Puppet {ManxMan}

CHAPTER 29

Our mission was to get into the underside of the Black Market city and seek out a few of the rebellion's informants to plant questions about the Asper and see where that got us. This time around Rhett was staying at the base, thankfully, as was Cass. He wanted to stick around to help Arthur with Ian, which reminded me that I really needed to talk to him about what happened at the Con Rồng.

The group for our excursion would consist of me, Dakota, who I'm surprised was actually willing to walk around considering he got shot, Jayden, and for some reason Kailas. I didn't like the idea of him coming with us, leaving the safety of the base, but he insisted.

"It wouldn't be the first time I've left the base, you know," he pointed out, "I try to be involved in at least some of the hands on stuff. Most of the time they don't let me leave though," he said this while looking over at Cass, Arthur, and Jayden, who simply glared back at him.

My arms were folded as I leaned back in the seat I'd taken at Kailas' right. It was dinner, and evidently most of the soldiers ate together unless they had family in the settlement, so the majority of the rebellion was all converged in the huge dining hall that I was only now seeing.

Dakota was sitting to my right, and Jayden was on his other side, with Gale just after. Cass took the chair to Kailas' left, followed by Arthur and then Malachi. I could see Rhett and Roman further down the table, feeling rather thankful they weren't any closer. I really didn't trust those two...

"If you die, the rebellion dies with you," Jayden said, and Kailas rolled his eyes, which honestly surprised me.

Kailas looked positively amused at the statement.

"If you plan to give up on the Vidroh simply because I'm gone, then maybe I overestimated your loyalty," I noticed the dramatic way Jayden tensed up, and curiosity filled me as Kailas smiled, "Would you really just give up?"

"No," Jayden said, "but no one wants you to die just to prove our loyalty to this cause."

"I won't die," Kailas sighed in irritation, "I do know how to hold my own in a fight."

"Not well," Dakota mumbled against his forkful of salad, smiling innocently when Kailas glared at him.

"If we do run into trouble, which I doubt, I'm not concerned," Kailas said, looking back at Jayden, "You'll be there, Dakota and Demi will be there. I'm not worried about my safety at all."

"Usually leaders of rebellions would be subject to targeting," I stated, "They sent me after you to get rid of you and raze this rebellion. Who's to say Con Rồng won't try again? I may have been their best, but I was hardly the only one; and the new group, what if they send people after you?"

"Again, I'm not worried," Kailas insisted, "In any case I can't just sit on my hands, I refuse to do that. If I'm leading this group, then I need to be an example. You all might be fine with hiding me away from danger, but not everyone wants that," the look on his face was almost disturbing as he looked down the long table, "Some of them won't follow me if they see me as weak. They'll want a leader who's willing to risk himself for his people, so that's what I need to do."

"Roman...," I said, and Kailas turned to me, "He's like that..."

"Yea," Kailas sighed and leaned back in his chair, raking his fingers back through the front of his hair to push it away from his face, "There are a few people like that. It's one big reason why he's not on a higher level than he is. Even if sometimes I can't blame him for arguing with me, rebellion in a rebellion won't get us anywhere. We can't risk a coup when we're already so scattered and unorganized."