Lucas introduced the important children of Fleyw Bresh to the rest of the rebellion force. Now all they had to do was wait for Takedon’s group to come back; unfortunately, it seemed soldiers were starting to learn about their position and were slowly concentrating much closer to the border. A fight appeared to be imminent and the Fleyw Bresh were faltering in their resolve but, somehow, he was able to keep everyone comfortable enough that they could maintain at least a bit of ignorance to the threat around them.
That ignorance, however, was left outside of the tent he dubbed (and everyone else reluctantly followed along) the “Planning Place.” Sitting on the ground in a circle was Lucas, Sidyn, Missa, Aredes, and Veradis—one of the Fleyw Bresh’s elders.
“It’s only a matter of time before they decide they’re done sitting around,” Sidyn pointed out. “Right now they’re gathering their forces. Pretty soon they’ll outnumber us. If we don’t do something now there’s not going to be anything for Pastor Takedon to come back to.”
“None of them are ready,” Veradis sighed. “We were never fighters, and we never expected to be. We need more time for the other elders to train them.”
“We don’t have more time,” Missa remarked. “Sidyn’s right. If we wait any longer they’re going to be able to end this here and now.”
Lucas had quietly been trying to think of a way out of this since the meeting started. He knew what most soldiers looked out for when they were sent to observe suspicious individuals. As both a blessing and a curse, several of them he recognized from Alyselin; the base around there was probably one of the closest and easiest to get soldiers from. Everything about the rebellion was exactly what they would be looking for. They were being led by someone who some of them knew to be a troublemaker. Especially the younger children of Fleyw Bresh, even if they stayed in the center of camp and were hardly allowed outside, didn’t quite get the concept of hiding their magic. Should any of the soldiers see either of those things, they’d know the group meant no good to the king and wouldn’t hesitate to fight them.
“Let’s give it one more day,” he mumbled absently. “We’ll figure out what’s going on in the morning and decide if we’re leaving then. We’re not risking ourselves by fighting these people here.”
Aredes nodded. “That sounds reasonable enough to me.” Veradis didn’t seem to mind it, either. The longer Lucas spent time with the children of Fleyw Bresh, the more he realized how generally passive they were when it came to the events happening around them. No wonder they didn’t do anything to save themselves from the king until now.
That was the end of the meeting. Lucas stayed until everyone else left before grabbing a coat—in hopes of hiding a bit of his identity from the familiar faces of the soldiers—and a dagger in case he ran into any trouble. He was going to scope out the amount of soldiers around them now, and determine the best exit route if they needed to leave.
It appeared that most of the soldiers were concentrated near the border. He hoped that meant that they thought the rebellion had yet to gain any more members; that the king believed the rebellion had actually entered Fleyw Bresh and was locking them out. Lucas walked as close along the border as he dared, realizing that it wasn’t quite as full of soldiers as what it had first appeared.
There was a girl in front of the soldiers. She didn’t at all look like a fighter, nothing done to her ash blond hair and having the traditional dress of the Fleyw Bresh. And she definitely didn’t have that much strength, judging by how young she must have been and how she struggled with the soldiers. He knew he couldn’t just leave her. He glanced back at the camp, hoped this wouldn’t be a mistake, and rushed to help.
“I don’t know what you’re doing, but get your hands off of her!” Lucas called, drawing his dagger when he got close enough.
The soldiers were in no way impressed. The one who’d been holding her shoved her towards Lucas in exchange for pulling out his sword. “Who do you think you are, messin’ with us?”
“My name is a luxury you don’t deserve,” Lucas said in hopes of sounding much grander, in case any of the soldiers ended up recognizing him. “I am a helper of fair maidens and the bane of evildoers! Now, which one of you would like to go first?”
The shortest one barked a laugh. “Why not all of us?”
Well, that wasn’t a part of Lucas’s plan on how this was going to play out. Luckily this wasn’t just a fight for him.
“Close your eyes,” the girl whispered in instruction. He barely had enough time to listen to her before he heard her mumble something in the language of the Fleyw Bresh. Then he heard a bunch of child-like screaming and she waited until it stopped to say, “You can open your eyes now.”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
All of the soldiers were gone.
“What did you do..?” Everyone else he saw acted like nothing had happened. He almost wished he could’ve seen it for himself.
Her response was simple and in no way any more of an explanation, “I… showed them a nightmare.”
“Great, and what does that mean?”
“Magic.” She turned to him and, after a moment’s hesitation, put her hand out. “Thank you for saving me. I’m Norah.”
