Rebellion - 4 - (Edited) (Patreon)

I was not happy with the review pass I gave this chapter, specifically of the ending of the War Planning scene and the final scene with Vivi. They were rushed due to the whole 'aunt blew up the house's power' problem I had and the exhaustion I felt from fixing it. That's also the reason it was titled wrongly initially.

Re-reviewed and those sections ahve been adjusted; the Vivi section has been rewritten entirely and feels a bit more... real, less 'show person telling story' forcing.

Context hasn't changed, so don't feel obligated to reread or anything.
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My dear apprentice,

I know not if you will receive this, or if another will intercept it, but know that I did not mean for you to be caught up in this. Were I able I would seek to rescue you, but though I might find you, I fear the attempt would only place you in greater danger.

You are innocent, blameless for whatever crimes I have been accused of, and any punishment placed upon you is unjust.

Stay strong, Trix. Genn might be an arrogant fool of a king but I think he is not yet so far gone, and his family remain good people. Disavow me if you must, serve as a healer for the royalists, provide whatever magic they demand; what is important to me is that you remain safe and unharmed. Not that you fight by my side.

A cough interrupted my writing and I glanced up at the maid. "Ma'am, his lordship will see you now." She said, a faint frown and impatient eyes aimed my way.

I nodded and returned to my letter.

Were the man I was meeting anything more than a baronet, someone who held a title but no actual status in the nobility itself, I might give enough of a damn to attend his summons. But the wanna-a-be toff had already left me waiting for hours.

He could wait until I was done.

This is not your war any more than it is any other child's.

Sincerely,

Gwyneth Arevin, Witch of the Order of Amber, and member of the Northgate Rebellion.

P.S. To whatever agent of the king might read this, know that to harm a child for the crimes of another is an act without honour. The girl in your custody has done nought but save the lives of Gilnean soldiers who fought to defend our homeland and never once considered rebellion.

Though it was the king's actions that brought us to this, not once would we stoop to including children. Not even Princess Tess; she is as blameless as any other child.

Sealing the letter I passed it to one of the ravens that had followed me from the wall, curious about my activities and knowing I'd provide food for them whenever they asked. They absolutely adored out of season fruit and if I left out an apple I'd get to watch them squabble over it for hours.

"His lordship–"

"Is not a lord, and I would appreciate if you remembered such." I said, standing and brushing myself off. My clothes were spotless, but, irritatingly, I seemed to be in my final growth spurt; and not in height. I was going to make something new relatively soon.

My brassiere wasn't fitting right anymore and it was horribly uncomfortable. At least Vivi would appreciate them.

The maid tutted. "Lord Dober expects proper manners from his guests, rebels or not. This way, ma'am."

What followed was a fairly typical meeting for the minor lordlings, baronets, and holdings in the Ember Hills. Prospects out here were always defined by their mines; coal, iron, and the occasional seam of silver, lead, and zinc. And, of course, sulphur around the hot-springs that gave the hills their names. Mines came and went, and minor settlements received minor nobility or titled commoners to oversee them.

Who usually cared more for presentation than their lieges did, or at least it seemed so from my recent experience. That and where the money came from – as when that dried up, so would their holdings.

"And will Lord Crowley reopen trade with Hillsbrad?" Dober asked, gesturing to a truly stupendous amount of coal stockpiled outside his windows. "Lord Kaid sided with him, I know, and he controls the mountain road. Sulphur is still in high enough demand but I just can't shift all this damnable coal!"

"You would have to supply the rebellion exclusively–"

His daughter snorted dismissively. "As if we could do aught else! You've got us boxed in. Will ye take what we have by force, or let us trade as we did afore the king built his gates?"

"It is not whether he will let you," I answered, keeping my frustration under tight wraps, "as he has no wish to be king. However, though the northern wall remains unsafe to pass Hillsbrad is as of yet untouched. Trade with the peoples there could only enrich us all."

