Author's Note: Couldn't help myself, I just love Logan...At first when I played the game, I hated his guts (much like the dwellers) but after I found out why he was the way he was, I felt bad for him and actually really came to like him...that and he's quite the handsome fellow. Anyways I hope you enjoy! The rating of this story might go up later, I'm not sure yet...Oh my heck longest chapter ever!
It had become an every day occurrence; men, women, placed at the nose of a barrel in front of firing squad; or paraded out and slaughtered to the horror of an audience. All to show the people of Bowerstone what these rebels truly were...traitors, traitors to the crown, traitors to Albion.
Every day seemed to become bleaker and bleaker as though a ever lasting night was upon the kingdom; the Bowerstone Resistance would stand for the Kings injustice no more, something had to be done.
Revolution was in the air, it was so evident she could almost smell it, almost as much as one could smell the stench coming up from the Bowerstone Industrial sewers.
As Byrn trudge towards the headquarters of the Bowerstone Resistance she knew it was time to act, Logan had gotten out of control, and the people would stand for it no more. She gritted her teeth in contempt and grumbled to herself as she walked past a two men sitting sullenly at a worn table outside of the door to headquarters, guarding it. A small sound of greeting escaped one of the men, the other sat in silence, looking as though the only good thing left in the world was the grain up the wood surface of the table he was so solemnly starring at. She nodded to them before swinging the iron clad door open, and walking inside quickly and slamming the door shut behind her.
She could tell by Pages' tense stance that something was in motion, and she felt her heart swell at the idea; slowly she came up behind the Resistance leader and leaned on the paper covered table next to her.
"I seems the king as decided to do his dirty work early this morning." she said, watching out of the corner of her eye as Pages' hands balled into fists on the table.
"That bastard will get what's coming to him." the other woman seethed back, not bothering to look over at her companion. "How many did he kill?"
"Two, from what I have been told, a man and a woman." she replied.
Early that morning a mob had gathered outside of Bowerstone castle, all workers from Reavers' factories. Though the king had quickly quelled their uprising by disposing of their leaders, and sending the rest back to the factories with a grim reminder of what happened when one opposed the king.
"I heard he made the princess choose..." she added watching as Pages' head whipped around to look at her in mild confusion.
"What do you mean, choose?" she asked, the shadows from the torch lit room cast angry shadows on her already angry face.
"Kidd said that the princess had to chose between her friend or the leaders of the rebel mob." she replied with a frown, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Now he brings his sister into this..." Page said with an angry huff. "We can not stand for his tyranny any longer, people are dying in the streets, children are forced to work in that hell that Reaver has built...It's time we acted."
"We don't wanna be rash, we'd be slaughtered if we go up against him and his Royal Guard now." the two women turned to see Kidd walking through the doorway towards them.
"I know that!" Page hissed back at him before rifling through the papers on the dirty table, and pulling out what appeared to be old wrinkled up building plans from the pile. "We're not going to attack him head on, at least not yet...Right now though, we're going to start giving back to the people." she said slamming the parchment onto the table pointedly, a cloud of dust and grime puffed up into the air from the sudden jarring.
"Well I'll be damned! It's blue prints to the castle!" Kidd said in surprise, his eyes flashing with excitement as they scoured the paper.
"How the hell did you get your hands on these?" Byrn asked, giving Page a mischievous smile.
"Margret managed to swipe if from under the librarians nose at the Brightwall Academy some time ago." the dark skinned woman replied, pride evident in her voice.
"So what do you plan on havin' us do then?" Kidd asked leaning on his elbows over the table, eyeing the ancient print.
"We're going to steal from Logan coin purse." Page replied, a smirk growing on her face as she looked over to a confused Kidd.
"And jus' how will we be doin' that?" he asked, eyebrows nearly at his nonexistent hairline.
"I had one of our men join the Royal Guard, they've got no idea they've got a spy amongst their precious protectors of the crown."
"You mean Donald?" Bryn asked, her brow furrowing, he had been gone for months and she hadn't seen hide nor hair of him.
Page nodded and smiled smugly.
"I've been planning this for a while, nows a good a time as any...it's time to show Logan that Albion's citizens wont just stand back and let him take all that we have." her mood suddenly darkening as the thought of the squaller people lived in floated into her mind.
"So just how are we going to do this? I doubt Logan's men will allow us to just waltz into the treasury and take what we want." the other woman asked, worrying at her lower lip and frowning.
