Grandar Moes was an ordinary kramstuk living in Nello. He was tall with black hair, working as a blacksmith. He was born decades after the Kramstuk Kingdom fell but always hated the Fnar Empire’s oppression, and wanted freedom.

Ghared was sitting right alongside him in the bar, drinking his wine. He was a good friend of Grandar and was part of the kramstuk saboteurs. It was his idea to burn down that village, even though a lot of other kramstuks were against this, including Grandar too, but he wasn’t a saboteur.

“I threw a torch at the grain field,” Ghared told everything to Grandar.

“I know why you did that, but hundreds of civilians will die because of this. Dozens of fnars already died from the fire.”

“Mate, you know they deserved it,” Ghared argued. “They treat us like we aren’t an intelligent species like them! They keep a lot of us as slaves, Grandar!”

Grandar knew that Ghared was a bit drunk, so he didn’t want to argue more; it would’ve been pointless. He just stood up from his table; it was already evening anyway.

“I’m going home if that’s okay with you.”

“Sure,” Ghared responded with a smile. “I’m staying for a few more hours, celebrating the success of our mission.”

As Grandar walked out of a bar, he saw approximately fifty fnar soldiers in the city. One of them started drumming.

“Attention! Everyone listen to commander Alhen!” the drummer shouted.

Everyone came out of their houses; even Ghared walked out of the bar, even though he couldn't stand exactly straight. One of the fnars, who seemed like the leader, stood up on a podium. He must be commander Alhen, Grandar thought.

“Citizens of Nello, I’m commander Alhen,” the fnar shouted. “I came here because of your disgusting action against our glorious empire! Your saboteurs burned one of our villages into ashes! I want your saboteurs to give themselves up right now, or we will turn this whole fucking city into dust!”

“He can’t do that,” Ghared said to Grandar and a few other kramstuks. “This was the capital of the Kramstuk Kingdom as long as it existed!”

Everyone was on the same opinion. The kramstuks all booed the fnar soldiers. Commander Alhen was angered by this.

“You have two minutes, or we’ll set your pathetic city on fire!”

“Fuck you, fnar asshole!” one of the kramstuks shouted. “You have a few dozens of soldiers here, but we have thousands of brave people here!”

Commander Alhen smiled and looked at a fnar soldier, then nodded. The fnar soldier quickly grabbed his crossbow, aimed at the big-mouthed kramstuk peasant, then shot him. The arrow hit the poor man in the head; he couldn’t even process what had happened to him, and he fell to the ground.

“You fucking bastards,” Ghared shouted as he grabbed a stone from the ground and threw it at the fnars. The stone hit a fnar soldier at his horn growing out from his chin, breaking it into pieces.

The citizens of Nello followed his example and threw rocks at the fnar soldiers. The fnars, in response, took out their swords and crossbows to defend themselves. The situation escalated quickly. The fnars stabbed another kramstuk, so they became angrier.

The kramstuks grabbed what they could, swords, axes, hammers, spears, rocks, and knives, and attacked the fnars. Grandar hesitated, but Ghared ran to the fnars with his knife. Two more fnars collapsed dead as the angry kramstuk crowd charged them with weapons. Alhen realized that he made a mistake. He tried to be harsh to the kramstuks, but it failed badly.

He parried the attack of a kramstuk with his sword, then stabbed the rebel through his chest, and ordered the soldiers to retreat. The kramstuks outnumbered them; they had no chance to win the battle.

Grandar knew that there was no turning back anymore. They attacked the fnars; the rebellion had started. He quickly ran to his blacksmith workshop to grab his hammer and fight. He knew he had to fight. He wasn’t a peasant anymore; he was part of the rebellion, just as any kramstuk who opposed the Fnar Empire’s oppression and wanted freedom.

Ghared madly rushed at a fnar soldier. He was still drunk, but the evil action of the fnars quickly cleared his mind. The fnar was occupied fighting with another kramstuk peasant, so Ghared just stabbed him in the back. The fnar screamed in pain. Ghared stabbed him again, this time in the head. As the soldier collapsed to the ground, Ghared already attacked another one.

The fnar ducked to avoid Ghared’s knife, then kicked the kramstuk in the legs. Ghared almost fell, but kept his balance and tried to stab the soldier again. The fnar blocked his attack with his sword, then swung at Ghared’s neck. He took a step back to avoid the fnar’s attack and finally stabbed him in the shoulder. The fnar screamed, and before Ghared could kill him, another kramstuk smashed his head into pieces. Ghared looked at Grandar with a smile.

“Wow, you killed a fnar! Fucking finally!”

“Let’s kill the other ones too,” Grandar responded. “They’re trying to retreat.”

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Commander Alhen decapitated a kramstuk, then looked around, looking for a safe exit, but they were surrounded by the rebels. His soldiers were dying very quickly. He counted about ten fnar soldiers who were still alive.

“We surrender!” he shouted. There was no other option; they lost. Thousands of kramstuks lived in the city, and all of them hated the fnars. The fighting stopped. The other fnars followed Alhen’s example and threw their weapons on the ground.