"Hah!" She barked. "Hear that, father? Straight out of court."

I rather had to disagree, but I'd gotten a rather annoying amount of practice as I flew around the Ember Hills checking up on people the last few days. I rather wished I'd missed the raven Darius had sent putting me onto this task after I finished at the wall.

"So long as we can trade, that is good enough." Dober said solidly. "I imagine Lord Crowley will want coal as well, for good steel, and little is better than Lord Dober's coal..."

Tuning out the rest of his speech, one I'd heard at least three times in the last week, I marked them down as joining the rebellion. We didn't care for the coal half as much as the sulphur, and even then only because Lord Feldon, the count who ruled over him, had stated his loyalty to the king.

Maybe Dober would get his peerage from this. Maybe not. Feldon wouldn't last long with how surrounded he was.

-oOoOo-

Staring up into the sky where the Blue Child hung curiously I lowered my arms. I had returned home before Lorna and Vivi, with Darius still assembling his forces and tasking me to make my own preparations; between training Eustace, patching up my student's healing skills, and helping Frazzle – who had showed up while I was gone – with enchanting equipment I had plenty to do.

But, remembering my resolve from our fight with Detheroc, that I could wait for someone else to become Gilneas' hero, I couldn't neglect my own training either.

I had tried to call upon the magic I had used against Detheroc, that had driven me to my very limits, yet had been so very devastating. A Starfall, what I thought of as the signature of the Priestess' of Elune... but though the Blue Child answered my call, heeded summons, and the magic was there at my fingertips...

The curiosity I felt, the wonder over what I would strike with the moon's power, made me hesitate.

That feeling was a reminder that, though the magic I used was ostensibly mine, I called out to things beyond me to act as I did. The forests and land bent so easily to my will these days that it scarcely took thought, but it was still the power of Nature I wielded. The stars listened and answered without care, their starlight easily moulded and directed, but it was a distant echo of something greater. While the winds would dance to my tune gleefully, they whispered and whirled at their own pace.

And, above it all, the Blue Child was something more than even that. Aware and alive, caring and curious, but enigmatic and evanescent also. To call on the moon's power had meaning.

Who was I to use it simply and recklessly? To wield it freely?

If the Blue Child could read my mind or emotions, it gave no indication. That same comforting blanket wrapped up in its light washing over me as it had countless times before in a manner that could never last, not with the moon's travels, but promised its return.

No different it might be, but it was answer enough. "Tears of the Earth Mother, Daughter of Elune, I don't know the truth of the stories. But... you know mine, don't you. You've been watching all along."

How long had I felt that comforting embrace? The entirety of this life? It had been there when I first stood beneath Tal'Doren.

When I first took my steps along this road of mine. Like an old companion I scarcely knew I'd had.

I raised my hands to the sky once more and closed my eyes. "I have no enemies this day, no foes to break, merely a desire to learn and be better. Grant me your power this day so that I shall not falter when it is needed." With sight that wasn't sight, hearing that wasn't hearing, I felt the magic build around me. My clothes and hair drifted upward as gravity danced under the Astral power I channelled.

No words were needed, but it felt right. "Y ser yn disgyn." The stars fall.

All was silent as night turned to day for an instant, a beam of Astral Light tinged blue splitting the river in twain, crashing into the bank and empty fields beyond.

The first dozen I stood strong against as ravens screamed their distress and took to the air, the third drove the air from my lungs and saw alarm bells ringing in the distance, and the sixth drove me to my knees once more and set my vision swimming behind closed eyelids. But I felt the direction, the calling, grow easier. The pattern and feeling, the connection, building.

Fraction by fraction, spell by spell, I would learn to control this. Make it something I could use. Though it was not something to be turned against my countrymen, it wasn't something I could ignore either.

Nor could I wipe the smile from my face at the feeling I was left with. Exhaustion, yes, but... a connection with something that had always been there that I hadn't even been aware of. The comfort I felt from the Blue Child's shining light tied into my magic from the very beginning.

