The Rebel Assassin

Chapter 19: Changing City

Emorial's capital was a day's ride away after picking up horses at the closest town to the border. Cyrus spent that day lecturing us on what we needed to know and how to behave.

The city was called Stellum. After being half burnt down in the civil war that had led to the downfall of Emorial's monarchy ten years ago, it was still being rebuilt, Cyrus explained.

"Sounds like a mess," I said.

"That's an understatement. The amount of progress the provisional government has made in these ten years has been enormous — simply keeping the country from sliding back into civil war is a miracle — but expect every aspect of their government to be in continuous uproar." He straightened in his saddle, even his horse seeming to perk up with excitement. "Pay close attention while we're here. If we can do what Emorial has done, this is what the Solangian government will soon look like."

"....a mess?" I repeated, somewhat put off.

"Full of possibility," he corrected.

I shot a look to Joshua and moved away from Cyrus toward him. "Alright, you had to know lots of political stuff while you were captain. Tell me what we should really expect."

"Exactly what he said, but with much less enthusiasm," he said dryly. "Not to mention, we certainly won't be able to pull of exactly what Emorial's revolution did. Our circumstances are entirely different. Cyrus can romanticize it all he wants, but the truth is Emorial's uprising came from its disgruntled upper classes and spread to its poorer people later on, and its new provisional government is still dominated by wealthy merchants and nobles who threw their lot with the revolution. If they agree to an alliance with us, it won't be from a belief in shared ideals and the desire to see Solangia free from King Aeric. It will because we can convince them it's in their interests to help us."

That sounded a lot more likely, though certainly unappealing. Thinking aloud, I said, "Convince them it's in their interests... merchants and nobles want to make money; that's always their goal. So we need to convince them it's monetarily good for them to lose King Aeric."

"It could be," Dell said, from Joshua's other side. "Ever since their government changed hands, King Aeric has piled tariffs on imports from Emorial — wanting to have as little contact with a revolutionary country as possible, what with his own being so close to exploding. So if we promised to open up the trade between us when we take power, Emorial would make more money."

Joshua listened to her with respect, reminding me that Dell had once been a high-ranking royal spy. She would know plenty about things that made the king uncomfortable.

I frowned, remembering what little I already knew of Emorial. "Emorial makes weapons, right?"

Joshua nodded. "That's one of the few things keeping it safe from countries that would like to reinstate their monarchy, along with the mountains surrounding it that make it so hard for armies to access. Emorial was the first country in these parts to start making canon, and they've always had exceptionally good sword smiths. You're thinking of the pistols, aren't you?"

"That thing that shoots bits of metal? Yeah. Nemia had one."

"Emorial sent one over to Solangia," Dell said. "Supposedly as a diplomatic gift, but really as a warning not to mess with them. They're strange things, definitely dangerous."

Joshua agreed. "I got to try it before they handed it off to the Assassin — well, I mean, to Nemia. The Sage thought she should learn to use it. Last I heard, he and Abram were arguing over whether they should have someone try to take it apart to see how it worked so we could make our own, or not risk being unable to put it back together."