“Thow them in the prison cells!” Ghared shouted with a smile, pointing at the prison building at the center of the city. It was a small victory, but the rebellion had finally started.

The kramstuks took the few fnars that survived the battle and locked them away in the cells. Ghared and Grandar personally locked away commander Alhen.

“We’ll interrogate this guy tomorrow,” said Ghared.

“He looks young, I don’t think he’ll be useful,” Grandar responded. “It’s not like he’s the right hand of the emperor. Just an average commander.”

“Doesn’t matter. It looks like we’ll have an even greater celebration tonight.”

“Yeah, this time I’ll drink too,” Grandar smiled. “By the way, we should release the kramstuk prisoners here. Most of them were imprisoned by the fnar duke.”

“Yeah, duke Maron, he rules the region from the neighboring city. I agree, we’ll free all the kramstuk prisoners here, good idea, Grandar.”

An hour went by, and all of Nello celebrated their small victory after burning all the fnar banners. Ghared was drinking again, but this time with his father, the old Nymar Damford, who was the general of the Kramstuk Kingdom before the fnars conquered it. His hair was already white.

“Good job, son,” he said. “The rebellion has started. We sent letters to all the kramstuk cities and villages to join us. I’m sure they will support our cause. Our great nation will be free again soon.”

“Hell yeah, father!” Ghared drank a cup of beer. “We just have to find a leader to lead our rebellion. It should be you, you know. After all, you’re the only living kramstuk general. The others were killed and executed by the fnars. And those who were imprisoned, well, died pretty quickly.”

“No, I can’t lead a rebellion,” Nymar shook his head. “I’ll take my position as a general, but we need someone else to lead the whole rebellion; I’m too old for this.”

“But who? The fnars killed our last king in the war, and probably his family too.”

“The Harkcent dynasty had a lot of members, I don’t think they’re all dead. There are some rumors that the king had a bastard son living in the Union. Or what about you?”

“Me?” Ghared raised his eyebrows.

“Exactly. I’m sure you can lead the rebellion. People would accept you as their leader.”

“No, I can’t,” Ghared was happy that his father thought he would be a great leader, but he felt it would be too much of a responsibility for him.

“You don’t have to, but I think you would be perfect for that role. Anyway, what’s next?”

“We’re going to attack the city of Crafk. Duke Maron’s palace is there.”

“Yes, the duke. He’s a fat arrogant piece of shit. Hundreds of kramstuks died because of him. We’ve already sent a letter to Crafk. Their people will probably help us too.”

Two days went by. Those who could fight trained the others during that two days. Nymar Damford assembled an army to capture Crafk. Meanwhile, duke Maron sat on his small throne in his palace, not knowing about anything that happened in Nello.

He looked out of his window. The kramstuks in the city were rallying in the center with torches and weapons. There weren’t any fnar citizens in Crafk. An advisor walked into the room.

“What’s happening? Why are those fucking peasants doing?” Maron shouted at the advisor.

“My lord, they are demanding freedom. And I just heard that we’ve lost Nello.”

“What?”

“A kramstuk rebellion broke out in Nello, and they defeated our forces in the city.”

“That’s unacceptable!” Maron was angry. Very angry. “Inform emperor Veer as soon as possible! How many soldiers do we have?”

“Around five hundred in the city.”

“Send them to arrest those peasants! That will scare them.”

Suddenly, a fnar guard ran to the duke. He looked scared.

“My lord, there’s a kramstuk army in front of the city!” he reported.

“An army?” Maron laughed. “Are you stupid? These are just some dirty peasants!”

“I’m not talking about them, my lord! There are other kramstuks. Thousands of them! It looks like they are coming from Nello!”

Maron’s smile quickly vanished. He could never admit it, but he was scared as hell. He looked out the window again and saw it with his own eyes. The rebels from Nello were at Crafk’s city already. The peasants from the city threw rocks at the window. Maron had to jump to the left to avoid the rock, which shattered the glass into pieces.

“Send the army!” Maron shouted. “Now!”

Ghared and Grandar saw the incoming fnars. They immediately knew that they’ll defeat them easily. There were only a few hundred fnars against the thousands of them.

“Charge!” Ghared shouted, and ran towards the fnar army, along with the other rebels. The two armies met in the city center. The fnars were way better trained but were overwhelmed by the kramstuks. The citizens of Crafk helped the rebels. The fight lasted only a few minutes. All the fnars soldiers died or were critically injured.

Maron saw the battle from his broken window, and could not believe what was happening. He just stood there frozen, as the rebels stormed the palace.

“We should escape, my lord!” said the advisor to the duke.

“We have no chance!” shouted Maron. “Those bastards will kill us in a few minutes.”

As soon as he finished his sentence, the doors opened, and the rebels ran inside with Ghared as their leader. The advisor grabbed his knife, but couldn’t do anything else. One of the kramstuks shot an arrow inside his head.

Maron looked at the dead advisor collapsing.

“I surrender! I surrender” he shouted, raising his arms in the air. Ghared looked at the other rebels with a smile, he then walked to the duke. Maron was scared it was his last minute. Ghared then punched him in the face, knocking the duke out. Crafk was free again.