Things moved quickly after the death of Yuar. We searched the rest of the barracks but only found a few more corpses scattered across the cells. Whoever else was being kept here had been moved. There was a group of soldiers digging through the rubble that was blocking the entrance which forced our timeline.

We retreated back down to the tunnel with the remaining party and Mattias. No more Balra had spawned in the tunnel so we made quick progress back to the warehouse. Entering the ground level of the warehouse, we could hear shouts from outside on the streets. Gathering near the door, Pitri took a moment and felt out with his sense for danger. His face showed confusion but his posture didn’t relay any threats.

“I don’t sense any danger targeted towards us but I can feel it all around.” Pitri said quietly.

I motioned for him to continue on so he slowly opened the large door. The side alley the door opened to was clear but we could still hear the shouting. We crept outside and moved down to the mouth of the alley and found chaos in the square. Mobs of hundreds of people were fighting against a small core of Kingsworn that had set up around the center of the square. I could see gallows erected in the middle.

“Death to the Kingsworn! Death to the King!” The crowd was chanting and the riot consumed the entire area. We traded confused looks and moved towards the safehouse. We found the safehouse in a similar state of chaos. It was being guarded by several members of the rebellion that I recognized and there were no Kingsworn in sight.

One of the guards noticed us and waved us in. He turned to shout out something that I couldn’t hear and Rhet rushed out to meet us.

“Sylar! Pitri!” He shouted as we closed before embracing Pitri.

“The Kingsworn rounded up many members of the rebellion this morning. They started hanging them immediately all over the city. We have to fight back, it’s now or never. After today we won’t have the numbers to sustain.” He said to Pitri before we could ask any questions. He turned to me and took a deep breath and my heart sank into my stomach.

“Sylar. We found your mother, she’s among the prisoners being hanged in the central square before the palace. It may already be too late, we lost communication with that sector hours ago.” Rhet’s mouth was still moving but I didn’t hear anything else, my world had gone silent.

I rocked back on my heels and closed my eyes. In the back of my mind I had always known saving my mother was a longshot. Yet I still had held out hope throughout as each part of my journey was successful. To get so close and fail, my mind was reeling.

Someone grasped my arm and I reacted instinctively, slamming them against a wall and going for my dagger. I stopped myself short of stabbing Pitri through the chest. He didn’t even struggle, just kept repeating something. Another deep breath and the sound returned to my ears.

“Sylar!” Pitri was shouting. “I’m with you. Let’s go, leave now. We can still try, we don’t know if she's dead. I’m with you, and if it's our end, we’ll make them pay, we’ll make it an end worth remembering.”

Another hand was placed on my shoulder from behind. I turned to see Rile and Mily had stepped in close.

“We’re with you until the end, Sylar.” Rile said with a quiet intensity. Mily nodded behind him, her eyes full of hatred and anger.

“Nadia and her forces are besieging the gates. They are already in the city by the hundreds. Our lines of communication are down all over the city. You may not have support that deep, the King has a type of mage that can block communication skills. Is your bond working?” Rhet said.

I suddenly realized I couldn’t sense anything from Marci or Van. Even at this distance I should have felt if they were alive. Shaking my head no, Rhet grunted in frustration.

“I can’t offer you any men or help, Sylar. We are barely holding on to our part of the city. Go now.” He reached out his hand and I grasped it. “Don’t die. Survive. We will meet again.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

We left the safehouse immediately after introducing Mattias and letting Rhet know he was an ally. There was fighting all over the streets, crowds of citizens using any available weapon to fight. Blockades had been set up by the Kingsworn and remaining members of the first army. Pitri took point and guided us through the city.

Starting in the crafters district placed us about a full mile from the square in front of the palace. With my agility and stamina I was tempted to leave the group behind and sprint ahead, having to beat down that temptation. Not only would that leave me alone against an unknown force, but also risk the lives of allies that had proven themselves powerful and trustworthy.

