Hell Hath No Fury - Book One

Watch It Burn

The marching got louder and louder until the soldiers stopped at the entrance of the square. Three large guards dressed differently than the rest came forward to the stairs, they were wearing robes and not armor.

"Stand up and tell everybody to go home and we will overlook this violation of the rules. You'll only get a slap on the wrist, a night in jail," the man in the middle of the three spoke up.

Giorina looked away from the soldiers, ignoring their request and staying seated. The two soldiers that flanked the man that spoke walked up the stairs and seized Giorina. She was pulled to her feet and the man then turned to the crowd.

"Good evening," the man shouted, "You are all in violation of curfew. Go home or we will be forced to take severe action."

At his request, movement arose from around Theo. But the townspeople were not leaving, they were sitting down. One by one the sea of people shrunk down to the ground. They were not going to move. It was a silent protest and the soldiers all seethed at the sight.

"I said, go home now!" the man bellowed and spun around looking at the crowd.

'Enough of the tyranny!' was shouted from the back and it was met with a round of applause and cheers.

The energy in the square was tense. It was almost as if the building themselves were holding in their breath to see what would happen. At the encouragement from the first heckler, more joined. The people of Alenroux had decided that the poor old man was going to be the last of violence their oppressors would get away with.

Stop killing our families.

He was just walking home!

Monsters! All of you, monsters!

Baethos must fall.

At that last remark, the soldier in charge motioned for his army to advance. The soldiers moved forward and surrounded the square. Theo watched as they expertly surrounded the area as if they had been expecting this. That is when Theo realized they had been.

They allowed the vigil to go on for so long knowing it would attract more people. They knew the more people were there the more likely it was they would take a stand. They tricked the people into feeling empowered. They pushed them into the perfect corner and when one person threatened Baethos the show was over. They knew someone would utter the words of the revolution. They knew they had the perfect opportunity to watch it all burn. That is why they brought so many torches with them. They fully intended to watch the town go ablaze.

In Safriti, most of the houses being made out of stone made it difficult to burn the town in a traditional sense. However, most Safritian homes were fitted with wooden furniture and embellishments and many of the structures around town were made of wood. Only a basic skeleton of the town would remain once burned. Just because Safritian architecture posed a challenge to the Eloxian razing method didn't mean it would stop them from doing it.

Theo couldn't strike yet. The moment wasn't right. If it was her and her crew against 100 soldiers amongst a sea of sitting people, her crew wouldn't live to see another day. But if they didn't strike, they would also be subject to a fight. They were surrounded and overtaken. They needed commotion, a stir. If that happened, Theo could kill those with torches before they got a chance to reach any structures. These weren't soldiers that were a part of the rebel squashers. These were wannabe war heroes that thought they could be something if they razed a place to the ground.

The leader commanded one of the torch bearers to come closer and snatched the torch out of his hand. He walked over to Giorina and the box of items she had been guarding and tilted the torch down. He held it to the box and watched as it started to catch flame. Soon enough, the entire box was engulfed in red and Giorina screamed out as the contents were destroyed.