The Radiant War

Chapter 30a

     The abandoned warehouse was packed with people who had come to hear Princess Ardria’s words. The Brigadier kept a careful watch over them as she spoke, alert for any of the King's men who might have tried to sneak in in disguise; assassins intent on killing her or wizards intent on cursing her. He'd tried to persuade her many times, over the seven days they’d been in Charnox, to keep a safe distance from all these strangers, but she was insistent that her message would be better received if she actually moved among them, as a gesture of trust, and he had to admit that it seemed to be working. She had gained a massive following in the city, to the extent that anyone trying to do her harm would probably have been torn apart by the crowd before he could do anything about it himself.

     Darniss also spoke, confirming everything that Ardria said and freely confessing that she had once been her mortal enemy. Her conversion to reluctant ally gave her words greater weight, and both Ardria and the Brigadier could see the effect they were having on the crowds, the way they gathered around to hear her speak almost as much as they did around the Princess herself. Darniss seemed to relish it, to the discomfiture of the two Helberions. She was clearly enjoying her new status as the ‘disciple of the messiah’. The sinner who had repented and who thereby embodied the message with more strength and purity than those who’d been with the Princess all along. The Brigadier frowned unhappily, but there was nothing he could do about it.

     The gate guards who'd escaped from the palace with her also helped spread the message, telling the crowds what they’d seen during their escape. Radiants using their control of the winds to pursue their enemies, proof that the old tales of how they could control the weather were true and that, therefore, the drought that had stricken the country was either their doing, or they had done nothing to prevent it. They wanted the Carrowmen so desperate that they saw the invasion of Helberion, to which the Radiants had given years of bountiful harvests, as the only way to escape starvation.

     The Brigadier saw heads nodding as they spoke, heard shouts of anger and agreement and voices raised against the King, the collaborator in the war against humanity. Many people called out for an uprising against King Nilon, crying out that they should storm the palace immediately, drag him out and hang him. The majority of the citizens were still afraid of the army, though. What if they seized the palace, they said, killed the King and then the army returned from the conquest of Helberion to exact terrible vengeance against the rebellious citizens? The people of the city outnumbered them many times over, it was true, but the army had guns and cannons, while it was the rare citizen who could arm himself with anything more deadly than a pitchfork or a kitchen knife.

     “So what are we trying to achieve here?” the  Brigadier had asked one evening as they ate their evening meal alongside the family that was giving them shelter that night. “There are ways for a rebellious population to overthrow an army, but they require years of preparation. Do you think we'll be able to remain at liberty that long?”

     “You yourself told me about the plan you and father drew up to destroy Carrow’s army,” the Princess had replied. “Have you lost faith in your own defence strategy?”

     “I told you that it was a long shot, that it depended upon the Carrowmen doing what we wanted them to do every step of the way. Only a fool puts his faith in something like that. If the plan worked, all well and good, but we have to proceed on the assumption that it didn’t.”

     “So you counsel despair? You think we should spend the rest of our lives hiding in some remote part of the world, forever fearing discovery?”

     “Not at all. If victory is no longer possible, then I would seek revenge, but these things require careful planning. It would be the project of a lifetime, not achieved in just a few days.”