"Me and a few of my men will cause a distraction, and while the Guard is preoccupied with us, Donald will escort you and Kidd to the treasury." she said, once again eyeing the building schematics, running possible routes through her head.
"And what might I ask is the distraction?" Kidd asked, folding his arms across his chest.
"Nothing a few flaming whisky bottles and smoke bombs can't handle." Page said , a mischievous smile playing across her lips.
Kidd laughed and shook his head at her.
"But you'll be wastin' all that good booze." he said, chortling, grinning from ear to ear.
"After we pull this off, they'll be more than enough whiskey for you to drown your sorry mug in." Page said to him rolling up the parchment, and placing it in the leather satchel at her hip.
"Do you really think he needs it?" Bryn asked, grinning over at the man.
"You wound my heart Bryn." he said placing his hand over his heart dramatically, Bryn rolled her eyes at his theatrics, shaking her head at him.
"Enough you two, we've got work to do." Page said tersely, things had to be set in motion, and time was limited; immediately the two resistance members straightened up and looked at her in all seriousness.
"You got it." Kidd said, giving her a curt nod.
"We'll make that bastard pay for what he's done." Bryn affirmed, looking at Page, eye narrowing at the thought of getting back at the pampered king.
"Good, I already sent word to Donald about our plans, we begin a dusk, but for know we have to get everything in order." she said looking at the two expectantly.
"Aye ma'am!"
Bryn crept through the streets of Bowerstone industrial, the worn soles of her sandals scraping against the ruff cobbles that alerted others to her presence. They where behind schedule, the sky already dark in the hold of nighttime, the lamps upon the street corners began to become lit ceremoniously. She grumbled to herself when she saw a lamp lighter begin to walk towards the her, and she quickly slunk into a dark alleyway Kidd and a few of his men at her heels.
"Why do we 'ave to sneak around?" Jimmy one of the younger men whispered questioningly, his blue eyes wide in anticipation.
Kidd sighed, rolling his eyes at the other man.
" 'Cause, a group of angry men..." he heard Byrn clear her throat but he ignored it. " 'Cause a group of angry men walking down the street in'a determined path towards the castle, jus' doesn't scream mob to you?" he said back, pressing up against the cool brick of the house lining the alley way when he saw the woman ahead of him stop and do the same.
The men fell silent as Bryn carefully crept up to the mouth of the alleyway and peeked around the corner into the quiet streets; the lamp lighters hadn't been to that part of town yet and she motioned for the rest to follow her.
"Come on hurry up." she hissed back at them, turning to face the men in the alleyway, her long hair nearly whipping Kidd across the face.
" I wish you would cut your bloody hair..." Kidd hissed back as he followed her closely across the street, doing his best to keep as hunched, and small as possible.
"Shut up, all of you." she said back.
Slipping into another alleyway she breath a sigh of relief finding refuge between the closely huddled homes; turning she saw the rest of the men scurrying into the welcoming darkness after her.
Halfway down the narrow walk they came to a halt and Bryn produced a small rolled-up map from the leather pouch at her hip and, opened it briskly, squinting in the waning light at the faded cartography.
"Two streets over and we'll be at the Royal Gardens." she said, looking back to the men. "You all got your gear? gotta climb if we want to get into the palace gardens; hope none of you are scared of heights."
"Won't they 'ear us? I mean those grapplin' hooks make a nasty clinkin' when they find purchase." the man from earlier asked.
"Page and her men should make a loud enough distraction." Kidd said with a crooked smile; the other men snickered.
"They'll hear us if you all don't shut your traps." Bryn said back to them as she walked to mouth of the alley and once again scanned for any activity. "and why am I the leader?" she asked as them as they scurried past her and across the street.
Kidd grinned at her as he passed her.
"Because you're the one with the map, love." he said over his shoulder as he followed after the rest.
Bryn sighed in defeat and quickly followed after them.
The cobble stone walls to the castle gardens loomed high over the houses next to it, as though it was daring someone to try and scale it. The small group hide in it's great shadow, some of the men fidgeting in anticipation, waiting for the sounds of Pages' distraction.
The distant sound of bombs suddenly echoed across the sky, and the surprise shouts of the Royal Guard erupted from the castle. They listened intently till it sounded as though all the guard activity had moved away from the gardens, towards Page and her men; it was time to move.
Jimmy seemed a bit more jumpy as the group quickly unpacked the make shift grappling hooks and rope they had stolen from the docks.
"You think these things will actually hold us?" he asked, inspecting the bent metal at the end of his line.
