Ever since the executive council had voted to begin negotiations with the Central European Empire, the opposition that had coalesced in the shadows seemed to be torn between hope, dread and insecurity, and possibly accomplished even less than before. At least that was Tikimaken’s impression. He recognized that it might be unfair. They had managed to form something of an organized group, bringing diverse people together, and they hadn’t been found by the Historicals yet.
Well, by other Historicals except for those associated with the reformers, of course. He and Eli had actually heard about the decision to negotiate with the Empire first, and he’d been able to provide some context for the military situation and the underlying arguments. One major reason had been to buy some time, after all. Providing that information to their compatriots had bought the two of them some goodwill from the group, and it had ensured they at least weren’t completely taken by surprise.
At the same time, his direct superior seemed to have decided he could do without Tikimaken’s help. He’d worried about Aliekin possibly finding out about his loyalties, but nothing ever came of it, and the general didn’t seem like a hardliner anyway. He hadn’t even been a member of the Historicals until recently, and that was clearly more of a political move. Still, he had thrown himself into preparing for the end of the negotiations and the resumption of the war. Tikimaken knew he’d almost written off Ikris-on-Plains, still preparing a defense but expecting that it would fail in the end. In the meantime, Tikimaken himself was getting fobbed off on minor projects and social engagements.
Still, it allowed him to cultivate his network of contacts further and to try to discreetly gather more information and maybe even sympathizers, so he wasn’t too upset.
Which brought him to this meeting. He’d had an entirely legitimate commitment nearby earlier and had another meeting later, but he’d scheduled just enough room and left his appointment early enough to squeeze it in, hopefully without making anyone suspicious. It couldn’t be helped that they were all meeting in a specific place, but hopefully it was worth the risk. He’d rarely seen this many of the group all together, since in his limited experience, they usually met in smaller groups.
It was an impressive lineup, not just in the number of leading faction members of opposition factions — and some Historicals like him and Eli — but other people from all walks of life, including those with influence among workers’ groups and cultural associations. They were currently discussing the end of the negotiations — the most recent news — and what it meant for the future of the Confederation and their own plans.
“Let’s all take a step back,” Eli was saying. “Being hasty is only going to hurt us, but the pendulum has swung in our favor. The faction leadership dismissed a perfectly good opportunity to make peace, and far more people than they’d like to admit want it.”
“She’s right,” Geriken, an old grizzled miner with far more political acumen than you’d expect, put in. “They showed their selfishness, we only need to make sure people see it and don’t forget it. Their rage is already rising.”
“We’ll need to survive this war first,” called someone else, who he didn’t know very well.
Tikimaken leaned back against the wall. They were meeting in the basement of a restaurant just a few streets across from the old mining district, in a neighborhood that perched uncomfortably between laborer and miner housing and more mercantile parts of the city. There were only a few chairs and most of the men were standing.
He had positioned himself with a view of both the room and the door, which was why he was the first to notice the steps approaching.
He held up a hand, then sharply hissed “Quiet!” at the others, trying to keep his voice low.
They fell silent and the heavy tread of boots became clearer. A second later, before he could do more than move a few steps forward, the door banged open.
A group of soldiers walked inside and Tikimaken had almost drawn his own knife — carrying anything more would have been too suspicious — before he paused, blinking in surprise. He recognized these men. And they didn’t seem particularly hostile. They were keeping their hands well away from any weapons.
“Calm down, friends!” Geriken bellowed. It helped a little to stem the rising buzz in the room.
“Thank you, and I apologize for the abrupt entrance,” General Aliekin said. “Rest assured I am not here to hurt anyone.” His gaze swept over the room and then stuttered. “Tiki?”
“Sir?” He asked dumbly, blinking in surprise.
“I did not expect to find you here.”
“Yes, I sympathize.” He glanced at the others around the room.
The general cleared his throat. “Yes, well, I would have included you if I had known you were amenable. But that is not why we are here today.”
“Why are you here?” Eli asked. “And who let him in?” she added.
Tikimaken breathed out deeply and took a step closer. It was becoming clear the general was not here to arrest them. Relief and the faint stirrings of hope were spreading through him, clearing his head a little.
“I had several of you followed, and intercepted a report of one’s activity,” Aliekin admitted easily. “As for why I am here, it is to ask for your help.”
That caused a few looks to be exchanged along with low whispers which the others didn’t want him to hear.
