Raven Rebellion

by K Hanson

  “I hope so. Let’s just make all of this worth it.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Towering peaks loomed on Erhan’s left and right as his horse trotted toward Goremia. The city occupied the Turhan Pass, the only large gap in the mountains that separated the western portion of the Empire from the rest of the continent. Placed in such a key location, Goremia had become a hub for commerce, full of shops and inns looking to capitalize on the travelers and merchants making their way across the continent. The city took up most of the valley, with a wall stretching from slope to slope. Up the slope to the south of the main part of Goremia, the gold and ivory domes and spires of the Temple of Ameretat overlooked the city. As the seat of the church, it was the largest temple in the Empire, even surpassing the one in Manisa, the capital city. The large religious presence had driven brothels and other unsavory businesses further into the shadows than they normally were, especially when compared to the more liberal western cities such as Trabizan where prostitution was practiced openly.

  Erhan rode his horse into the town and through the winding streets to the bottom of the slope that led up to the temple. A short wall separated the temple grounds from the rest of the city, and no horses were permitted beyond it. He stopped at a stable just outside the gate and left his horse with the stablehand, along with enough coin to cover a day of boarding. He left his belongings in the saddlebags to retrieve after visiting the priests.

  He passed through the gates to the temple grounds and started up the stairs to the temple proper. Blossoming flowers lined the path, almost glowing with blue, pink, and yellow in the late-morning sunlight. As he hiked away from the city up the winding stairway, the noise of the town quieted, and a gentle peace hung in the air of the gardens. Erhan had never been to the Temple of Ameretat, but he now understood why the church had resisted any push to move to the capital. It would be very difficult to achieve the same sort of serenity that they found in the mountains.

  The hike up the stairs tired his legs, but at least he wasn’t straddling a horse anymore. As he reached the top of the stairs, he stopped to catch his breath. The golden doors of the main temple building rose in front of him. Smaller buildings surrounded it and several paths led through the grounds and farther up the mountain. So far, Erhan had not seen any priests wandering about the grounds.

  His muscles ached as he lumbered up to the large temple doors and pulled the right side open. Inside, he saw the familiar configuration of any temple: benches surrounding a central platform. The dome above featured a glass center, allowing light to shine down into the cavernous sanctuary. It differed from other temples in size and opulence. The room was bigger than the deck of any ship Erhan had ever served on. Vast murals covered the walls, each depicting a different scene from the church’s history. On the left, they started with a scene of the gods handing humanity a gift of tremendous power. Turning to the right, he saw the next scene, which showed people glowing and performing miracles, including healing the injured, summoning rain, and raising colossal buildings. In the next panel, a woman portrayed as a demon with dark hair and hands glowing with fire, known as Corinna, tempted people to her side. The fourth scene depicted a terrible battle between Corinna’s army and the rest of the world, with both sides using their powers to kill and destroy. Following the battle, the gods smashed the world, creating the Shattered Sea, and took back the powers that they had gifted to humanity. The final scene showed people kneeling before the gods, pleading for their forgiveness, but the gods had turned their backs on humanity. For hundreds of years since then, the church had been seeking that forgiveness, but so far, it seemed as if the gods had ignored all pleas for help. Erhan thought it was fitting that the depiction of the demon woman resembled Nereyda, with dark hair and purple eyes.

  An old priest in blue robes emerged from a door on the other side of the sanctuary. “Hello, there,” he called. “I thought I heard the door open. I am Sabah. Please, make yourself at home. All are welcome here.” He strode across the room with a younger man’s energy and appraised Erhan with icy blue eyes. “What is your name? What brings you to the temple today? You’re rather early for our noon service.”

  “My name does not matter. However, I’ve made a long journey to come here for answers. I hope you’ll be able to help me.”

  Sabah held his hands open and bowed his head. “Of course, I’ll provide whatever guidance I can.” While he spoke in a kind tone, his face remained stern.