"If you were going to practise your large scale spell you could have told me!" Frazzle chided me as she approached. "I would've warned Lord Crowley at least!"

"I'll tell you next time. I wasn't entirely sure I even could..."

She huffed and shook her head, stopping for a moment to work her magic. "Here." She thrust a glass of conjured milk into my hands. "I... I need to work on my magic too. If I'm going to keep up; Greataunt Kinder always did want me to get a Sorceress accreditation rather than Magus..."

Still smiling, I threw an arm around her. "Always good to have a mage in the party." I took a sip of her milk and held back my giggles for a moment. "For the food and drink, if nothing else."

Frazzle gave me an odd look before laughing herself, and... Climbing into my lap? "It is quite convenient, isn't it?" She made herself comfortable, pulling my winter cloak around her. "Though I will admit I am still envious of your ability to grow actual produce, conjured food never lasts long enough and isn't particularly scalable. Far too many people think we can just avert a famine with the wave of our hands or..."

Under the Astral beacon that was the Blue Child we ended up discussing aspects of each other's magic we found most convenient and desirable, all the way up until Darius arrived to discover what the commotion had been.

He wasn't angry, per say, but he was rather grumpy from being woken after midnight due to an unscheduled magical light show.

I rather deserved the scolding I got, honestly.

-oOoOo-

Darius' great hall had entirely been converted into a great war room, maps laid out detailing every part of Gilneas covering the immense tables and a throng of people mingling throughout the room. Of course, there were still snacks and drinks, though thankfully the cigars were to be kept in other rooms; He had called this meeting the same day Lorna and Vivi finally returned, giving us little time to have a reunion after weeks apart.

It was disappointing, but at the same time it was understandable. Inclement weather might've slowed the arrival of various lords, ladies, and other notables, but arrive they had.

Sir Magroth, Frazzle, Lottie Spellwaker, Lord Candren, Bishops Miller and Warren – to my surprise, considering Celestine was working with the church to remain neutral; I'd need to find out what exactly was going on later – Commander Hersham, a great force of more minor lords like those I'd met with in the Ember Hills, and one deeply irate Lady Tulvan who was trying to fix her windswept and slightly dishevelled appearance.

I could easily recognise the windswept appearance of someone who'd been riding at high altitudes, so she must've come in with Lorna and Vivi.

"Gwen!" Vivi called, rushing over and taking my hand. "Have you seen my brother? Howard should be here by now."

"I haven't." Northglade had been flying royal flags when I was there visiting Mama, and I went on to say as much. I hadn't thought much of it as they'd been there before, but even though Mama hadn't mentioned anything about a struggle in the town I realised I should've looked into him too...

It had just been assumed he would join the rebellion, like his father, and Darius hadn't asked me to seek him out. A green marker put down on Northglade without hesitation from the very start.

We quickly exhausted our ideas for what could have happened; with no word of a struggle or arrest from Mama I shot down the idea he'd been executed, and Vivi vehemently denied the very thought he'd side with the king. While we waited for Darius we chatted about what we'd been doing, which for the most part wasn't terribly interesting on either side...

But it was Vivi, I still wanted to know. And at least once she'd gotten to punch a royalist in the face for trying to trap them under the pretence of joining the rebellion. Dishonourable bastard.

A single trumpet blew, cutting through the buzz of conversation. "Announcing Lord Darius Crowley, Duke of the Pyremarsh and Amber Wood, Warden of the Wall, and Lord of the Northgate Woods!" Rodger yelled into the quiet before stepping to the side.

Darius walked into the hall at a sedate pace, his eyes tracking momentarily across each of the attendees. The rebels.

No doubt he was evaluating his support, the way we'd organised ourselves. The bishops had cloistered themselves together, even excluding Sir Magroth, while the paladin spent his time talking with Dame Hilda and Commander Hersham.

