Revolution (Cartharia Book 2)

by Spencer Reaves McCoy

  Eldrin glanced at her and opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it again, staring down at the ground. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed, not knowing what to say. The two of them walked like that until they got to Penny's home.

  Alicia greeted them at the door with her usual curtsey, "Lady Belmonte. Sir Dalton."

  "I've told you, there's no sir," Eldrin said.

  Smiling, Alicia nodded the same way she did every time he reminded her of that, "Of course. My apologies. Now, the chefs have been preparing a large meal tonight and I know you suggested it, Sir Dalton, so I went ahead and had the others invited over. They're waiting in the dining room. May I escort you?"

  Penny turned to Eldrin, frowning. "You invited them to dinner?"

  Eldrin met her gaze and Penny was forced to take a step back from the blaze that had jumped into his eyes. "It's time," he said.

  The silence in the room was almost palpable. Penny took a bite of her salad, glancing between the other faces there. Everyone -- even Joanna -- looked nervous. Erin kept fiddling with her fork and avoiding the actual food.

  "It's important that we talk about this," Eldrin said, dropping his fork onto the table with a clang. "I will not apologize for bringing up the inevitable."

  "Suggesting we're going to be the ones blamed and killed for this is hardly reassuring," Erin whispered.

  "You knew there was a possibility when you signed up," Penny spoke up.

  Erin nodded, "There's a difference between suggesting it as a possibility and a probability though."

  "Lamonte will want someone to blame when Valishna is no longer in their grips," Eldrin said for the second time since they'd begun speaking, "With any luck, we'll be able to hold Valishna but if they do find a way to infiltrate, you will have arrows over your head. That's just the way it is."

  There was another length of silence before Erin spoke up again, "Is there no other way?"

  "We have to show them that we have a few leaders," Ryan interjected, "That is the point, right? A mob without a leader is just a mob that needs controlled. If we have figureheads, they'll know it's serious."

  "Right," Eldrin said, sounding relieved that someone else had finally picked up on it. He looked over at Erin but she still looked unconvinced.

  Penny felt frightened herself. She had known from the start it was dangerous but she hadn't considered the repercussions if they won rather than lost. She forced herself to smile, "It seems like we'll just have to win the war too."

  "Now that's a good way of thinking," Kevin Bishop said, clapping her on the back. Penny flashed him a grateful smile.

  "Alright," Eldrin said, "I know it's a lot to digest but we need to get moving forward with a plan. I know this is Belmonte's thing, but I have an idea."

  Penny nodded, gesturing with a hand for him to speak.

  Eldrin leaned back in his chair, balancing it on two legs and putting his feet on the edge of the table. He was silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts, before speaking, "Well, we need to keep in mind that the soldiers are leery already. They don't know what's happening, though."

  "We want to use that to our advantage. Three days from now, we need someone to go to the docks and lure the soldiers there away. There's a ship going out with an update to Lamonte that we need to stall so we can send soldiers out on it."

  "We're sending soldiers out on it?" Erin asked, confused.

  Eldrin nodded, "That's part of the plan. We need to keep that ship here for a full day. During the day, we'll get the entire group ready. Hw many of us are there?" he pulled out the small book he'd originally recorded everyone in and offered it to Penny.

  Glancing at the book and then ignoring it, she shook her head, "Less than seventy. Sixty-eight, I think."

  "Alright," Eldrin said, putting the book back in his vest. He saw Erin glance nervously at it, and gave her a reassuring smile. "So during the day, all of us will be dressing for the role. Everyone but the six of us will be dressed in shimmering white; like what Remmus did originally."

  "We used paint," Ryan reminded him, "Clothing doesn't mask the way your skin looks."

  "Can we do both?" Eldrin asked. "We can paint skin and hair and then have everyone dress in a flowing robe. We can get those from the Chapel."

  "You want us to steal clothing from the Chapel?" Penny asked.

  Eldrin rolled his eyes and nodded as Ryan spoke up, "Yes, that would work well. What about the six of us though?"

