Rebellion: Prince of Dawn

Chapter 13.1: The Chariot

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RAY VAN CAMARO

The Chariot is the seventh card of the Major Arcana in a Tarot deck. It represents moving forward through sheer hard work and commitment. One will come out victorious by moving forward in a positive direction.

When I was a kid (about eight years old or so), I started to enjoy my alone time. I enjoyed playing with my friends, but I began preferring to spend time at the library or reading under the tree in front of my house. It was a lemon tree that used to give my mother plenty of lemons to turn into lemonade and lemon tarts. The tree gave our house a zesty smell that gave me peace when I read under it.

But that peace was always being broken.

The leaves above ruffled around, a couple of lemons dropping. Trisha swooped down, hanging from her legs. "What are you reading?"

"You? interested in what I'm reading?" I scoffed. "Mrs Reading And Writing Is Stupid And I Will Never Have Any Need For It?"

She dropped to the ground, landing on her feet and sitting cross-legged. "You're right, I don't really care. But I'm just trying to get a conversation going, you know? The first interaction sets the mood for the rest of the day."

"You have set a mood for me-annoyed."

Without warning, Czeslaw fell from the branches and landed right beside us. A few lemons bonked him on the head followed by slow-falling leaves.

I closed my book. "Are you good?"

He massaged his back. "Czeslaw doesn't feel pain."

"You're wincing and gritting your teeth. And stop referring to yourself by your name."

"Trisha's right, you know? Isn't it a bit boring sitting outside the whole day, looking at a dead tree, and hallucinating?"

"Now you're just phrasing reading to sound boring." I sighed. "How did you even get up that tree? I was sitting here since breakfast."

"We climbed over your wall and asked your father to let us climb to the roof and jump to the tree."

"You two aren't going to leave me alone, are you?"

"Nope," Trisha said, pushing me onto my feet and out of the gate.

Mother stepped out on the porch with a cup of coffee and a book, taking a seat by the table and waving us goodbye.

"You two must be a blessing for Mother and Father," I groaned. "They're always telling me to go out more."

"Yup!" Trisha said, leading us to where Tank was resting. "Let's get going to the library. Pops says he's giving us something."

After hopping on Tank's back, Trisha took the reigns and directed us to Pop's base.

I rubbed a spot on Tank's back. "Trish, I can't believe your parents let you take Tank."

She whistled and stared forward.

"You didn't ask for permission, did you?"

She ignored the question. "Czeslaw, what does Pops want to give us? Is he each giving us something or all together?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "He just told me to bring all of you sometime today and the earlier the better."

Pops was arranging plans to cut down trees to expand the village and farm plots when we arrived. He noticed us by the door and halted the conversations he was having with the architects and farmers.