Frazlle was chatting with Lottie and Lorna, standing atop a chair to more easily match their gaze.

"About time you showed up." Lady Tulvan sniped, sloshing her wine glass at him. "I could have properly refreshed myself in the time it took for you to arrive. Hardly proper treatment for an equal, Crowley."

"Lady Tulvan." He returned flatly. "I had thought you firmly loyal to the crown, but I am... pleased to have you here."

Lord Candren barked out a laugh. "May her barbs be directed at our foes; they're worse than any gunfire I've experienced." He paused. "Though, perhaps not the worst thing I've experienced after the wall..."

The duchess of the Northern Headlands sniffed loudly in response, but didn't deign to respond to him.

Free from his interruption, Darius moved up to the head of the table. "Gentlemen, ladies, and gnome." Frazzle jumped and waved her hand in the air from her position atop her chair, eliciting a few chuckles. "We are all gathered here for different reasons. To stand against the man who sundered his own kingdom, who threw his people to the dogs–"

"Literally." Lady Tulvan interrupted darkly.

Darius nodded, and continued. "–or accused loyal men and women of treason for rescuing the last surviving royals of another land. We all have our grievances, we all have our reasons, but we are united in purpose." He placed his hands on the table, leaning over it and towards us all. "To end the tyranny of Genn Greymane."

"You don't need to bring out the speech making with me, Darius." Lottie said lazily from where she leaned against the wall. "He made me choose between Dalaran and Gilneas. Well, Dalaran's gone now, but I don't like the Gilneas he's made."

"To stand against the darkness, together, with all those who need our aid." Sir Magroth said solemnly. "Lordaeron has fallen but many can yet be saved, if only mighty Gilneas would act. And Genn Greymane shall not."

I held my hand over my chest. "He would see Gilneas isolated, alone, bleeding and broken by his decisions until it died. I say no."

Lady Tulvan swirled her glass, the blood red liquid running up to the very rim. "He killed my son."

All eyes turned to her... save the bishops. "Archbishop Tulvan was murdered in cold blood by King Greymane," Bishop Warren said with a bleak fervour. "I witnessed the act, and it was done so that he could unleash his shadow cursed beasts into the world."

Downing her glass, Lady Tulvan grinned maniacally. "Well, we've got the same reason then. Good. Always grand to have priests on side, an angry priest all the better." She marched up to the bishop and clasped her arm. "To taking barren branched neck." There was a brief moment of hesitation, then Bishop Warren pumped the arm once.

"To seeking the Light's justice for his crimes." She said, still fervent but less dark. "May he hang from a dozen trees, Dale Lord."

Off to the side Lord Candren offered a light shrug. "My reason is hardly so grand; he wished for me to scrap my fleets, to burn them, but you granted me a way to save them. For that, I owe you. And I owe you thrice over for the adventure you granted my daughter. House Candren stands with you."

Darius smiled grimly and lowered his gaze to the maps. "Then, let us begin. A war cannot be won without planning, nor can a rebellion succeed without preparations for our victory."

Though I unquestionably paid attention as we moved through the planning of the campaign, and understand why we focused as we did – securing our flanks by seizing the whole of the wall and Ember Hills, gaining control over the lines of supply by capturing Emberstone Village and the barge trains there – I had little to add.

My faint memories of strategy games, of playing at war in simulated worlds, was decades old and heavily abstracted. Logistics rarely had a part to play and was more than half of what we discussed.

Wherever I was sent would have the boon of near limitless food stores, not entirely independent due to a need for powder and shot but a significant boon to any deployment. Eustace would also end up serving in that role – not as the healer I might have imagined her to be tasked to be.

Communications with ravens, spells between Frazzle, Trysa – who had joined us with her family, though her elven heritage was a distinct complication – and Lottie, and messengers on horseback were all discussed ad nauseam.