  "We will be doing the opposite," Eldrin said, "We will paint ourselves completely black and dressing in tight, black leather. We are leading the spirits to take back the city."

  Everyone stared at him.

  Eldrin smirked at their surprise, "You haven't heard the best part. I've been having Mike practice with my group on a special type of manipulation."

  "What's that?" Ryan asked, lifting a brow.

  "Flesh manipulation," he said with a sigh of pleasure at the thought.

  "There are plenty of flesh manipulators," Penny said with a frown. "That's the basic premise for all healing."

  "This is a special kind of flesh manipulation," Eldrin said, "one that is not commonly practiced at all. I want you to hear me out on it before you interrupt though. Can we all do that?"

  One everyone had agreed, Eldrin took a deep breath and sat forward, "We will be going to the graveyard and digging up corpses."

  "What?" The exclamation was repeated all around the table and Eldrin had to raise his hands for silence.

  "You said you would hear me out," he reminded them, "Now, we'll be digging up these corpses of Lamonte soldiers who have died. You know they have their own special site for them. Once they're out of the ground, my group will be able to manipulate their bodies into moving. We've been practicing and with the right amount of concentration, each of them can control about four."

  "They're going to fight for us?" Erin asked.

  Eldrin shook his head, "Unfortunately not. The amount of concentration to make more than one move at a time is all encompassing. They don't have the ability to make the cadavers do more than march."

  "Then what's the point of them?"

  Ryan interrupted again, "Because they back up our spirit theory. Dead citizens, raised soldiers... they'll be wetting themselves in fright."

  Eldrin beamed. Penny had rarely seen him so happy. "You got it. Now, once we have them, and then we're dressed, we march to the front of the city. The soldiers don't know that we've been learning manipulation so we're going to go all out on the way there. Fires are to be started, the ground is to be cracked, windstorms should shred anything left out...

  "This will give us the edge we need to get their leaders. Once we have them, we execute them publicly. Then we give the rest of the soldiers a choice; join the dead bodies marching the streets or go to Lamonte and tell them this land is no longer for the living."

  "That's brilliant," Penny said warmly. She felt hope dance up inside her.

  Ryan and Erin both voiced their agreement. Kevin still looked a bit disgusted, but he eventually agreed. Joanna did more than that though. She actively supported the idea, seemingly enthralled by it.

  Eldrin nodded, "Let's hope it works how we wish. We're going to need to spend the next two days preparing. The first thing we need to do is inform everyone; Remmus, your group is in charge of that. Penny, your group needs to get the robes, the paint, the leather, and the weaponry that we'll need for the executions. Erin, I want your group to focus on coming up with a plan to get down there. Whitetree, you'll join me with some of the necessary executions that still need to happen. Bishop, you'll be helping everyone. Your job is to make sure everything gets done in time."

  Erin nodded, "I'll go down tonight and see if I can get a feel for how lax they are. Since we've been avoiding it, they might be a little bit less attentive now."

  "Let's hope so," Penny said, "Since the plan requires us to send them back. That's the thing, isn't it? If we fail this time, there's no coming back."

&n
bsp; Eldrin nodded.

  The six of them sat for a long time, pondering just that. Penny knew it would be a longtime before she would fall asleep.

  The next day came too early for Penny. She felt the tinge of a migraine in her head and wanted nothing more than to pull the sheet up over her head and order Alicia to bring her some tea and a cold pack.

  Instead she rolled out of bed and got dressed in a simple pair of pants and a tunic. She attached a belt to the outfit and slid boots on. Once she was dressed, she went to her full length mirror and eyed herself. She tried to imagine the outfit completely black. She touched her red hair and imagined the dark color it would soon be. Her skin too; her nose, her fingertips. The thought made her shiver. If the idea frightened her, she certainly hoped it would frighten Lamonte too.

  Rubbing her temples, Penny went out to the dining room where one of her servants brought her a glass of water. She gulped down a bit of it and looked round. She thought about her current home, her current life; she wondered how much of that was going to change when Lamonte made her a target.

