Josefine

We Light The Way

It was harder, living on her own without Trixie, but Seffy was managing. She had been moving for about six months now, robbing stores, murdering, sleeping in abandoned barns at night and moving through woods and wasteland in the day. Several times, she had found herself scanning crowds for Trixie, but always stopped herself. Trixie had made her decision. Seffy was certain that either she was dead, captured, or didn't want to be found. Either way, Seffy wasn't going to be looking out for her.

Things were changing. Posters had started to appear, all sporting a drawing of a torch. On the stucco and concrete walls of cities and towns, the phrase we light the way scrawled everywhere that Seffy went. Occasionally, people would approach Seffy in dark alleys, pass notes to her in smoky taverns, murmur the phrase in her ear as they passed. Always the same phrase. We light the way.

A rebellion. That's what they whispered. The dark-haired woman in the yellow dress, small basket of stale bread over one arm. The young boy, younger even than Trixie, his breath tickling Seffy's ear. The butcher's wife, pale eyes weary, and the note slipped in with Seffy's receipt. The girl with the mangled arm, Seffy's age. The scarred older man, leaning heavily on his cracked plastic cane. The whisper running through the crowd like a susurrus. The sudden silence when a Guard rode past. The way it rose up again, indomitable, never quite gone.

A half-concealed conversation, had across a bowl of herbed rice under the smog-concealed stars around a pit of glowing embers. That phrase explained by the blonde-haired girl with the missing eye and the knives at her belt. Her companions, the boy with the short, stubbly dark hair and the mirthless smile and the old woman who always seemed to be plaiting something - hair, twigs, grass, bootlaces.

"We're part of the rebellion," the blonde, Cassandra, stated bluntly. "Fighting for freedom and equality. We're not here to hurt innocent people. We're here to take the power-hungry bastards down."

"Cass," the boy, Horus, warned. "She doesn't need your opinions on them. I'm sure she has her own."

Cass glared at him, pale eye glinting in the firelight, but calmed down a little. "We're headed for Garlainn to meet with some more rebels. Are you with us or are you going solo?"

"We don't mind either way," murmured the old woman, Sekhmet. 

Seffy hesitated. She didn't want an alliance or liability, but she wanted to join the rebellion. 

"What terms would I be joining you on?" She demanded.

"Sekhmet, would you give her the terms?" Cass inclined her head to the old woman.

Sekhmet's dark eyes seemed to freeze Seffy in place. Seffy felt as though she could lose herself deep in them, but she forced herself to keep present. She was dimly aware of Cass and Horus watching them intently, of the embers crackling softly.

"As long as our alliance shall last, so long shall I honour your trust. So long shall I trust thy sword. So long shall I hold no fear of thy voice. So long shall I walk with you. As long as our alliance shall last, so long shalt thou honour my trust. So long shalt thou trust my sword. So long shalt thou call my name when darkness falls. So long shall we walk together. Our alliance shall close at the close of Life, else at our council. Under these terms shall our alliance rise."

"Good terms," Seffy shrugged. "I agree to the terms exactly as Sekhmet has described them. Do you accept?"

Cass nodded. "We accept. We agree to the terms also. Welcome to our group."

Horus grinned. "We move in thirty minutes."