Insurrection [On Hold]

17 For Such a Time as This

I've been fighting with sleep for the past hour when I feel a pair of hands on my waist.

"Don't touch her. She can get inside by herself."

My eyes pop open and I find my brother, Gale's, cocky grin glowing in the yellow lighting

"Raksana." He steps backward and hops off the transport vehicle never looking away from me. I stand and step off the compartment and onto the sleek, black, artificial ground. I stare around me at the city of Koi, at its skyscrapers and lights. On the other side of the wall that surrounds us, I know people are out enjoying the cool evening. Drinking, hitting the clubs. I've never been to one. My brothers told me not to step foot in one. Inside the wall and in front of me is the base, in the shape of a hexagon. We creatively named it the Hexagon.

Gale pulls me into a hug. At eighteen he's older by two years but taller by a foot. "We were all so worried about you." At least there are my siblings who care if I live or die.

"There's no—"

"Gale"-- our father crosses his arms-- "do you think you could order your men to escort me and my own men to our rooms?"

Gale nods and releases me, turning around to face men who stand in front of the base. "You heard the king."

One of them lays his hand on a screen in the wall and a chunk of the wall slides away. He escorts my father and his men inside.

I lean against my brother's chest, and he pats my hair. He's not my favorite brother—his lust for violence unsettling—but I love him. His pats turn to strokes. Placing his hand underneath the back of my knees, my legs fly out from under me. He cradles me against him.

"Sleep. I won't let anyone see. We'll talk privately in the morning."

I close my eyes. He'll keep my reputation intact. The last thing I need is people knowing I couldn't make it to my room.

"Thanks, Gale."

******

I awake to an image of a waterfall floating above my head. I reach my hand over my bed toward the headboard. I'm not handcuffed today. That's a reassuring sign. I tap a raised circle and the screen above me vanishes. That was a Dren. It connects with my pillow to know what kind of image I should awaken to. The Dren knew I needed something peaceful. Not that a waterfall is going to help much with today.

I climb out of bed and grab a short maroon dress and cream leggings from the dresser. Entering the bathroom, I start letting water into the tub. Maybe if I can take a bath I can wash everything away. The faucet creates its own waterfall and my shoulders relax. Maybe I did need a waterfall.

After I'm bathed and dressed, I walk to the dining hall, my brown boots giving me an air of superiority, something I haven't felt for a while. I actually receive a few head nods, causing me to hold my head higher. Instead of hiding behind my black waves of hair, I push them behind my shoulders.

Upon reaching the metal doors I shove them open and make my way to the Royals' table. My father looks up, and I think I see approval on his face. I take a seat across from Gale, my father at the head of the table between us.

"It looks like someone finally decided to wear a little pride," my father. . . compliments? me.

"So we're interrogating Griffith later today?" Gale asks.

My heart sinks, my confidence completely going down the garbage compactor across the room. Hopefully I keep my face composed. Nate. His sentence in Hell starts today.

Gale tilts his head at me. "We still need to talk, don't we?"

He's going to ask me questions about what happened on the mission. If I say one single thing wrong it puts saving Nate's life in a more difficult position.

"No, I don't think so," I say.

"You sure?"

I ignore his question and face my father. "Can I go into the city before the interrogation?"

He places an orange slice in his mouth with a fork, chewing and swallowing before answering. "If you take two soldiers with you."

"I don't need protection—"

"So you don't run away."

I spoon oatmeal into my mouth. "Where can I find a cloak?" I ask once the oatmeal is gone.

"Your room." Gale's stare makes me uncomfortable.

"Thank you." I swing my legs over the bench. "Could you have two soldiers meet me at the front entrance in fifteen minutes?"

My brother nods. "Of course."

"I'll see you two later."

I continue to feel Gale's stare on the back of my head until I make it out of the dining hall.

******

I pull the hood up over my head as I approach the male and female soldiers waiting for me in the hallway.

"Princess," they acknowledge.

I smile at them. What if they have something against me too? "I believe you're familiar with who I am, but I'm afraid I don't know who you are."

"Blackwood." The man inclines his head, his blond hair falling in his face.

"Levine, Your Highness." The woman's red hair makes her seem defiant. She seems like she could have something deadly up her sleeve.

"It's a pleasure."

They're both dressed in the cream uniforms, making me stick out like a sore thumb especially with my cloak.

They guide me out of the base and through the gate.  Koi was built bordering each wall of the Hexagon, which makes the base a hexagon within a hexagon with in a hexagon due to the city's own wall.

"What would you like to do, Princess Raksana?" Levine asks.

"I'd like to go to the nearest church."

Blackwood folds his hands behind his back. "Of course. Is there a particular reason? No services are being held today."

"I need a quiet place. I need to pray. . . desperately."

Along the way I watch the people closely. They recognize me, bowing as I pass. They aren't slaves. Slavery is forbidden here. In Quill, where I was trying to escape to, slavery is allowed.

They're not slaves. Not to us. We look down on such things.

But as we become more entangled in Koi's streets. and I begin to look more closely at them, I begin to notice the poverty. It's not easily apparent, but it's in the little things; their slightly sunken faces as they stop on the sides of the sidewalk, screens to open doors are broken, windows are cracked.

We protect them though. We're defending them from the rebels; from Quill.

We stop in front of a metal building with only four walls. The roof slants together in a triangle and then forms a steeple in the front. The Rose window must have been beautiful at one point but is now shattered, and all that's left is a few brightly colored, jagged pieces of glass.

I push open one of the doors and step inside, the two soldiers waiting outside. The church is only made up of a sanctuary. No one else is inside. I run a finger over the pews as I walk down the aisle. When I look at my finger it's covered in a thick layer of dust. The greenish blue cushions are faded and look as if no one has sat in them for a long time.

At the end of the aisle, I kneel before the wooden cross that is deteriorating. Folding my hands, I swallow. "I guess You already know why I'm here. But I'm not even sure what exactly I'm praying for. I—well I screwed up and now this guy, You know who, is going to die. It's bad. Really, really bad. I'm not even sure how You could save him at this point."

I shift on my knees uncomfortable. "But I know if it's Your will he lives then you'll do it in a way I couldn't see coming. So I guess what I'm asking is, if I do one good thing in my life, let that be saving him. I owe him my life now."

"Behold," a voice on a speaker from outside mocks, "the infamous Nate Griffith in all his glory."

I rise to my feet. It's starting. The soldiers have brought Nate into the city.