  She told herself it didn't matter. There were things that had to be done, and she had taken up the role of leading those things. It was no time for her to get cold feet.

  "So the day after tomorrow is a big day," Mike said, interrupting her thoughts. He was leaning against the doorframe, eating a biscuit. Robert was standing with him.

  "That's right," Penny muttered. She took another sip of her water and sighed.

  Mike glanced her over, "You don't sound very excited by the prospect."

  Penny forced a smile, "I am. It was just a long night."

  "Alright," he said, though he didn't sound very convinced, "Well if you need anything besides my norm, let me know."

  "Sure," Penny said with a wave of her hand. She finished her water and set the glass on the table carefully. The clink of the glass against the countertop made her wince.

  Once she had excused herself from the house, Penny walked into town. The fresh air helped her headache a bit.

  The sun was bright and painful though. Forcing herself to ignore it, Penny walked by the shops. As usually, they were nearly empty and desolate. A lot of closed signs had been put up.

  After a few blocks, Penny found the shop she was looking for. It was small and dingy looking but she knew the woman inside was very talented.

  When she opened the door, a small bell chimed and a tiny woman darted forward, lofting both eyebrows, "Miss Belmonte."

  Penny smiled at her, "Hello Miss Shauni."

  "What can I help you with today?" Shauni gestured at her shelves. They were full of art supplies; the majority of which was paint.

  "I need silvery paint that works well on skin. Black too, actually."

  Shauni stared at her. "What are you doing?"

  Penny met her gaze mildly, "I'm making a mural. Do you have the paint?"

  "The last time," Shauni said in her mousy little voice, "that I sold someone silverly paint that works well on skin they used it to terrorize the soldiers. Most people don't know that but I recognized it as mine by the way it was described."

  "And?" Penny asked, raising an eyebrow, "Did they pay? You are a business, Miss Shauni."

  Shauni wrung her hands together, "Yes, but the soldiers came and questioned me. It was very frightening. I don't want trouble. I don't even like trouble."

  Penny shook her head, "This won't be trouble for you. We aren't going to be using it to terrorize soldiers this time; we're going to be using it to scare them away."

  "Those soldiers... scared! Hah!" she exclaimed with a nervous little giggle, "They don't get scared! They can't!"

  "They are men," Penny said, taking a step closer, "That's all. They're not something magical or amazing. We have given them far too much credit. The day after tomorrow, they will be leaving the city for good."

  Shauni studied Penny closely, "You're serious, aren't you? You really mean it?"

  Penny nodded, taking a step closer. She put a hand on Shauni's shoulder, "Yes, I am. You can help us."

  "Well, I guess I can sell you the paint," Shauni said with a hurried nod, "It'll take me a bit to mix though, I have to warn you, and you're going to have to just wait."

  Penny smiled, "I will send someone down for it later. There's another way that you can help us though."

  Shauni put a hand on her hip and looked at Penny, "And what is that?"

  "Join us the day after tomorrow, show your support. There will be more than enough for everyone to do and we could use anyone at this point."

  Shauni shook her head quickly, backing away, "Oh no, I couldn't do that."

  Penny frowned, "Why not?"

  "Well they're soldiers and I'm just a little shop owner; I make paint, I don't offer help with this kind of thing, nope. I'll just sit back out of the way."

  "You aren't at all interested in offering what you can?" Penny asked, her brow furrowed. She had met this attitude multiple times during the last few months but she had expected it would be different once everyone knew the final moment was coming.

  Shauni shook her head, "No, I'm not. It's too dangerous for someone like me and I'm just not good at it. I don't want them to know that I was involved."

  Penny glared at her for a moment and then turned on a heel, storming to the door. She yanked it open and stepped out, "Get that paint ready," she commanded before letting the door swing shut behind her.

  Walking down the street, Penny could feel her blood boiling. She knew that it was a normal reaction; her experience spoke of that, but she couldn't stop herself from feeling hurt by the woman's refusal.