  Erhan furrowed his brow. “May we sit down?”

  “Of course.” The man let Erhan sit down on the nearest bench, then joined him. “I can tell that something is bothering you. What is it?”

  “I’ve heard some troubling rumors after what happened at the mines. Something about unnatural forces attacking.” Erhan didn’t want to admit that he had been at the battle and risk being labeled a deserter.

  Sabah nodded. “Ah, yes, I’ve heard those same reports. Stories of fire demons from Stalsta. So far, all of these tales are just rumors. I have yet to see any convincing evidence that these are anything more than exaggerated war stories. I don’t blame people for being scared, though. Battle is terrifying, and that fear can cloud how we see the world.”

  “Have you heard any other stories? Anything about a woman, a pirate actually, who shoots lightning or throws water?”

  The priest shook his head. “No, I haven’t heard anything about that.”

  “What would be the church’s stance if such a person existed?”

  Sabah narrowed his eyes. “What do you know? Who are you?”

  “I’m just a concerned citizen, and I only know what I’ve heard.”

  “Well, as a single priest, I don’t think I can speak for the whole church on such a serious matter. But if there was such a person free in the Empire, the church would take that very seriously. I could only imagine that this woman has stolen power from the gods. If this woman is a pirate, as you say, then I doubt they would gift their powers to such a person.”

  “Would it be enough to start an Inquisition?”

  The priest drew himself up. “That is a strange thing for you to know about. I would need to review the texts about how an Inquisition works, but I am quite sure that it takes more than rumors from a concerned citizen. It would require witnesses to come before the church and tell us what they saw. If you meet any such people, tell them to come here, and we will listen to their testimony and decide how to proceed. While you’re searching, I will review what the texts say about . . . extracting information from the sort of person you describe.” The eagerness in his voice unsettled Erhan. “Until then, there isn’t much more I can tell you. Now, if there isn’t anything else, I need to get ready for the noon service.”

  Erhan shook his head. “No, I’ll leave you to prepare.” He rose from the bench, his legs stiff as he staggered out of the temple. He had spent days on the road, yet his journey had produced few answers and more to do. Now he needed witnesses, but the battle at the mines hadn’t left many that he knew of. He needed to find a place to gather more rumors from the western part of the Empire. A large city at a crossroads would do. That meant Trabizan.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Nereyda quickly regretted picking random people to help strategize. Despite having combat experience, the handful of people that had come to the tavern in the morning could not agree on a plan.

  “We should ambush their patrols in the streets,” said one of the stout twins. He fidgeted with his moustache. “Make them fear to even walk through our neighborhoods.”

  “That won’t work. They’ll just do another sweep and purge of the city,” said the older man. “All that will do is get us and other people in the city killed. We need to take the walls. Then we control the way in and out.”

  “Except for the sea,” said the woman with straw-colored hair. “They’ll still have their ships out in the harbor, and all of their soldiers will be inside the city. Who cares if we have the wall if they control the city and can easily reinfor
ce it from the sea? We need to take out their ships first.”

  “How?” asked the second twin. This one had a shaved face. “They have ten frigates, and five of them are always out on patrol. Even if we could hit all of the docked ships at the same time, there would be five of them left, and they’d expect trouble.”

  A pain grew in Nereyda’s temples, fed by the constant bickering as her makeshift war council made the same arguments for what felt like the eighty-fourth time. She slammed her mug down on the table. “Enough. This conversation is going in circles.”

  “What do you suggest, Captain?” asked the woman. “Are you going to say you have a better idea to take back our city than we do, even after living here for years?”

  “Even though none of you agree about what to do, what you’ve said has helped me understand what we face in trying to take Antalia. Between the garrison, the walls, and the fleet, it’s clear that we don’t have the numbers to deal with all of this at once. But as I told you before you started arguing, we will have allies coming to help. Tell me, if it looked like we had a real chance of winning, do you think more people in the city would rally to us?”

