Outlanders Chapter 9: The Rebellion
After playing around with his magic for a while, getting his appearance the way he wanted it, Xephos sat down and crossed his legs, leaning against the wall. He was tired, he realized, from both the torture and the running.
"Surely it wouldn't be so bad..." He said, "For a prince to take a bit of a nap..."
He crawled over to the bed, laying his head upon the pillow. Sleep came instantly, warm and soft as a wonderful blanket. In his dreams, he was once again royalty, and all was calm and normal again. He woke up much later in the day, it was dark, and the air raid sirens were going off once again. Overhead the warships of Solon's fleet roared back and forth, turning the noise outside into some sick twisted overture of his reign.
Xephos stood, crossing to the window. Bodies were piled up, soldiers marched through the corpses as if they weren't there. Solon's flag was raised everywhere. Xephos lowered himself and crawled to the opposite wall, curling up and wrapping his arms around his legs much like a small, scared child.
The old woman entered the house again several hours later. "So here's the brave prince..." she said with a sigh, "Here's our hero."
"I'm sorry," Xephos said, standing, "But for the past several months i've been tortured, i've seen women and men beaten for liking my name, and I've lost all my strength. I'm worn out, weak, and frankly a bit pissed off."
She chuckled. "Join the club. We're all tired. We've been weak since you vanished into those dungeons, and we've been pissed since your father died."
Xephos shook his head. "There's gotta be... something you guys have left."
She shook her head right back. "That ship was everything. Get you to a colony, recruit more, come back later and um... I believe the leader was fond of using the phrase, 'Kick some royal ass.'"
Xephos let out a chuckle. "Who's this leader pray tell? I thought I was supposed to be in charge."
"Oh honey... you're a figurehead. You'd have only the power you needed. You'd kill as many people as you could, fight Solon... but in the end it was agreed upon that you're no tactician outside of the bedroom. So trust me, if we need any murder, womanizing, or crowd-pleasing, you'll be the first on our list. Leave the strategy to us though dearie."
Xephos growled low. "I'll have you know i'm a great strategist."
"Oh really now?"
"Yeah. You could ask any of my friends. They'll vouch for me."
She chuckled. "Fine. Let's go meet up with the leader, I'll let him explain his own actions."
They left the house, sticking to the shadows and winding their way down to the lowest levels of the city, where the scum and filth came to play. Even Solon stayed out of this area. It belonged to the gangs, to the murderers, to the insane. So obviously it was a great home for the newest generation of leaders on this great planet, right?
The old woman lead him to a large hotel, broken and run down. Two armed men stood outside in stolen guard uniforms, arms crossed. "Brenda?" One said, "What are you doing back so soon?"
"The plan failed Felix. Didn't you hear the bombs?"
"That was..." Felix's face dropped, and he let out a whimper. A man his size making that noise is both heartbreaking and terrifying. "M-My sister was on that ship... She was supposed to make it out of here... He promised..."
"Felix... Solon killed your sister. The leader didn't plan on failing."
"I know. I-I'm sorry. I just... I'll need time. Did anyone make it?"
"No... they aimed well. It went up in flames in just under a minute."
"Damn... One day Brenda... One day I swear to god i'll take one of those ships and firebomb Solon's fucking castle into the ground."
"And on that day I only hope to be your copilot."
He gave a slight grin, then noticed Xephos for the first time. "The crown prince!" He gasped, dropping to his knee.
"Stand, Felix," Brenda said in a weary tone, "He's not even decided if he'll help us yet."
He stood and moved out of the way, letting them pass. Brenda led Xephos past several families, several soldiers, and several bleeding animals. They got aboard an elevator, and she took it to the top floor. After getting off, she led him to a small room and motioned for him to go inside.
He stepped in slowly, looking around. Maps of Meclite hung all over the walls, and weapons littered the floor. A man lay hunched over his desk, fast asleep, wearing a dirty uniform. Xephos approached slowly, picking up a knife as he did so. Just when he reached the man, the man bolted up and knocked the knife from his hand, then jumped forward, pinning Xephos to the ground.
"Really crown prince? You really think that i'd be killed so easily? I'd be offended if I didn't know you did it out of love for your dear friend."
Xephos felt his eye begin to twitch. "Maverick? Captain Maverick is the leader of the rebellion?!"
Maverick stood, dusted himself off, and bowed. "Yep yep yep!"
"Dare I ask how?"
"Because I was the first to fight back. It's... actually just that simple." He chuckled. "I've wanted to get you involved for so long..."
"Well I was rotting away in the royal dungeons. You could've saved me at any time."
"Hey, at least I followed the rules. I got you out, you didn't listen to your orders. If you had-"
"If I had i'd be dead aboard that ship."
"Not true, oh cocky one. You would've gotten there sooner, and it could've taken off before the bombs reached it. They all could've lived. Sorry, but in this one... you may actually be the monster."
"You say it so... so..." Xephos gulped, "D-is it really my fault?"
"We'll never know. Perhaps if you'd gotten there he would've attacked as soon as it took off. Perhaps not. Who knows? The point is, you've gotta start taking orders now."
Xephos nodded. "I'm more than willing to follow orders."
"Good..." Maverick said, standing, "Now lets go see if you're still in shape, shall we?"