“For what?” someone asked.
“I think I can guess,” Eli replied. She was frowning thoughtfully at the general. “Do you have the support of the other generals?”
“Most of them,” Aliekin answered. “A few have or will be placed under house arrest shortly. The city will be locked down for the day.”
Tikimaken felt a shiver crawl down his spine, but he didn’t let it show.
“You will need to move quickly,” Eli said, still calmly. It almost seemed to calm the people around her, too.
“We will,“ the general agreed. “I wasn’t expecting to find people with such high status in the Historicals faction, but — it would be good for you to come along, Tiki too. And maybe a few others.”
Several people clamored to speak at once, until Geriken thumped on a table. “I will go,” he said, cutting through the noise. “Dar, you come too.”
The rest almost seemed to pass in a blur, the others starting to talk about preparations, and Tiki felt like time jumped ahead as he walked out of the room at speed, accompanied by his partner and two other conspirators. Eli’s hand slipping in his grounded him back in the present moment. He glanced at their surroundings, noting the soldiers and officers Aliekin had brought. He recognized everyone, they were solid and reliable, clearly in more ways than one, but not the highest-placed allies he would have — presumably, those had other tasks.
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As they left the building, Aliekin led the way, clearly knowing where he was going, and after a turn around the building he headed down a side alley surrounded by his men, while Tiki and the others hurried to catch up. Several unmarked carriages were waiting a short distance away, and he could tell more soldiers waited inside. He maneuvered himself to end up next to the general, who allowed it readily, and wasn’t surprised to find men in full armor and carrying weapons in the carriage. The horses’ hooves clattered on the cobblestone as they got moving as soon as everyone was inside.
“Reinforcements are underway,” one of the others, a colonel he’d talked to a few times, said. Aliekin only nodded.
After a tense but mercifully short carriage ride, the vehicles slowed down again. He was thankful for the lack of traffic, and that nothing had gone wrong yet. Aliekin exited ahead of him, and set off quickly, walking at a calm but not slow pace down the street. Tikimaken glanced around, not surprised to recognize the back entrance of the Council Hall. He fell into step with his superior.
It was amazing how far they got, really, he thought distantly. But it made sense. Guards stationed around the building saluted the general and the rest of them, letting them through without question. Maybe they were his, maybe they just expected this to be fine. General Aliekin had been the one to show success against the Hive, he’d adjusted their strategy, he was their best general and the one the council placed their hopes in, so he’d risen in power by the grace of the faction leaders.
“The gatehouses and barracks are secure, the city watch is being confined inside and most of them have turned or laid down their arms,” came another report as they walked down an upper-story corridor.
“Good, proceed according to plan,” Aliekin replied. He glanced at Tikimaken. “We should be able to avoid any real fighting,” he explained.
Tikimaken nodded. He’d discussed enough contingency situations with the general and the other officers that he had an idea of what they were doing. He was sure these preparations helped them in doing this, ironically enough.
Finally, they came to the doors of the council’s offices on the uppermost story, heading toward a meeting room. It wasn’t the ceremonial Council Chamber, but he understood that most of the real work was not done there. The corridor narrowed in this part of the building and passed through several checkpoints. The first one’s soldiers let them through, the second was abandoned. Then, however, they came to the conference room currently housing the Executive Council and the guards tried to stop them.
“Halt!” one of them called. They wore shiny uniforms, but the muskets looked functional and the swords were probably sharp. There were four guards, two on each side. “The council is not to be disturbed, and you do not have an appointment, general. Kindly wait until they are ready to receive you.”
He noticed their hands were already going to their weapons. Aliekin, on the other hand, looked relaxed. “I’m afraid that won’t be possible, Captain. I will enter right now.”
As if on cue, both sides went for their weapons and activated their Abilities. Tikimaken took half a step back, shielding both the general and Eli, as he activated two of his defensive Skills. He’d leave the actual fighting to the others.
And it seemed they had it well in hand. In only a few seconds, someone had conjured rope around the guards, hindering their movements. There was a slight pop and he could see them gasping, but if they tried to speak no sound reached him, as a vacuum erupted around them. One of them managed to throw a knife, but it thunked into the rocky shield he’d erected. Then the guards were set upon by the other officers and knocked out. Or killed, one had a nasty head wound that was bleeding freely and he didn’t like the angle of another’s head.
