The Rebel Assassin

Chapter 54: Aftermath

Aaaaaahhh I know I haven't updated in a month! My fiction writing class has redirected all my writing energy into a short story about a certain immoral vampire and her makeshift family (revisions, revisions, revisions!). But as much as I love these vampires, it makes me soooooo anxious to miss updates. So here's the best I could pull together for this week!

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"I don't know what you want me to tell you," Caer sighed.

"I want you to tell me if there's any truth behind her show!" Magali never called the rebel assassin by her name anymore. No one who heard the acid in her voice could be confused who she meant when she spoke about her.

Caer lowered his eyes. It was enough of a sign that he couldn't tell her what she wanted to hear that she swept her arm across his desk and sent an inkwell flying. He didn't flinch.

"I do not believe," he said in a measured voice, "that any of what we saw was genuine."

"But you won't promise me that." Her voice was hoarse.

"I can't, my queen. The history of Guardians is too sparingly-recorded and muddled with rumors to be sure what power they hold. Evidence confirms that that they do encounter prophecy-ridden dreams at least once in their lives, for example, but how far beyond the bounds of ordinary their innate talents go has never been thoroughly tested." He must have sensed that her fury and sense of helplessness was only growing, because he grabbed for a change of subject. "You need a new auxiliary guard captain."

That was right. Luca was dead. Irina was still in a state of shock. Magali had not seen her cry, but no one who saw her white face and vacant eyes could doubt that she was mourning her brother. Of course, few people had seen Irina since the disaster of the Day of Prosperity. She had locked herself in the Laycreek castle apartments and emerged only for the funeral and the Prosperity banquet.

Magali had insisted they hold some event to celebrate the holiday that had been ruined, to show that they would not be galled by what had happened, but she was sure that everyone, not excluding herself, had spent the entire time wound tense as a spring, waiting for another disastrous interruption. The Laycreeks alone had seemed too wrapped up in their grief to care what happened.

If only the attack had taken someone else. Someone less loved by all. Someone who wouldn't have caused her advisor to withdraw in grief, and leave Magali herself with an important vacant position.

"I assume you have suggestions," she said to Caer.

"I have the list Tobias considered after Blaisze resigned. The problem is that he rightly deemed many of them unfit for the position, and the more worthy options will be significantly less interested now that the last captain was killed by the reanimated corpse of another."

"He was not—"

"By what appeared to be a reanimated corpse," Caer hastened to correct himself. "Of course, we know Blaisze clearly never died. But you must be prepared to see that the position has lost some of its luster and draw for people who could find better prospects."

She stormed away a few steps, only to be foiled by the lack of room. Her nobles had insisted on her needing extra guards after that bastard-girl found her way into the castle, and the only way to escape their presence when she needed privacy was to move her offices to more secure rooms to placate them. The rooms were smaller. They huddled in around her, made her feel cowed.

"I do have some other suggestions," Caer said. His patience was a welcome centering influence on her, but she could not respond with the appropriate calm today. She threw herself, unqueenly, into a chair.

Caer passed her a sheet of paper, already talking before she could read it. "I know it's unorthodox, since she's unknown to the nobility, and her experience is in the city guard rather than the army."

"From Maenar?" She questioned, looking at the paper. "And she's not even the city guard commander?" She already had her doubts.

"No, she's a lieutenant. But the guard-commander speaks highly of her, and she has a vivid reputation in the city. By all accounts, she's effective and ruthless, but her behavior suggests that she could live up to the more polished standards we have for the auxiliary captain.

"Lijah Daimer," she read from the paper. She shrugged. "I trust your judgement, and she has experience dealing with rebels. Call her to the castle."

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The Maenarian city guards' barracks were broken into and looted in the night following the Day of Prosperity. All the guards on watch around them had been killed, and nearly all the weapons in the armory stolen. It was very clearly not a one- or three-person job, but a massive undertaking. When Ysmay shared the news with us over breakfast, we all shared a long silence. It was a victory, but like all victories, it would have its cost.

The timing of the incident, as well as the fact that it was clearly a joint effort of many who frequented Maenar's Thieves' Dens, would make it obvious that Maenar's thieves were allied with us. The city guard would crack down hard.

It would almost have been better for them not to strike when they did, in order to keep Magali in the dark about how far our alliances stretched for a little while longer, but Ysmay had weighed the benefits and insisted we all concentrate our first strikes in the same period of time. This wasn't just a battle against the royal throne and the nobility. It was a battle to gain the support of Solangians. They needed to hear our voice, too loud for Magali to silence us in any way she might try. That was why our Guardian demonstrations had included one in the marketplace. That was why the thieves of Maenar hung looted scarlet guards' uniforms all across the city, each painted roughly with the Phoenix's feather.

When we finally burned, we needed to burn bright. Only then could we hope there would be enough of us left to rise from the ashes.

"So, what's today's plan?" I asked, forcing a cheerfulness I didn't feel.

Joshua shrugged. "Wreak havoc, I guess."

A real grin spread across my face. "Oh man, that's my favorite kind of plan."