The Arcane Rebellion- The Arcane Series #1

Chapter 3

Layla

"Could you- could you just repeat all that, please?", Amir asked, more shocked than confused.

I sighed before speaking. "We go to the square, just in time for Pliver's speech. We get up on the podium...-"

Uriah interrupted me. "And kill him?", he asked, disbelief evident on his face.

"Indeed.", I said and the three men looked at each other with wide eyes.

When I had proposed my idea to Xavi, he was shocked and I had left him speechless for a moment. His first instinct was to ask 'How do you suppose we do that?'. I'd told him we'd have to get rid of the knights one way or another. After that, we wouldn't have to worry about anything else. The folk may be scared of us but they love us. The politicians will be too scared to do anything. Pliver is our only target this time. Murdering him will be a warning to the others.

After some explaining, the men were mostly on board. They were skeptical, still probably are, but they trust me. I don't know if they should.

***

All getting ready took was putting on my mask.

Each one of us has a unique mask and a code name, so we could hide our identities. My code name is Justice. My mask is plain white and covers my whole face. Sometimes, it gets a bit hard to breathe in it, but thankfully I don't have to wear it for long amounts of time. 

Xavi's code name is Hermit. His mask is black and beaked and covers his face fully. He said he wanted to get in touch with his 'doctor roots', as he said. Unlike those doctors before him, he doesn't stuff the beak with herbs. 

Uriah's code name is Magician. His mask is white and red with a pair of goggles that highly resemble a pair of wielding glasses. No one is sure why he chose such a mask, but he liked it and so did we. 

Amir's code name is Fool. His mask is a standard jester mask, but in much darker colors. Perfectly matches his code name. 

We were in the stable, saddling our horses and making sure we had everything we needed. "Amir, you've got the smoke bombs?", I asked once again, making sure he'd brought them.

"'Course I do, boss.", he said, pointing at the bag hanging from his horse's saddle.

I was almost done saddling my horse when Xavi approached me. "Are you sure about this?", he whispered into my ear so the other two men wouldn't hear.

"Yes, I am. Are you doubting me, Xavi?", I asked him, glaring into his face.

"No, not at all.", he said, putting his hands up in surrender. "I was just making sure, that's all.", he said, leaving me to finish saddling my horse. When we were all ready, we headed towards the square where the speeches would be.

As we came into everyone's view, all we could hear was whispers.

'It's the Horsemen!'

'Something bad is about to happen, I can feel it.'

'What are they doing here?'

Mister Pliver stopped his speech just for us as the knights started making their way to us. "What are you doing here? You know you're not welcome!", he yelled out and I could see that the politicians were already panicking.

"Oh, you know, we're just stopping by. We really wanna hear what you have to say.", I said in my sweetest voice, getting off of my horse and heading between the people toward the podium. The knights pulled out their swords as I got closer. "Gentlemen, put down your swords, we're just here to chat, that's all.", I said, looking at the three knights and then at Xavi, Amir and Uriah, nodding slightly at them, telling them to get ready.