The next five minutes felt like hours as we avoided barricade after barricade. The farther into the middle of the city the more soldiers we saw enforcing each one. The first army was mixed in with the Kingsworn and on full military display. The barricades were set up in the squares central to intersections of the city. Etes was built to be defended in a street by street fight and the first army were specialists at it.

Each barricade had dozens of soldiers,some infantry mixed with bowmen. Spells were flying from both sides, I watched as a man was burned alive by a Kingsworn mage. Another was crushed as the mage manipulated a large crate and used it as a bludgeon. Several soldiers were using spells to shore up the barricades with various furniture and pieces of wood.

The citizens were fighting back as hard as they could and actually seemed to have control of the city outside of the barricades. Unless they could kill a significant portion of the Kingsworn they wouldn’t be able to hold. The first army might cave under enough pressure but the power of the Kings commands would prevent the Kingsworn from giving up.

We closed in on the central square leading to the palace area of the city. The parade square was a huge area of grass that was used for military parades, speeches from the King and the Etes council public gathering. It was a quarter of a mile wide and a quarter mile in length, surrounded by streets. One large central street led through the area towards the palace.

We climbed a roof near the edge of the square and I climbed up. The square was covered in soldiers, both Kingsworn and first army. I debated leaving my armor in its current state of mimicking the enemy but decided against it. The time for stealth was over, blunt force would rule here. I changed it back to my stryker uniform and my cloak took on a feathery look like Marci. It felt right as I surveyed the square and formulated a plan.

The gallows in the middle of the square were just far enough away that I had to squint to see the prisoners. Thanks to my bond with Marci my eyesight had improved enough that I could individually make out each face. I scanned through each of the prisoners which I counted to be forty. I was almost to the end of the line when I saw her. There near the end, gagged and bound was my mother.

My heart skipped a beat and I combed over the crowd of soldiers between us. There was no unguarded route through, it would be a fight to the death. The rest of the team joined me on the roof of the building and we looked out together. There was a large man near the only permanent gallows in the city and he was giving a speech to the assembled soldiers. I couldn’t hear him and I didn’t recognize the man.

“That's the royal advisor, according to Rhet he's the one running the show.” Pitri said from beside me. I wasn’t sure how he could see so far but it didn’t matter right now.

Less than a minute later the first prisoner was brought to the gallow and without even removing the gag fixed the noose around his neck. He tried to scream through the gag to an uninterested crowd and was promptly hung. My blood went cold and the next prisoner was led to the gallow, the corpse of the first dumped off the side of the platform. I was out of time to act, it had to be now and it was going to be violent.

I shared a look with my allies and received nods of confirmation. I moved one of my major bombs out of my bandolier and hefted it. Something changed inside of me as I looked at the major bomb in my hand. I had been fearing the consequences of using them for so long that I had forgotten that all combat had risks. Every soldier down there was there by their own choice, they made their decisions. My allies were here voluntarily, they believed in me and the cause, like Yuar they would die to free their people.

A weight lifted off my shoulders as I shared a few precious moments of silence. I pulled out the last major bomb of my bandolier and gave it to Pitri. I nearly emptied my supply of bombs between the three of them. Determination set on their face as they held the bombs and readied their weapons.

“Spread out of the rooftops. On my signal throw the bombs into the crowd as fast as you can from as many angles as you can. Try to space them out but don’t hesitate and get caught before you finish. I can detonate three at a time, I’ll start detonating them as soon as possible. I’m going to the middle to try to free the prisoners, if you can make it join me, if you can’t find a place to hide and pick them off from a distance.” I said, voice low and intense.

Seven prisoners joined the first corpse before we had spread out enough to hit the square from three sides. It took every ounce of willpower I possessed to wait and give them time. The explosions would kill dozens and disorient more but it wouldn’t kill them all. I accepted my death and tossed the major bomb up in the air and caught it with my other hand. I took a deep breath and embraced the side of me that had always liked the combat, the skills, and the bombs. I let that part of me bubble to the surface and then I threw the first bomb deep into the crowd of soldiers.