OUR FOREST OF THORNS | tbosas ✔️

031 || The Thorns and The Cherry Tree

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE —          The Thorns and The Cherry Tree ..

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LATE AFTERNOON ..

           He looked down at the note he had received about an hour ago as if he genuinely expected for the words to have changed to something else in the span of the few minutes which had passed since his last read of it. It wasn't every day that he could boast with such a win sliding under his belt and it certainly wasn't an every day occurrence that someone like his niece would beseech his aid either - he was entitled a bit of bewilderment, thus, after a quick appreciation of the perfect calligraphy in which it had been written, he resisted no further reading the telegram once more:

"Dear uncle,

Though I wish I could have written to you with more compassion, I must be the bearer of bad news as I do not know how much time I have left before these people kill me. By the time you receive this, I am most likely held hostage already in the Northern province of District 12 where my weapon manufacturing endeavors have led me to drill a new mine to harvest a material I had hoped to be my ladder to true power.

I see now that I have been wrong and unlike my brother, I know there is wisdom in seeing where defeat becomes inevitable. I have no guarantee that this telegram will reach you in time as the people here are savages without bounds who do not listen to reason, nor do I have the certainty that your offer still stands at all, but if it does - please, help me get back to the Capitol.

Your beloved niece,
Daphne Ravinstill"

He lowered the telegram face down in his lap once again and looked up at the interior of the hovercraft he ordered to leave the Capitol with in order to make haste for District 12. Looking upwards, he looked at each and every Peacekeeper he could command on this incursion without raising any skeptical objections from the suspecting Congress already scrambled in chaos thanks to that early afternoon's news.

EARLIER THAT DAY, MORNING ..

"You're nervous," Coriolanus noted, looking back at Daphne to see that she was still reading through her speech written on a couple of cards, only now her hands have started shaking too. "There's still time for us to turn back," he offered, unafraid to show that he wasn't entirely happy with this plan they had made on a whim. Though getting rid of the man wounded in the accident at the mine went smoothly, as he had anticipated, the absence didn't go unnoticed. Since then, merely overnight, riots have riled up the province - the people demanded answers, they refused to work any longer and they begun calling the Uranium mine a cursed ground.

"We won't gun any of them down," Daphne refused his pitched idea through gritted teeth this time around, only for her anger to be subdued by an exasperated sigh making her drop her cards down and finally look up. Her gaze was drawn across the interior of the military vehicle with which they were being transported from the base camp to the town square of the little settlement of the province, before settling momentarily on looking out the window and appreciating that they were almost there.

"We wouldn't kill all of them," Coriolanus defended. "Just a few would be enough. To send a message-"

"Like the Games do?" Daphne interrupted, finally meeting his gaze. "Threaten the life of even the most powerless creatures and they will fight back. Such is life, Coriolanus, and I am not about to have the Capitol hear about my endeavors when we can still handle this quietly."