“Here in this city, they call us extremists. Those beyond these walls see that if we are extreme, we are only extreme in our love for this land. Those beyond these walls stand by us, cheer us on, to stand by our rich heritage. Those beyond call us heroes.”
“Don’t be taken in by Solaris!” a man from across the room called out.
“Yes, yes my brothers and sisters, we are the ones impervious to the allure of Solaris lies. Solaris claims they stand for the West, but they are making the West poor with their demands of tithing to pay for the remnants of their war. They are the ones making the West weak by sending our girls and boys south to fight for their cities of stone and ice.”
“We shall stand against them!” another called.
The whole room was being worked into a frenzy by Twintle’s words. People shifted in place. Murmurs of support grew to outright cheers.
“We shall be the ones to stand against Solaris tyranny!” Luke stepped forward. “We shall be the ones who honor our oath to defend the poor. To upkeep tradition. And to honor the sacrifices of all those who came before us.”
“But we cannot do this with our glorious fervor alone.” Twintle’s voice dropped to a hush and everyone hung on his next words. Vi had never seen an orator quite like him. It was more than the skill of a virtuoso musician. Every man and woman Twintle had gathered was their own instrument, and he could play the orchestra. “To restore Mhashan to its former glory, we need a power that affirms our divine right.”
More whispers, all resounding to an eerily soft chant, as if everyone gathered was under some kind of spell. A single word passed from person to person in hushed tones:sword.
“Yes, we need the Sword of Jadar. The sword once bestowed by King Jadar on his magickless son. The sword that was destined to defend Mhashan. We are its rightful owners now that the blood-traitor princess has turned her back on our ways. And with the sword’s power, we can restore the throne to someone befitting of its honor. We will not be like the coward whore to the sun. We will unlock the power it was made to unleash on this world and with that power we will liberate ourselves from the tyranny of Solaris.”
Applause, cheers. Vi watched as some men got so overwhelmed with excitement they nearly threw off their hoods. It was a type of spell that had just as much power as Yargen’s words. Though Vi found herself immune. She watched it all unfold, trying to detach herself from the situation.
Yet in the back of her mind… a bonfire of rage burned for all the hatred and hurt these words would sow.
“You’ve made progress on the sword, then?” a man asked, more skeptical than Vi expected.
“I have,” Twintle said proudly. “With this last trip to our brothers and sisters in the Waste, we have established a network that stretches far beyond this city. We have amassed wealth. And, in this, I have procured access to the one person who can steal from Solaris—the one person who has evaded Tiberus ever since she cut down his father and stole his family’s treasure.”
“You’re mad,” a man near Vi murmured. No one but her seemed to hear.
Twintle was mad. Because if he was talking about the one person Vi was thinking of, it would mean he had made a deal with—
“Adela,” Twintle finished her thought. The fires that had been burning in the back of her mind crackled against her clenched and shaking fists.
“The bane of the seas?”
“The pirate queen?” another gasped.
“Yes, thepirate queen,” Twintle proclaimed, glaring around the room as if challenging anyone to move or speak against him. No one did. “Sometimes, the enemy of our enemy is our friend. Adela will gladly help us strike against Solaris. She has even reduced her rate for the delight of this job.”
“You would trust the sword to a pirate?”
“She’ll just take it,” Vi mumbled. Luckily no one heard. None of them had ever dealt with a force like Adela Lagmir before and it showed. Adela would gladly take the job, pocket every Western ruby she was likely demanding of them, and take the crystal sword for herself if she even had an inkling of the power it held. The mental image of the Knights scrambling to get it back—of them being betrayed like her family had been—delighted her like a black flame, dark and burning.
“She will lend us the help of her crew. Through them, she will provide knowledge and manpower with the wild magicks of the Crescent Continent. We shall steal the sword back when it is being transported to the South with the Imperial party. From there, it is not far to the Crystal Caverns.” Twintle held up a worn journal. Vi squinted but she couldn’t make out the writing. “I have procured the writings on Jadar’s search for Windwalkers, about his belief that the sword could unlock enough power to see Mhashan rule for millennia to come. This is only a fraction of what was collected from the Burning Times, but it will be enough that we can access the true fount of power in the depths of the Crystal—”
Twintle paused, lowering his hand slowly. All eyes were dragged to the doorway where Twintle was now focused. There a man stood, leaning against a crate, panting heavily.
“Forgive me, brothers and sisters, for my delay,” he huffed. “I was—”
Twintle held up a hand, stopping him. His eyes swung across the room, lips moving in a silent count.
“Bar the doors,” Twintle commanded, deathly quiet. “There is a stranger hiding among us.”
Everyone looked around and Vi did the same, not wanting to be easily identifiable as the odd one out. She could usedurroeto hide herself. No, they’d already accounted for her. They’d launch a search if the count was off now. But they wouldn’t find her if her illusion was solid enough.
“We are the sword—” Twintle started loudly.
“That stands against the darkness!” Everyone answered boldly, proudly, and in unison.
“Her,” a man next to Vi shouted, approaching. “She didn’t say anything.”