"Hope so." Kidd said with a chuckle checking the knot on his grapple before beginning to swing it widely over his head. " I put 'em together, so if you fall you can blame me." he added, releasing the rope with a small 'unf' and watched as it sailed up over the wall, he cringed as the hook clanked against the iron fence that adorned the top of the stone wall. He felt it take hold between the rungs of the fence and he tugged on it experimentally before he nodded to the rest of them.
Quickly Bryn and the other men followed in suit, their grapples raining down over the top of the garden walls, finding purchase in iron rungs as well.
"Hopefully none of us 'ave been eatin' to many pies!" Kidd said, grinning to himself as he began to shimmy up the steep stone in a rather peculiar manner.
Bryn rolled her eyes up at the man before following up after him; sure that she did not make the act of scaling the wall any more graceful looking than he.
She could feel her muscles screaming out in protest as she hoisted herself up over the pointed iron fence atop the stone wall. Careful not to injure herself on the sharp spade like points decorating the fence, she slumped over the fence and into the soft grass of the garden; gulping down a lung full of air, trying to catch her breath from the harrowing climb.
"Tired already?" Kidd asked, his hands on his knees, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his own breath.
"And I can see you faired all the better." Bryn commented, wiping the sweat from her brow on the back of her arm before rising to her feet shakily.
She turned and helped the last of the men over the wall, pulling him over the fence unceremoniously, and allowing him to drop on to the ground in a heap.
"Nearly gutted me on the fence there!" he sputtered gazing up at her.
"Sorry, but we're wasting time." she said turning to Kidd who nodded to her in agreement before quickly egging the men off their arses and onto their feet once more.
"Come on men, it'll be quicker going down, all that gold to help pull us!" he said over his shoulder as he followed after Bryn.
Quietly the rebel group made their way to the kitchen, careful not to bang against any pots or pans as they slunk through the chamber as unnoticed, and quiet as their shadows that danced along side them.
Bryn for once was glad that the castle had taken the more expensive route and opted to use marble stairs instead of wooden, it help rule out any creaking or unnecessary thumping.
Quickly they scurried through the kings court, the only sound accompanying them was the soft scuffling of their feet on the exotic carpet laying the expanse of the room. They made their way through corridor after corridor without a hitch; rounding a corner Byrn stopped abruptly and looked around, something was wrong.
"Where's Donald..." she asked in a hushed tone.
Kidd came around side of her and looked down the hall, the man was now where to be found.
"He was supposed to be guarding the treasury door..." Byrn said, her brow furrowing as she looked over to Kidd, a worried expression crossing her face.
Kidd looked again at the door to the treasury, half way down the hall on the right; he watched for a good minute and nobody came out of the room or even came down the opposite end of the corridor.
"He probably got swept up with the rest of 'em, goin' to defend the castle." he replied looking back up to her, but his answer didn't seem to quell her uneasiness. "Come one Bryn, we're wastin' time."
She sighed still unappeased by the fact that Donald wasn't where he was supposed to be, but she shrugged it off and nodded to Kidd who motioned for the rest of the men that they moving again.
Quietly they hurried down the hall and slipped through the treasury doors unnoticed.
"Bloody hell..." one of the men said under his breath as they gazed upon the marvel that lay before them.
In all their lifetimes none of them had seen so much gold in one spot.
"Come on." whispered Byrn, still feeling rather uneasy as she stepped towards a mound of gold and began to shove as much as she could into the leather pouch at her side.
The men quickly followed her example, stowing away as much as they could possibly carrying into their bags, pockets, socks.
After a few minutes of frantic looting Kidd stood up, his bag weighted heavily with coin and looked to the rest of the men and then over to Bryn.
"We should go, we got what we could, and Pages men can't hold the guard off forever."
Byrn nodded.
"Come on men, we need to get back to headquarters." she whisper to them, and they reluctantly abandoned their pirating, adjusting their gold filled garments.
Quickly they began to move once more, some of the men trying to keep the jingling of the gold coins in the pockets and bags to a minimum. However when they passed through the door way of the treasury and out into the hall they were met with an unpleasant reality.
"...oh sod it all..." Kidd hissed as he looked around, crouching down into a fight stance.
Logan's Royal Guard stood menacingly before the small rebel group, blocking both exits to the corridor. The iron masks they bore, shone dimly in the torch lit hall; devoid of any sort of expression, but at the moment they were more terrifying to the small group than the face of a snarling Balverine.
"Dammit..." Bryn muttered as she scanned the barricade, hoping to find a possible weak point, her hand itching to draw out her pistol and put a well placed bullet in one of the guard's skulls.
