The Orb And The Onslaught {COMPLETE}

Bingo!

More plans were made while they waited for darkness to fall, Cyan was almost military in her instructions but she wasn't unkind.

"Garnet and Sable'll be staying with the 'orses an' carriage, we'll signal 'em whether it's good or bad news. They'll be coming in or we'll be wanting outta there as fast as we can go." The two people she mentioned, nodded their heads and Cyan continued. "Once we're inside, we'll 'ave t'make plans as we go but I give an order, ya follow it no matter 'ow crazy it sounds, got it?"

The rebels agreed without questioning her, they trusted her implicitly and it showed, Florence smiled to herself while Cyan gave the rest of the instructions. It didn't take long for darkness to surround them, soon they could only see by moonlight and luckily the skies were clear. Cyan signaled them immediately after speaking and they were off on foot; they ran in single file out from behind the hillock and headed for the border fence.

It wasn't clear at first how they were going to get through, Florence was a few people behind Cyan and couldn't see what she was doing. But the rebels worked fast and soon the line was moving, when she neared the border she finally saw what they were doing. A small tunnel that had been hidden behind bushes and rocks, which had been moved aside, was staring up at her; it was big enough for a fully grown man to climb into.

Cyan was standing at the entrance and she held a hand out to Florence, instead of insisting on doing it herself, Florence took the help and was lowered down. The tunnel took a steep decline underground and when Florence let go of Cyan's hand, she and the cats, slid down the tunnel and into the darkness. She only slid for a few seconds when her feet hit something solid and stopped her.

The cats meowed and from what Florence could tell, they'd somehow landed on top of each other.

A second later, her eyes adjusted to the very dim light and she saw there were gas lamps attached to the walls of the tunnel. They didn't give off much light but it was enough for her to see by and she could make out the backs of the rebels crawling down the tunnel in front of her. The sound of sliding earth made her crawl away just in time to miss being squashed by Quentin. A thump later and he was on his hands and knees where she'd just been.

"That was unexpected," he grumbled, he squinted until his eyes adjusted and he crawled over to Florence. "Are you alright?"

"Of course, it wasn't that bad but we should get going so we don't hold up the line."

The cats went first, followed by Florence and then Quentin, they soon caught up with the other rebels. The tunnel looked to be hand made, someone had hacked away to build and secure it, putting up the lights and keeping it hidden until the next person needed it.

They crawled on their hands and knees for several minutes before the tunnel started to ascend. It was slow at first but soon became vertical and a ladder shot up in front of them. The cats went up first, it was almost comical to watch them navigate the steps but they were still faster than anyone else. Florence took it carefully, she could hear Quentin fussing from below but she just concentrated on where she was going.

It wasn't long before a hand reached out and helped her over the edge of the tunnel, Florence couldn't figure out where they were at first. It was darker than inside the tunnel and she bumped into a few people until her eyes adjusted to the darkness again. They were inside a building with no lights, Florence could just make out the bodies around her and the walls around them. She moved into a space away from the tunnel exit and waited for their next move.

When Cyan finally joined them, the room was full to bursting and she had to squeeze through to head up the group.

She spoke just loud enough for them all to hear, "We 'ave t'be quiet and not draw attention to ourselves 'til we 'ave to. From 'ere we go straight for Descurehll, the capital, and from there we'll find out where the cult is working from. We're gonna 'ave to split up 'til then, anyone ya pass who's poor or sick, let 'em know something's going down and ter stay away from Descurehll, don't need any extra casualties."