The Revolt | SLOW UPDATES

| Chapter Seven |

"She would not stop talking."

Maxwell hid a smile behind the book in his hands as he listened to Farrah recount her time with Kira the day before.

"But, I suppose it was beneficial. She did say a few...interesting...things about the royal family," Farrah shrugged. 

"Such as...?"

"Well, first off," Farrah continued, "The queen is pregnant again."

Maxwell, shocked, lowered the book down. "She- what? I thought..."

"I know, I thought they were done after...you know, Aeslin. And they have the prince, anyway."

Maxwell nodded, recalling the rebellious Princess Aeslin. She was exiled to the Outsiders Lands, west of the Vast City--the same lands that stretched across the Gorge. No one knew exactly what she did, or what happened to her. All they knew is that she was exiled, and her name was never to be spoken of again. 

The two sat in silence for the a long moment, reading pages from Alton Eves' journal. As Maxwell read Eves' speculations regarding the artifact, he noticed Farrah frown as her eyes scanned the paper she was reading. Her facial expression reached one of disgust as she finally crumpled it up and threw it down on the ground.

"He was insane! And here I thought he was making this amazing discovery. He died for a lie, Maxwell," Farrah exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air, "This revolt is going to be this country's last hope, and whether or not we find this book does not matter anymore."

Maxwell stared at her, then glanced down at the paper she had thrown. He picked it up and slowly smoothed it out to see what had caused this reaction from her.

"I don't know what he was thinking when he wrote that," Farrah said as Maxwell began to read.

This book has brought me to the convicting conclusion that there is a God. I will continue to search and study this book to find out more about this Being, though I fear my life is wanted by the king and I may not have much time left to do so.

"A God?" Maxwell thought aloud as he finished reading. "No wonder the king and queen want this book for themselves. Nobody is more powerful than them."

"You're missing the point, Max," Farrah sighed, "My father died for a book of fairy tales. When you look at this world we're living in, you would have to be utterly insane to conclude that there is a God. This is it, this is life. The only way things will change is if we lead this revolt and succeed. Let's just forget about the book now, all right?"

Maxwell frowned, glancing over the paper once more. Alton knew that he didn't have much time left, yet he still didn't hand over the book to the kingdom. Surely he wasn't insane--these were not the words of a wild man. You could see Alton wrestled with his findings, and he was a reasonable man. Maxwell decided that he had no choice but to continue to search for the book.

"You forget that I've been assigned the task of finding the book, Farrah," Maxwell said, folding up the paper and sliding it into his pocket, "I have to keep searching."

Farrah cast a glance at the stack of papers in front of her. "Well, you're free to keep looking through my father's papers. Just don't let it get in the way of what matters. The people need us, and we can't let them down."

Without another word, Farrah slipped out of the room, leaving Maddox to scour Alton Eves' journals for clues.

I need to find this book.

_____

"Whatever you're seeking, let us know what it is soon. We're all counting on you, Seeker. You're our last hope."

Those words continued to ring in the Seeker's ears as they sat atop a building overlooking the city. The sun painted beautiful shades of orange, red, and yellow across the horizon, leaving the Seeker to wonder how such beauty came about.

They shook their head and refocused on the task before them. They needed to find the book before the government could get their hands on it, but more importantly, they needed to find out what it was they were seeking.

Hope.

Truth.

The words of the Seeker's father suddenly resurfaced their memories. "If you have the truth, you have hope. Always seek the truth, and hope will follow."

Before they could ponder this, the sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted their thoughts. They quickly jumped up and grabbed their knife, facing the stranger, only to find the same young woman as before. She stood with her arms crossed, her messy brown hair blowing in her face. With a huff, she pushed her hair out of the way, now focusing her attention on the Seeker's hand which held the knife.

"You can put the knife away now," she said after a long pause. Realizing they still gripped the knife tightly in their hand, the Seeker quickly hide it away in their cloak once more, their gaze settling on the soft--yet determined--eyes of the woman.

Her lips tipped upward slightly as she clasped her hands together. "I'm Eliana, by the way. Eliana Tarquin."

Tarquin. The name was familiar, though the Seeker couldn't quite match the name to a face they've seen, other than the woman standing in from of them. They acknowledged her introduction with a slight nod.

"Are you not going to speak at all?" Eliana asked, raising her eyebrows.

The Seeker simply shook their head. 

Eliana huffed, crossing her arms. "Well I want to help you, and how am I supposed to do that if you won't say anything? Listen, if I were going to share your little secret, you could easily have me dead before I said a word, couldn't you?"

While the Seeker knew that was true, they grimaced upon hearing the impression this woman--and probably many others--had of them. They had never actually killed someone before, no matter how close they had come at times in self defense.

"So...? Are you going to speak?" Eliana took a step forward and peered up at the Seeker. 

Before the two could continue their exchange, the sound of an arrow whistling past them left their hearts pounding.