herself.
"And what if he tells you to kill the Hero? It's not that implausible if the Iris think they have a chance to gain true power in the Federation. Especially now that your family has hitched itself to Minmay's cart. "
The look of shock and confusion on the younger girl's face felt like kicking a baby piyo. But Nal didn't say anything to her. If this girl never thought about anything, it was about time she started.
The summoner stammered for a bit then frowned at Nal, "are you worried the Queen might ask you to kill him?! To stop this rebellion?"
She could only stare at Ereli incredulously. Where did she get that from? No, Nal could see how. "I'm not worried about that. The rebellion is unstoppable now. Killing Morey would only make it worse and the resulting rebels will be hostile to Inath afterwards. She won't. "
Ereli's relief was obvious. Well, maybe kicking the piyo could be saved for another day. Nal continued, "no, what I'm worried about is if Morey and the Queen want me to do something different. If I have to choose between them. "
"Wouldn't you follow what the queen says? You already did that," Ereli pointed out.
"But that's the problem. I'm not sure now who I might choose. I... don't want to have to choose," Nal sighed.
Ereli nodded and hummed and mused to herself, sitting beside Nal on the tree stump under the night sky. The stars above twinkled where they weren't blotted out by Selna's huge red bulk.
On hindsight, it was so obvious that Nal had to wonder how Morey still hadn't noticed. He could see so far ahead, to issues and problems that would have never occurred to her; like Amarante, he held a vision that other people didn't see. But maybe it made him blind to things nearby.
Just what girl did he think would join him on the rooftop to watch Selna night after night? Or spend so much time learning about him? Although to be honest, Nal wasn't sure she actually wanted to know about Earth or just wanted to listen.
Nal was starting to regret accepting Queen Amarante's instruction to try seducing the Hero.
After a long while, Ereli suddenly frowned at Nal, "do you like Morey?"
Nal blinked in mute shock. Wasn't Ereli supposed to be the airheaded one of the four of them? "You... how..."
"I always thought you two would make a good pair!" Ereli clapped her hands merrily, "it would be so romantic!"
Right. Airheaded after all. Still...
"You're not exactly wrong," Nal might have spoken lightly but her dilemma was serious. "I mean, it's not like that. But I think there's a possibility. "
"Then you should go for it! I'm sure both of you will be very happy!" Ereli's smile was bright and completely devoid of any teasing.
"I... it's not that simple Ereli," Nal hugged herself in the still night air. The warmth of her own arms was not at all comforting. "Do you even know what it's like? I feel like if I let myself go, I'll end up throwing everything away for him. And maybe he doesn't even want anyone to like him. This isn't Morey's world and he definitely doesn't feel any loyalty to us beyond being his friends. I was supposed to be the one to attract him, but it's just stupid I'm the one who's worried about romance. "
She choked a little when Ereli hugged Nal's back. "It's all right, you'll be fine. I'm sure he'll come to like you back. "
The world does not work like that! Right then, Nal wanted nothing more than to take the starry eyed summoner and shake her by the shoulders. Instead, she just rubbed her dry eyes and complained. "I always admired the queen. I don't have any tragic stories like Locoss or strange background like you. I'm just a spellstorm who trained in the Academy in Inath and fought as a knight. The queen has worked so hard to keep our countries together, to keep everyone working together so that we can survive. But Morey doesn't know that. He'll cheerfully destroy her work if he sees something he doesn't like. And I'm not even sure he's wrong to do it. No, I'm not even sure I'll be able to tell he's wrong, if I love him. "
Nal still gazed at the stars, still held by Ereli's warm body from behind. "And if I do that, if Morey loves me back, will I choose him over the queen? Maybe Morey will clash with the queen one day, after he finds the Sword. If that happens, will I betray the queen? Will I change so much that the me now can only see me in the future as having betrayed everything I believe in today? It's just... scary. "
"I didn't know you were thinking of that," a new voice joined their conversation.
"Etani!" Ereli leapt up, greeting her with an energetic bow. Seriously, was this girl always so cheerful?
The knight was out of her armour for once. She walked up to Nal in a simple riding dress, carrying a pail and some cloths. "Well, it seems I came for my wash at the right time. Why are you stargazing again Nal? This is not a difficult problem. "
Oh? Nal raised an eyebrow, barely visible in the torchlight.
Etani shrugged, "it is simple. If you like him, you like him. If you don't, you don't. If it means you have to follow Morey instead of the queen, then that's what you'll do. Sort out yourself and you'll have your answer. "
Truly, a swordswoman like answer. Em master traditions might have descended from the Tsar but clearly their followers in Inath could be just as cryptic as them. Nal sighed. "But I might not like the answer. You heard me. I'm sure you'll stay with the queen. If it means some day I'll have to fight you, would you still tell me to go ahead and chase Morey?"
"Nal, I think you're thinking too much. Didn't Locoss say the queen hoped Morey would like one of us? If you like him back, I think he'll respond. If anything, Morey is nice. Maybe too nice. He won't just hurt you and run away. "
Nal could tell there was a story behind those words but this was about her, not Etani.
Etani pointed her free hand at Nal, "besides, you're overestimating yourself. You're like us, a spellstorm, an Em-using knight, a summoner and an alchemist. Sure, we're strong but we're not the Hero. In the long run, I'm sure the queen will benefit more if Morey and you become a couple. If it means you'll side with him, then the queen will consider it only fair. So if you're worried about your loyalty, you can take comfort that if you can get Morey to marry you, you'll have done a greater service than the rest of us. "
Exchanging a fairly strong spellstorm retainer for a Hero's ties to the country? Put that way, even Ereli could see that the queen would be supportive of that relationship. It was distasteful, to think of it as a trade, but that was one way of looking at it. Queen Amarante might look at it that way after all, she was a queen and had more than one spellstorm answering to her.
"It's more about myself, and what I want," Nal muttered, "I see it's just my selfishness talking. "
"If you feel that you cannot hold two loyalties, then I'll carry your share of the queen's in this party. I know you contact her regularly. If you explain, I'll take over writing the letters. "
Maybe. That was one way of doing it, although it felt like she was just making excuses to avoid feeling guilty. Ereli was still looking at her in starry eyed mode, obvious which way she wanted Nal to lean. And who knew if Nal would ever have another chance at love if she ran away now. And if she was being honest, she really wanted to see if she and Morey would work out.
Nal hesitated. No, she knew she had already decided. Worrying for a whole week when she was probably just searching for excuses the whole time.
"All right," Nal mumbled, then instantly felt better once the decision was stated out loud. She picked up her voice, "I'll write in and hand you the letters. You can come collect my knight's proof at the same time. "
Ereli gasped. "You don't have to stop. Weren't you proud to be a knight?"
"Being a knight means serving this country and federation. I can't do that with divided loyalties," Nal said.
Etani nodded though. Nal knew that as one of Amarante's closest knights, Etani would understand. Other knights might consider the pledge meaningless but not Nal and not Etani. They both shared that link to the queen. Ereli wouldn't understand.
Of course, that was all meaningless if Morey didn't respond to her feelings.
He'd better, or she'll make him eat her badge. Or cry. Maybe both.