Also considered, briefly, was the thought of capturing or otherwise enlisting more gryphons as mounts. Not that any save Lord Castern, who ruled over the land where they roosted and desired the prestige of being a gryphon rider like Lorna, thought it at all viable. Donovan had been raised with us almost from his hatching and Lorna had devoted her life to him for years; we simply didn't have that kind of time.

Nor a Wildhammer who might know other methods of taming a gryphon.

Any true offensive was, of course, still weeks if not months away. Winter had not yet left us here and travel was difficult for individuals let alone large armed forces and their gear; with the spring war would become more viable, but even then mud and rain would afflict and weaken any offensive.

Which led us on to what could be done to ease any such effort, to allow us the opportunity to act first.

"Warming charms, woven into scarves or other clothes, are certainly possible." I said in answer to Lady Tulvan's question. "At scale... even with my workshop, that will need a good bit of labour. And a lot of wool."

"Better to shove it on an amulet or the like." Lottie disagreed. "Would take the magic easier."

"If you're willing to spend on an excessive amount of golden rings, necklaces, bracelets, or other trinkets that is." Frazzle added with a cheerful and helpful smile. "You see, gold has a mystical association with the sun which allows it to connect to the element of fire, warmth, and invigoration better than other metals. Copper is an acceptable symbolic substitute, as is gold, but without Orichalcum alloying neither has the magical conductivity necessary for an effective–"

Lord Bowford puffed himself up as he interrupted. "Should we not consider prioritising forming an elite cadre to combat the Royal Guard?" He looked around the room briefly. "Those that fought so bravely against the demon lord first, of course. But we martial lords..."

"If you truly believe that the paladin and girls don't have enchanted gear already I have a wizzengeld to offer you." Lady Tulvan said snidely. Then she scoffed. "To inform you, you bloody fool of a shadelord, wars aren't won on the back of elites. Skirmishes, even some battles, but not wars."

"Unless we wish to raise the land and pillage all of Gilneas, we will need men to hold what we claim. And that we shall not do." Darius said firmly, meeting Bowford's gaze until he shrank back. "Lady Tulvan's request has merit."

She turned her nose up at him. "Why thank you, Crowley. In all my years of handling little pests off the marshes, I would never have thought to receive praise for my tactics from a fine warrior of such great acclaim as yourself."

"To return to the point..." Lord Candren interjected quickly. "Might you repeat the explanation, Adept Tindersnap?"

"Gold is magically connected to heat." I said quickly before Frazzle could, earning a pout from the gnomish enchanter. "As is copper, but it isn't magical enough to work on its own. Wool, however, is associated with warmth as well, and carding in a small amount of Misthorn wool will enhance the effect. As well as keeping away the damp."

Lady Tulvan raised an eyebrow at me as a few lords muttered about the cost of such things. "And where will you get that? The Duskrocks are on the other side of Gilneas from here, girl."

I smiled sweetly back at the rather snappish woman. "I keep a stock of it for my own work, not a great amount but enough for a few hundred scarves or the like if used sparingly."

"If Lady Lorna returns me to my home, then I can send her back with saddlebags filled with the wool." Lord Candren mused thoughtfully. "I have contracts for its procurement, there is little better to wear upon the seas, and though it is the wrong season for shearing some might be convinced." He paused, glancing at me. "Would these... enchanted scarves work for goats?"

"Of course they would! Well, so long as the goats were willing to wear them." Frazzle burst out immediately, then realised she was missing something. "But, um, why?"

He chuckled lightly, and outlined trading warming scarves for the fleeces of goats to protect the valuable species. It was an odd thought but certainly better than ruining those who kept the ornery creatures.

It also set in stone what I would be doing for the immediate future; campaigning couldn't start until the weather cleared... or the men were protected from it. Lady Tulvan wanted to get a jump on the royalists, make the first moves, and kitting out a brigade of soldiers with something to keep the cold at bay would allow that.