  The group glanced around at each other for a moment, then back to her. The older man spoke, stroking a beard that was more gray than black, “It’s possible. It’s hard to know exactly what their fighting spirit is like because nobody talks openly about this kind of thing, but many resent the Empire’s strong hand in Antalia. If we somehow demonstrated that we were serious about pushing them out of the city, I think we could gain some more people to our cause.”

  “Good. And if we did, we’d need more weapons. Tell me, where does the Empire keep its stock of weapons? Is there an armory of some kind?”

  The older man furrowed his brow and rubbed his throat before answering. “They do have a central armory. It’s attached to the main barracks, a couple of blocks from the main city gate.”

  Nereyda nodded. “Perfect. Sounds like that needs to be our target.”

  “Are you crazy? That place is heavily guarded. It’s also the headquarters for the entire city garrison.”

  “An even better reason to hit it, then. If it’s the headquarters, that’s where they would normally coordinate their defenses against us. If we cut them off from the rest of the city, they’ll be confused. And we’ll be close enough to the gate to let in our allies outside the walls.”

  “How do we attack it, though? It has its own wall. We don’t have enough people to assault it, and I doubt the rest of the soldiers in the city would just let us lay siege to it.”

  “Then we just need to get inside those walls before they attack.”

  “And just how do you propose we do that?”

  “How many of the people from the crowd last night can sing, dance, or play an instrument?”

  They exchanged perplexed expressions. “How should we know? Why does that matter?”

  “Just find out. I have an idea,” she said with a wink. “Also, you’ll need to talk to any tailors you know. We’re going to need some costumes.”

  Nereyda felt ridiculous in the sleek purple dress that she had found. She hated wearing the dress. It wasn’t the revealing neckline or the hip-hugging cut of the dress—she wasn’t modest or shy. She hated how it confined her and made her feel trapped by her own clothing. The corset cinched around her torso only made it worse. At least she wouldn’t have to wear it very long. It only needed to stay on long enough to get them into the Imperial garrison that sat just up the hill.

  They had arranged as many instruments and costumes as they could for their makeshift entertainment troupe. Anyone who had a costume marched next to the carts that carried their props and instruments, which concealed their weapons as well as another surprise that Nereyda had arranged. There had been more volunteers to fight than there were costumes, so the spares lurked in the alleys near the Imperial fortification. Nereyda hoped that they could stay hidden from any patrols, but she pushed that worry out of her mind. She couldn’t do anything about it at the moment.

  Their caravan rumbled up to the gate into the barracks compound, where two guards kept watch.

  Nereyda waved to the cart drivers to stop, then sauntered up to the guards. “Hello! We’re the Marvelous Ravens, and we’re here to brighten your camp.”

  One of the guards arched an eyebrow at her. “I don’t remember seeing anything on the schedule about this. And we’ve never had something like this happen before.”

  She beamed at him. “Exactly. You haven’t received the warmest welcome from the people of Antalia, but we’re here to change all of that. All of us in this troupe appreciate the protection of the Empire and what you’ve done to make this city safe. We would love the opportunity to come in and show you just how much we appreciate it.”

  “This is not the normal procedure for these things. You can’t just show up and expect us to let a strange group of musicians into our fort.”

  “Strange? What do you mean strange? We’re renowned in the west. Surely you’ve heard of the Marvelous Ravens!”

  “I can’t say that I have. But, if you want, I can go see if our commander will make an exception for you. If he’s in a good mood, maybe he’ll let us enjoy some music.”

  “Perfect! Want me to come talk to your commander with you? Perhaps I can convince him of how entertaining we can be?”

  “I’m sure you are all very entertaining, ma’am, but I don’t think he would approve of me letting some random lady into our base.”

  “Very well. I’ll wait here, then. I hope you return soon and with good news. You and your friends always look so glum, and I think some of our music might be the perfect cure.”

