Nearly a hundred men and women stood within an ancient auditorium. Gathered together, and having changed from the temple clothing into the clothes they normally wore, it was suddenly clear that the rebels were a mix of people from many, many different origins. They were of all heights, sizes and colouring. The one characteristic they had in common was the ability to use magic. And the determination to strike at the Raen.
Their voices filled the space. Scanning their minds, Tyen saw impatience, boredom and curiosity. Some of the newest rebels were considering the size of the crowd, and their assessment of whether this many sorcerers could challenge the Raen ranged from confident to dismissive.
Yira stepped out of the shadows of the auditorium entrance and up onto a broken column, balancing on the highest point.
“Fellow rebels,” she said, her voice rising above the chatter. Faces turned and those who hadn’t seen her arrive blinked in surprise. She had never appeared at one of the practice gatherings before, and at once the mood of the crowd changed. Excitement mixed with fear. Doubt combined with hope. The chatter dwindled to near silence.
“For many days now you’ve been gathering here and in other meeting places,” Yira continued. “In war, cooperation and communication is as important as strategy and fighting skills. So is secrecy. So is timing. I’m pleased to say that, apart from a few stragglers, we can now form an army quickly and efficiently.
“This is usually the moment where I or one of my four generals sends you back to your boarding house.”
She looked at Tyen and the other three rebels she’d picked as her closest advisers–her generals. He’d been surprised when she’d chosen Frell, another ex-lover, but the man was strong and had been trained in warfare. The others were Hapre, a woman with a sharp intellect who could sum up a situation or concept in a few words, and Volk, a man whose ability to see holes in their security measures had impressed Yira and Tyen.
Yira smiled and faced the crowd again.
“Today will be different. Today we strike back at our enemy.”
Tyen’s stomach sank. A few cheers rang out as the rebels recovered from their surprise, then more. He looked at Yira closely. When they’d left Aei she had not been sure whether she would go ahead with her plan, let alone which of the allies they would target. Three times already she had stood in this place and decided the rebels weren’t ready, or she didn’t have enough information about the allies yet.
“This we have not rehearsed,” she continued. “We are untested. But there has to be a first time. A first strike. An answering strike. Not the main strike. We are not confronting the Raen today. But if we succeed…” She paused, her gaze moving across the faces. “… we will make the allies pay for attacking us and weaken the Raen at the same time. We will gain in numbers and strength, as news of what we have done brings more fighters to our cause. Today we take the first step towards ridding the world of the Raen and his laws.”
The cheers were this time louder, though Tyen detected a subdued and hesitant edge to it as the rebels realised they were about to face a battle and some of them could die. Perhaps more than some.
He felt sick with dread. I wish I’d tried harder to dissuade Yira from this, but how can I? If I speak out against every plan to fight she’ll wonder what I’m doing here. She knew that her leadership would falter if the rebels did not feel they were making progress. She had also admitted, privately, that she sympathised with the most impatient of them. Life in Aei was comfortable, but the constant fear of discovery and effort of keeping the rebels together made her long to take action.
He knew she would never be persuaded to leave the rebels. Not by him, or anyone else. He’d begun to suspect he was pretending to be a rebel for the sake of protecting Yira as much as he was spying for the sake of restoring Vella.
He had no idea what the Raen expected him to do. He couldn’t refuse or neglect to join the fight and remain with the rebels, yet if he did he would be attacking people who also served the Raen.
My task is to spy, he told himself. Part of that is to not reveal that I am a spy. So if not fighting would do that, then I have to fight. By the same reasoning, even if the ally knew Tyen was the Raen’s spy, he couldn’t avoid attacking Tyen if it meant exposing the arrangement. I could die today.