“Lucas.” He paused. “So if you have magic, I’m assuming you’re a child of Fleyw Bresh?”
She nodded. “I… accidentally came to Seothia and I’m trying to get back home. I need to get back…”
“But I’m guessing you can’t get past the soldiers?”
“I’ve been trying for a couple of days, but… more of them keep coming.”
“I, uh, may be a part of the reason for that…” He knew that he could trust her with this secret. She was just a lost kid trying to get home.
“Why?”
He lowered his voice and gestured to the camp. “You see all those tents? I’m the leader of all of them—the leader of a rebellion force that, in a couple of weeks, is going to march to the capital and kill the king.”
Norah just stared at the camp for a few moments. “I believe Orestis came to me and told me I need to rebuild my home. At first, I wasn’t sure because I knew that there was no way I could do anything with the king… but now I see His reasoning. You are sure to succeed in your mission with His hand on you, and we will one day meet again by this lake when we’ve both finished and begin a new era for our kingdoms.” Her smile was very short-lived, however. “That is… if I can get past the soldiers.”
“Why can’t you just use whatever magic you used before?”
“It’s a tiring spell, especially when there’s several people involved,” she explained. “If I use it too much without long breaks between, I’m going to end up dying.”
“Would it help if I was with you to help you out when you get tired?”
She shook her head. “You don’t get it. Magic takes energy, which affects my body too. So the more magic I use, the more it messes with everything else. I wouldn’t die because soldiers caught up with me. I’d die because my body literally couldn’t take using any more magic.”
“You mean you actually have restrictions on that type of stuff..?”
“Of course we do! We have the same kind of body as Seothians do. We can’t do any more than you can.” She paused and thought back to his earlier suggestion. “Will you actually help me get across the border?”
“I don’t see why I shouldn’t at least try,” he replied with a smirk. “It looks like there’s a town nearby on the other side. How about I walk you there?”
She smiled. “That would be perfect.”
They waited until the soldiers went to switch out to sneak through; if it weren’t for Norah’s earlier display of magic, it probably wouldn’t have even been possible. After making sure none of the soldiers realized that someone had gone through, Lucas decided to ask a question.
“So if you’re limited to how much magic you can safely use, is it really smart to fight with it?”
“A lot of my brothers and sisters have agreed to join you to fight for Seothia, haven’t they? I could feel their magic… Is that why they’re all with you? They’re going to fight?”
He nodded.
“Well… how much energy something takes depends on what it is. Simply throwing fire around or moving water doesn’t take much at all. It’s like twirling your finger around. But there’s very few advanced spells that don’t consume a lot more. I don’t really have a definitive answer, since the children of Fleyw Bresh have usually stayed out of fights, but it should be fine.” She paused. “The biggest problem would probably be alternating between the big spells and the smaller ones, in order to keep everything balanced.”
After testing out the silence and having a nervous glance at their surroundings, it turned out she didn’t like it being so quiet. “Do you have any family? I-if it’s okay to ask, that is.”
“Of course. Back in my hometown, there’s my parents and my younger brother, Albert. I also have a sister but she moved out a couple of years ago. Her name’s Beatrix. We all just call her Bea. I haven’t talked to either of them in a while, though.”
“Why not? Don’t they want to know where you are?”
“It’s… kind of complicated. I got into a lot of trouble there—part of what led me to become the leader of the rebellion. They nearly got blamed for something I’ve done once. I’ve since kept my distance to keep that from happening again.” He glanced at her. “What about you?”
“Honestly? I’m not sure. I know that whoever my parents were, I was probably their only child and they were closer to the mountains than to Seothia’s border. I was raised by Mother Andrea with Sister Ilethera in the church. When I see Orestis’s plan for me through, I’m going to honor Mother Andrea and build my house in her name.”
They talked a bit more about their families, and eventually those they considered friends. It didn’t seem long at all until they arrived at the village.
“I guess it’s time I say goodbye,” Lucas remarked.
“I know it won’t be the last time we see each other, though,” Norah said with a sage-like nod. “I’m sure it’s a part of Orestis’s divine plan. When are you expecting to end your rebellion?”
“If all goes well, it’ll all be said and done in two months.”
“Then we should meet back at the lake in three. Perhaps we can all work past our differences and find a way that we can work together towards a lasting peace between our kingdoms.”
“I like the sound of that. It’s a deal. And how about we bring our families, too? Then we can all properly meet and get to know one another.”
Her smile was enough of an answer.