Revolution

Chapter 7: Leaders

Althea had a bad habit of chewing her nails when she was nervous. 

Most people just chewed the edges, but she chewed them down until it hurt, and then she continued to chew on the flesh until she could taste the coppery mixture of blood on her tongue. This particular habit disgusted her, but she found that the pain helped distract her from nerves and stress. Although Althea never had soft feminine hands to begin with, her fingers usually looked as if she was mauled by cuticle hungry beavers. Or maybe she was the beaver. Countless times, Chief had caught her in the act and slapped her hand away with a look of heavy disapproval scrawled onto his face. But right now, he wasn't paying her 'beaver' habits any attention and was instead massaging his temple and staring at the round polished table in front of him.

Besides herself and Chief, there were three other people at the table. Each leaders from respective villages, wearing the same solemn look. An uncomfortable silence stretched out into the room and Althea found herself fidgeting in her seat. This was the first time that she had met all of the leaders in a private setting.

"Let's begin the meeting." The first person to speak was a tall blonde woman who had an evil looking scar along her arm. She was a medium build and had broad shoulders that were pushed back with authority. And although she wore an eyepatch on her right eye, Althea unconsciously began to shrink under her firm gaze. "By now, everyone must be aware of the severity of the situation with the Royals."

A murmur of agreement passed through the room, some people opened their mouths as if to speak, but closed them again just as fast, as if they had suddenly become incapable of forming words. Though the hesitant look on their faces clearly showed that they had a lot to say. Seeing that nobody was keen to say anything, the woman clenched her jaw and continued, "We cannot wait any longer. I will not allow my people to lay down as a doormat for the wealthy to trample on."

"War is not an option, Aadya," Chief replied, his voice was firm but tired. As if he had had the same conversation on several different occasions. "It would be suicide. We need to wait until-"

"Until what? Until your little 'hero' saves us all?" She shot an accusing look at Althea, who immediately took her fingers out of her mouth and wiped the blood on her coat. Aadya gave a look of pure contempt and turned her focus back to the entire table. "Last month alone, more than ten people were killed by the Royals in my village and she has done nothing to help," the words seemed seethe out of her mouth, Althea felt like she had been splashed with a vial of poison.

"B-But the prophecy-"

Prophecy?

"Coren," Chief warned.

Aadya slammed both her hands on the table. "The prophecy is a lie and you have all been blinded by false hope."

The man who had spoken looked startled and hastily recoiled in his seat. Althea felt sympathetic for him, it looked like it took him a lot of effort just to speak to Aadya.

He looked too scrawny and short for a man in his thirties. And a wisp of thin brown hair covered his scalp. Perhaps it was his large round eyes that darted fearfully across the floor or the way he wringed his bony fingers, but he reminded her of a boy who was on the verge of tears because his mother was too poor to afford toys for him. Nothing like the other people sitting around the table.

"Sugar, the prophecy never lies." An albino woman sat at the opposite end of the table, she spoke lazily with slurred words as if the syllables were liquid gliding across her tongue. Despite the shade of her hair, she looked young and almost careless, but her eyes had a slight bitterness that could only be found in those who've experienced bloodshed. The woman peered at Aadya, who was fuming, through her slanted eyes and gave a satisfied smirk. "Revenge should never be the weapon of choice," she tutted before slouching back into her seat and flipping her hair over her shoulder. Aadya's face screwed up with fury. It was clear that the conversation was heading towards a touchy subject.

"How dare-"

"That's enough, both of you," Chief grimaced, folding his arms across his chest, not before catching a chuckle from the woman slumping against her chair. "Especially you, Sabella. We did not come here to quarrel today." Sabella looked annoyed, but nonetheless leaned in towards the table. Suddenly all the attention was directed at Althea. If she thought being the outsider of the conversation was awkward, being the centre of attention was a hundred times worse. She felt as though she was being unravelled by their gazes.

"Now would be the time to do it," Aadya said after a long moment of silence, her face washed of all emotion.

"W-What if she g-gets scared?" The little man asked, his fingers knotting themselves in a ridiculous mess.

"Then tell her not to." Aadya demanded, clearly losing her patience. She forcefully grabbed Althea's wrist and held it tightly with her hand. Chief grabbed her other hand with a reassuring smile and all the others did the same until they formed an irregular shape.

"Hey pumpkin?"

"Yes?" Althea looked at Sabella, who, much to her dismay seemed to glow brighter with every passing second.

"Don't get scared."

And then without warning, the world burst into a stream of blinding white light and Althea collapsed to the floor.

*can we just point out how great I am at thinking up creative titles? Jokes. I kid, I kid.