Hearing a soft shuffling behind her and then a gasp from one of her men she whipped around, she almost wished she hadn't, the sight before her filled her heart with dread and made her stomach churn in disgust.
The line of soldiers had parted to make way for another, the Captain of the Guard, and with him, he dragged a tortured and emaciated Donald.
Donald slowly rose his head up with what strength he could muster and looked up at the horror stricken rebels, his eyes pale, and nearly lifeless.
"I-I-I'm so sorry...T-they found out weeks ago..." he said weakly.
Kidd attempted to take a step forward, his hands balled up so tightly his knuckles had turned white with rage. One of the guards quickly aimed his rifle at him and reluctantly he backed off.
"T-They told me if I gave the resistance false information, that-that they'd spare my family..." tears were in the man's eyes as he began to weep silently, his heart so heavy he could hardly bare it.
"You were foolish to believe we wouldn't notice a traitor amongst us." the Captain of the guard said, his eyes gleaming with pride through the slits of his mask; he released Donald who slumped to the floor in a heap of ragged cloths and beleaguerment.
"We need to get outta here..."Jimmy whispered fearfully to Bryn, who stood in front of him.
"I know..." she hissed back, watching the guards wearily, before quickly glancing to Kidd and the rest of the men who caught the glint in her eyes. "When I say, scatter; shoot anyone who gets in your way, I don't care if it's the bloody king! I'll grab Donald and-" before she could finish a shot rang out, causing her to jump and her eyes to dart towards the sudden explosion, she felt as though she would be sick right there in the middle of the hallway at what she saw.
Donald lay on the floor a pool of blood forming around his head, a plume of smoke, wisped out of the barrel of the Captain's pistol.
"I don't believe you're listening." he began as he holstered his pistol once more.
Bryn hardly heard his words as her rage and contempt for the man and the one they called king began to flow through her veins freely. She quickly pulled out her pistol with a anger ridden cry and shot at the Captain; the bullet dinged off the side of his mask and fell to the floor with a small clink.
The men took this as their chance and they quickly began to seek away around the guard that were quickly drawing pistols or brandishing swords; and all hell suddenly broke loose in the cramped quarters as the rebels began to fight for their freedom, as well as their lives.
Kidd felt a bullet graze his cheek as pushed Jimmy through a break in the barricade, managing to escape as well, quickly he turned and shot one of the guards in the legs, causing the man to fall to the floor in pain. He whipped around to see Byrn doing her best to fend of two of the guards; to his right he saw one of his men fall as one of the guards slashed at him with sword.
"Bryn!" Kidd called out as he pushed Jimmy further down the hall.
"Go! You have to, get the hell out of hear!" she called back in pain as a bullet pierced her shoulder.
"But-"
"Just go!" she shouted angrily as she sluggishly dodged a swipe from one of the guards swords.
Kidd hesitated for another moment before he pulled Jimmy and another one the men who had managed to escape the brawl down the hall towards freedom.
As soon as Kidd was out of sight, Bryn slumped to her knees in defeat, she breathed in heavily, her body covered in sweat, warm blood already began to trickle down from her wound and stain her clothing. Her gaze shifted to the floor around her; three guards, and two of her men lay dead...and then there was Donald, immediately she felt sick again. Two resounding thuds just in front of her alerted her that someone was demanding her attention, slowly her gaze shifted, not bother to look up as two polished, armored boots came into view.
"If you're going to kill me, kill me, you disgusting man." she spat, not giving him the pleasure of looking upon her face.
"As much as I'd like to..." the Captain began, taking a small step forward, placing the ball of his foot on her hand that lay up on the cool stone floor, and slowly ground into it.
Bryn couldn't help the hiss of pain that escaped her gritted teeth.
"I'm afraid, the king will decided your fate." he crouched down, grabbing a fistful of her now, frizzled and sweat damped hair, forcefully pulling her head up to look at him. "You're well known as one of the Resistant leaders, I unfortunately am in no place to decided you fate..." he quickly released her from his grip and stood back up, glaring down at her all the while.
The Captain turned to his men abruptly.
"You and you, clean up this mess." he ordered two of the armored men, who quickly saluted him and went about addressing their orders. "and you two...take her down to the castle dungeon." he said to two others, glaring at the woman on the floor through his mask.
Bryn felt herself being hauled to her feet forcefully by two bruising grips; she didn't bother to look up, as the men began to drag her down the hall, she knew where she was going and it was a place she would most likely never leave.