Compared to my usual thought for enchantments, which ran more along the lines of Lord Bowfords, empowering  'elites' such as Lorna, myself, Vivi, or Magroth as much as possible... it was mundane.

But, intellectually, I knew that the greatest foe an army faced was not always the enemy itself, but the cold, disease, and other environmental issues.

And, of course, catching the enemy by surprise and stealing a march on them was never something to be turned down.

-oOoOo-

"–so we were flying over the hills and then she just yells 'There! Land there!' without explaining herself." Vivi said, throwing her hand out and putting on a voice to mimic Lady Tulvan's acerbic tone. "She refused to explain why, just that we had to. Because landing at an coaching inn when we're wanted fugitives is so clever."

I hummed politely, encouraging her to continue as I ran a comb through her wet hair and lavished it with all the attention it deserved, easing out the kinks and damage that had come from her flights without me.

She was lounging against my legs as I sat on my bed, fresh out of the bath with only her bathrobe between me and her. With how many lords were in the manor and taking up rooms of course she was welcome in my home. Or in my bed. Or in–

Attempting to push down my warming cheeks, I refocused on what she was saying. Her stories of what had happened with her and Lorna while we were roaming across different halves of Gilneas.

Their adventures had certainly been more interesting than my trip around the Ember Hills, with more than one attempt to shoot Donovan out of the sky by royalists, but they'd also had no lack of irritating lords and ladies; of which Lady Tulvan was just the one they'd been with the longest.

"In the end, Lorna relented just to stop her whining. So we landed and, of course, someone tried to arrest us." She huffed, looking up at me so I could see her roll her eyes. "Not that they could take us, but still, we told her it'd happen! But then she just rips into them, pulls the halberd right out of his hand, and tells him off for holding it wrong!"

"What, really?!" I laughed.

"Yeah! By the time she was done the boy was quivering, I've never seen anyone so pale." She grimaced for a moment. "No one alive, I mean. And then, once she was done, she demanded he take her to the privy, pulling rank when he tried to stutter out a refusal. Turned out it was all because she didn't want to pee behind a bush like normal people do while travelling."

Grinning at her I saw Vivi start to roll her eyes before I even spoke. "Toilets are a true mark of civilisation..."

She pouted at me, but ignored me to continue the story. Keepers, it was so tempting to just kiss her. "It's not like it stopped there either, she just kept complaining. Our tent was too small, the food too bland, our watch rotation too sloppy!" She threw her hands up, only for them to settle around me in an upside down hug. "That I wasn't holding my blade right when I trained, that I needed a gun for a sidearm, that I clearly needed a spear because I don't have the reach of a man or the skill to compete with them..."

As she kept grumbling I felt for her, but at the same time I was having trouble focusing on what she was saying, staring into her bright red eyes. Stroking the soft skin of her cheeks, I leaned down. Her arms tightened around me as I inched closer.

"Well, I for one am quite glad you don't have so much reach. Being shorter is fine, but being dwarfed...."

I pressed my lips to hers, a simple thrill running through me because I could do this. I could kiss Vivi whenever I wanted.

The position was awful, but her hands shifted to hold my head in place, threading and pulling their way through my hair just firmly enough to demand I stay.

Which I was more than happy to comply with.

For how much I felt it was a disappointingly short kiss, a hiss of complaint leaving me even as I had to pull away to breathe. But in that brief moment she'd spun about, straddling me on the bed with her legs wide, which put away my displeasure.

"And?" She asked leadingly as she wrapped an arm around my back, the other slowly running its way up my arm.

"Would make it much harder to kiss you properly." I wriggled slightly, drawing her closer and undeniably enjoying the way her eyes roamed over me and tracked every movement. She was just that little bit taller she made me feel safe in her arms. "Amongst other things."

Without waiting for her to answer I snatched the initiative, grabbing her and pulling her down onto the bed.

She could overpower me if she wanted, take control away from me and stop me pinning her down, but as her eyes burned with desire it was clear she was quite happy with what I was doing.