  The guard didn’t give her another response before he turned away and knocked on a small door in the gate. She heard something moving behind the door, then it opened, and the guard disappeared into the fort.

  She spent the next few minutes pacing next to the front cart. Her corset squeezed her ribs, forcing her to take shallow breaths. Nereyda acted like she was dancing as she practiced a couple of sword moves and winced as the rigid garment confined her movement. She fidgeted with it to loosen it as much as she could without ruining her disguise.

  Soon, the guard emerged from the door. “I’m sorry, miss, but the commander will not permit you to enter the fort. However, if you wish, he has granted leave to perform outside the walls so that the soldiers inside might hear you.”

  Nereyda forced a smile despite her frustration. “If that’s the commander’s wish, we will set up out here. Where would you like us? Here on the road?”

  The guard shook his head. “You’d better pull off the road, in case anybody needs to get in or out of the walls. We have space near the walls on either side of the road. Move your carts there, and you can give your performance. If it’s good enough, maybe the commander will change his mind and invite you inside.”

  “I don’t think he’ll be able to keep us out after what we perform for you today.”

  “I hope your music matches your confidence.”

  “You won’t be disappointed.”

  Nereyda turned to the drivers of the six carts and directed them where to go. She didn’t much care where the first five went, but she made sure that the sixth was parked as close to the gate as possible without being on the road. She kept it a bit farther from the rest of the other carts.

  As the other members of the fake troupe got their carts and instruments ready, Nereyda lit a fuse in the back of the sixth cart. The long fuse led to a pile of barrels of explosives. They were actually fireworks, since that was the closest thing to gunpowder that they could get on short notice in the city.

  Nereyda introduced the musicians and dancers to the soldiers who watched over the wall, then the entertainment started. She kept a countdown in her head based on the length of the fuse. As it drew closer to detonating, she positioned herself near the cart where her own weapons were held.

  With a loud boom, a blast of color erupted from the cart o
f fireworks.

  At the explosion, all of the rebels with Nereyda grabbed their weapons from their carts. Those who had guns opened fire on the soldiers along the top of the wall, sending several of them falling off the other side.

  Nereyda hurried to strap her weapons to herself. Through the fire and smoke, she saw that the explosion had opened a small hole in the wooden wall. She dashed toward it but fell down as her dress caught midstride. She rolled as she tumbled on the ground, then tore the front of the skirt from ankles to thighs, leaving her long legs free to move. She had never tried to fight in a dress and, based on her experience so far, never wanted to do so again.

  She shoved herself back to her feet and sprinted toward the opening in the wall. The guards who had stood outside the gate and near the cart lay unmoving on the ground. She drew her sword as she leaped over the pile of debris that remained in the gap.

  The garrison was running around, trying to figure out how to respond to the unexpected threat. To her right, two guards stood next to the gate with their weapons at the ready, though their eyes were wide and their hands shook.

  “Open the gate!” Nereyda shouted at them.

  “What?” said one of the guards in a loud voice. “Drop your weapons!”

  “I don’t think so. Open the gate!” she repeated in a louder voice, gesturing at the gate with her cutlass.

  “Drop your weapons. Stay there,” said the other guard. He rubbed his ear with his free hand.

  The blast had clearly damaged their hearing, so she dashed toward the gate to open it herself. The closest guard blocked her path with his sword, but with a twirl of her cutlass, she knocked his weapon from his shaking hands, then shoved him to the ground. She glided around him, and the other guard blocked her path.

  Nereyda couldn’t tell if his eyes held courage, recklessness, or just shock. She easily danced around his attempted sword strikes. When he left an opening, she lunged and struck him in the gut with the pommel of her sword, knocking the wind out of his lungs. With her left hand, she wrenched his sword out of his grasp. She swept his feet from under him and let him fall to the ground. Finally, she got to the door and pulled the lever to unlock it, then turned the wheel to raise the gate.