The Thorian Sagas. 2. Insurrection.

Monique opened the heavy door to Bradshaw’s chambers, and entered, barely closing the door behind her.

None of the noise outside of that door would have been audible to the one inside.

Liam complimented her.

’You did well, little one. You even surprised me, again, with the finesse of that violence. No Thorian male would ever dare do that to any woman.

‘Stoker said that he’d trained you well, and he did not exaggerate. However, watch out for that one you left outside. She is as treacherous and as devious as Bradshaw herself. You might be wiser to close the door. What you need to say should not be overheard.’

Monique did as Liam suggested; closing the door firmly. The fewer who knew of this conversation, the better.

Lewis could go back to the main gate with her dazed comrades.

Bradshaw was alarmed to see Monique coming into her rooms.

“You!” She backed deeper into her office space.

She had hoped that once Monique left the city, she, and those guards with her would suffer the fate of all of those who went out there, and would never return.

However, Monique had returned. Now, Bradshaw was not sure what this warrior intended with her.

“Yes…, me.” Monique advanced upon her until Bradshaw was brought up hard against her desk, looking around for an escape, wondering where her guards were to defend her; wanting to call out for them, but knowing better than to do that. She would be strangled before she’d uttered the first sound.

‘Take a look at the order on her desk.’

Liam was telling Monique of something.

Monique reached around Bradshaw, feeling her flinch, and picked up that document from where she had been working.

It was an order, putting Monique and all of her fellow guards, if they returned into the city, in detention until they could be expelled from the city as punishment for going beyond the city walls.

There was no greater disgrace than that, but it had never been used to punish anyone in living memory.

Monique smiled at the councillor as she read it.

“I should have smelled a rat when there was no written order giving us permission to leave the city as you ordered. You knew your niece could not be recovered, of course. So, why did you send us out like that, on a fool’s errand?”

There was a flash of frustrated anger on Bradshaw’s face, as she blurted out her pent-up anguish, half expecting to be killed for it.

“You! You asked for it. You and your guards were the ones who found my niece and forced her into being a tribute. I heard it all. I could no longer trust you after that treachery. My family may never recover from this.”

There were tears close to the surface.

“You.. weren’t.. supposed.. to.. come.. back.”

So that was what councillor Simpson had done. Two birds with one stone. Bradshaw, and now, Monique.

Monique reached out and took hold of Bradshaw by the chin forcing her to look into Monique’s eyes.

“You need to look a little closer around yourself for that treachery, Ma’am. I am sure you know, far better than I do, that only the council, or one of them, could put your niece’s name back onto the tribute list to be chosen that way, or would be able to manipulate it so that she was the one chosen.

“I... couldn’t do that. I am only a guard. I also had nothing to gain. You should ask yourself, who did have something to gain? Who most wanted to be revenged upon you, and who might have the most to gain by your downfall?” Monique let her go.

“I also didn’t apprehend her, though I did see her leave the city.”

She waited for this idea to work its way into Bradshaw’s brain.

“Then who…?”

Bradshaw struggled to come to grips with what Monique had told her. She did not have to consider for very long.

“Simpson!”

She blurted out that name, seeing Monique nod at her.

She blushed in anger, having been maneuvered into a series of mistaken assumptions by one of her fellow councillors.

She licked her lips, realizing the mistake she had made that she would have to correct, while not wanting to correct it.

She had never liked the MacBeaths.

“Then I should tear up that order and re-instate…”

Monique held the order out of reach. “No. You will still need the former guards. We, must step aside.”

Bradshaw did not understand what she was hearing.

“Why?”

“Because we did not come back out of the wastelands empty handed, and we will need your help for that.”

This began to sound better than it had. One moment Bradshaw had feared for her life, and now her help was being requested.

“What help? In what way do you need my help?” There would always be ways to try again to get rid of this thorn in her side.

“Your help, and your secrecy. No one else should learn of what I am about to tell you.”

Bradshaw waited to hear the rest of it. She would bide her time, but she was being given another opportunity.

“We were obliged to bring ten Thorians into the city with us!”

The horror on Bradshaw’s face was not feigned. The end of the city; life as she knew it, was staring them all in the face. She had gone suddenly pale and had slumped against her desk. Without it she would have fallen to the floor.

“They are here? Now?” She could barely make out her own voice as she looked around expecting to see them even then, breaking into her chamber.

“Where?”

What had they found out? What did they know?

“Yes, Ma’am. They are here, in the city. But they were unconscious when we saw them. We could not leave them out there with dusk falling, and with those other predators, so we were obliged to bring them in, until they recover. They are in the old Council chambers below the city. We will need to look after them there. By, ‘we’, I mean myself, of course, and all of my warriors.”

The situation had not significantly changed as far as Bradshaw could see. Even an unconscious Thorian was a danger to her and to them all. They could still mentally communicate with each other, and over immense distances.

“Did you have to bring them into the city?”

Her mind raced to try and deal with this. No one else should learn about it. Thorians in the city? There would be panic; a riot.

“We could not leave them out there to face those Frexes once darkness fell.”

Why not? What had that got to do with her, or the city?

Bradshaw was not hearing anything clearly.

“They are unconscious you say?”

“Yes, Ma’am. We need to look after them until they recover, and they can then leave.”

Monique would say nothing about being responsible for them being in that state, or anything about Liam or Boril advising what to do with them.

Thorians had needed to be rescued and were being looked after in their city. Maybe it was not so bad, provided they were gone as soon as they revived, or else….

Bradshaw did not want to think of that outcome.

“What do you need?” This dickering and maneuvering, was more familiar to her.

Monique explained what she would need, and how they must be left alone, while the city fulfilled their needs.

When Monique left Bradshaw’s quarters half an hour later, she had achieved everything she needed.

She and her guard would be isolated, along with those Thorians, and would be left to themselves, but with food, supplied as needed, and whatever else they required for their comfort.

The less Bradshaw had anything to do with any of it, the safer she would feel.

Bradshaw’s thoughts were still easily read.

’Thorians in the city!

‘She would close them all into those chambers and make sure they didn’t come out.’

As Monique left, she noticed that Lewis and her two companions had already gone; having had the door closed in their faces.

Monique did not envy Simpson’s predicament. Her future on the city council was already decided, in Bradshaw’s mind.

Liam mentally boosted her.

’Congratulations, little one, but you just gave her much more than she wanted to be faced with at this delicate time for her.

’She sent you out because you looked too damned capable. You made her nervous that her conspiratorial goals might not succeed. She had to get rid of you if she could. She never imagined this happening; you, coming back.′

He continued

‘She has other irons in the fire that are slowly coming to fruition, and there being Thorians in the city could not have been further from her desires at this moment in time. Let’s get our... your guests settled in as well as we can. I fear it may be a longer wait than anyone might realize.’

He’d said enough to capture Monique’s interest.

‘Conspiratorial? In what way?’

He chuckled.

‘The coming insurrection of course. She and the councillors in the other cities have been conspiring together to overturn the treaty.’

Monique was confused.

‘How? That would require communication between the cities. There is no communication.’

He corrected her.

‘There was. We made sure there was, so that we could control it and know when it would happen. It’s happening even now. I’ll tell you more, later. However, those others coming from the coast to lay siege to your city are taking their time about it.’

This was all news, to Monique. Liam sounded almost as devious as Bradshaw herself! But only with the best of intentions of course; to keep the peace, and she had to trust someone.