  With a sigh of resignation, Penny reminded herself that she couldn't blame them; the people wouldn't offer them help they needed. They were scared. The soldiers had ripped their homes apart, killed their families, destroyed their lives. It was no wonder they hid; retaliation seemed fruitless.

  Forcing herself to stop thinking about it, Penny looked over the city while she walked to the Chapel. Despite the fact that almost anywhere in town could be walked to, it was rather large. There had been nearly twice the population before the Valishna assault but there was still plenty.

  She thought about what it would like for these people to be able to come out of their homes again without fear. She thought about the children that would be running along on the streets and playing in yards. She thought about the marketplace and how the annual visits from King Parnell would start up again.

  She couldn't wait.

  The Chapel was empty, as Penny expected. She hurried to retrieve the robes that were kept in a back room; the one that Penny had stood in over three years ago to become a Priest in. She remembered how nervous she had been; she was the second person to be called and she'd been so worried about tripping over her robes and looking foolish in front of everyone.

  Her nervousness had ebbed away as she walked smoothly out onto the staged platform though. Father Ashbury had greeted her as he always had and then had introduced her to the crowd. In the sea of faces, she had seen many of her friends smiling up at her. A moment later, the assistant to the father brought her the white robes that would symbolize her advancement from a trainee to a Priest.

  Penny had never felt as proud as she had that moment. She had learned to touch her Chakran; she had learned to use it help her people.

  With a flash of inspiration, Penny paused on her way out of the room. She turned and walked out of the opposite door she had planned on and ended up on the small stage with the pew. Putting the robes down, she knelt down and steeped her fingers together in the normal praying motion.

  "Help me," she said in a whisper, "Help me do what needs to be done. I have strayed from the path as a healer but my intentions remain the same. I am here to help people. I am here to heal people. I want to heal the blight that is the Lamonte army. I want to heal the hope of my people. When our time comes, I will destroy the soldiers. I will set an example. Help me not to hesitate."

  The door banged open.

>   Penny looked up and felt her pulse quicken and her breathe catch. In the doorway of the Chapel stood a tall man in uniform; a Lamonte soldier.

  "What are you praying for?" he asked softly.

  Penny stood up slowly, saying nothing. She felt the color draining from her face.

  He shut the door behind him with a soft click, "That's alright. You'll have plenty of time to answer that. I'm going to need you to answer some questions for me."

  While the other soldiers that had threatened Penny in the past had scared her, there was a quality about this man that was terrifying.

  "I'm a Priest," Penny said, "I pray for help on many things." She forced herself to stand tall.

  The soldier pulled his sword from his scabbard and then dropped it back with a clink! "We're going to sit together for a little bit and I think you will be a little bit more detailed."

  "We will do no such thing," Penny said, finally finding the movement in her legs. She walked down the steps of the stage and heads towards the path between the pews. "I am a Priest and we are in a place of power. We will not desecrate it with our arguments."

  The soldier met her eyes coldly and then stepped around one of the pews to cut off her path, "My name," he said in that same toneless voice, "is Riggs. The only highest power I respect is King Sullivan."

  Penny barely had time to see his fist come up before her head exploded. She collapsed into his arms.

  FORTY-ONE

  Such a Questionable Shape

  PENNY WOKE UP TO THE FEELING OF water on her face. She frowned, confused. She hadn't remembered it raining in her room.

  With a flash of understanding, Penny opened her eyes wide, gasping. Riggs stood in front of her, flicking water into her face. She tried to look around or move but couldn't budge. She moved her eyes only and saw a familiar room. She was in the Penance chambers.

  "Don't try to speak," Riggs said flatly, "I have you gagged and it's dangerous to talk with a gag."

  Penny immediately opened her mouth, trying to speak and found the gag, as he'd said.

  Panic was welling inside her as Riggs stood there, looking at her. He was a tall, muscular man but his size seemed irrelevant; it was his eyes that really spoke of his character. They had no emotion in them. Penny tried to scream.