General Aliekin ignored them. He patted Tikimaken on the shoulder as he passed him and then went to the doors, which one of his soldiers quickly opened for him. Barely waiting a moment for the rest of them, the general went inside. Tikimaken followed hot on his heels.
The executive council had recently been expanded again, but it hadn’t yet made up for the positions lost to members dying, disappearing or being arrested. So, only ten faces looked up at the general and his entourage entering their meeting room. A few of them paled as they took in the group, something he noted with surprising satisfaction.
“What is the meaning of this, Aliekin?” Etiaken demanded.
The general ignored the question. He strode further into the room with a definite dramatic flair. Tikimaken kept pace a step behind him, Eli catching up to him, while Geriken wandered a bit off to the side.
“Councilors,” Aliekin declared. “You are under arrest on charges of murder, conspiracy and treason.”
More of them paled now, they all stood and a few tried to step forward, hesitating at the soldiers fanning out behind their general.
“By what right would you arrest us?” Dekilekel asked.
“By the will of the people, in the name of justice for the poor souls murdered and the many oppressed under your reign,” he answered.
“You traitorous scum, we’ll have your head for this!” Teliaken, an older faction leader Tikimaken had once looked up to, raged. “You will rue this, mark my words, you bastard —“
He cut off as Dekilekel kicked him in the shin. Tikimaken watched her as she clearly scrabbled to keep her composure, unsure what he was even feeling. He’d thought her almost a friend, once. She’d given him this posting. But she was also at the very least complicit in their abuses and crimes.
“I suppose this is what the people can expect,” she said. “Power taken at the point of a sword. Do you think it would last you, that you will get away with this?”
“You certainly did for long enough,” Geriken commented.
“You need to leave us alive, so we can ensure the continuity of government,” Teliaken said, seemingly calmed down. “It’s the middle of a war. We can still come to an arrangement.”
“There is nothing you can say to avoid your fates,” Alilekin replied. “Put them in irons,” he commanded his men.
Tikimaken looked at them. When he woke up this morning, he hadn’t expected to see a military coup, or to participate in one, but it still felt better than some alternatives he could think of. Standing here in this room and watching the leaders of his faction be unceremoniously dragged from the heights of the power they’d gathered for themselves, he only felt glad to see it.
“Will you just go along with this?” Dekilekel demanded. “Tiki, Eli, you are reasonable people, will you allow a coup against your faction, your government?”
“Yes,” Eli replied. “Regardless of other considerations, you people need to be stopped, first. You haven’t been the proper, lawful government in a while now, De. You are the one who’s fallen from grace, I only regret I ever thought better of you.”
He turned away to watch the others, missing whatever reaction Dekilekel might have to the words. Instead, Tikimaken tried to make sure none of the deposed councilors would do anything stupid. He knew this was only the start, and a lot could still go wrong. Fortunately, they seemed at least smart enough to realize they couldn’t fight all the armed men in the room.
A minute later, he stood by the entrance, watching as they were led away. Eli stepped up beside him, brushing their arms together briefly.
“Do you suppose we can persuade him to send a few tokens to the Empire?” she asked. “They won’t be missed here.”
He snorted. “I suppose it is in the general’s interest now to make sure the previous regime is blamed for everything, isn’t it?”
Eli smiled briefly, but it soon faded to a concerned expression. “Something tells me General Aliekin is not all that eager to give up.”
He nodded slowly. “True,” he said quietly.
He wasn’t entirely sure what Aliekin would least like to give up, power or the war against the Hivekind. But Tikimaken also had to acknowledge that he’d misread the general before. Clearly, he didn’t know as much as he’d like.
“He wants to ally with the opposition factions, and he wanted us here,” Eli continued after a pause. “We’ll have a role to play.”
He hummed faintly. “The other Historicals will be happy to distance themselves from the council and fall in line, to avoid the faction being completely lost, or purged entirely,” he said.
Given what Eli had just pointed out, he didn’t think there would be a general purge, at least. His and Eli’s stars would probably rise, at least to some extent. He would probably keep working with the general.
He looked at Eli and met her gaze, and he knew they were thinking the same thing.
Exactly how much power would be in the hands of the people at the end of this would remain to be seen, but at least they were no longer guided by a clique that had started a major war and established a repressive regime of persecution and bloodshed.
He’d have to try to make sure it stayed that way, but he did like his chances. If they weren’t simply conquered by the Empire, the Gnomish Confederation might even be fine, eventually.