The unrest has intensified rather than slowed down. Now the town's guard has been mobilized, and even Brina and the new recruits are also being deployed. It was hard to do something when it was against the people you were meant to protect. Morale was low, but orders were orders and they followed them, making sure none were badly injured unless of course their lives were threatened. Until that time comes, they will cross that bridge.
Brina stood in formation with her unit, wooden practice shield in one hand, blunted baton in the other. They weren't given real weapons yet. The instructors said it was for everyone's safety, but Brina knew the truth. They didn't trust the recruits not to panic and hurt someone badly. Or worse, refuse orders altogether.
Across from them, maybe fifty paces away, a crowd of perhaps two hundred people blocked the street. They held farming tools, makeshift weapons, and angry expressions. These were farmers from Outerwinds. People who worked the land that fed Helwind. People who, just a few weeks ago, Brina would have chatted with at the market.
Now they stared at each other like enemies.
"Hold the line!" Sergeant Vorik commanded. "No one moves unless ordered!"
The crowd chanted something about oppression and broken promises. Brina couldn't make out all the words. Her heart pounded in her chest. This wasn't what she signed up for. She wanted to fight beasts, to protect people. Not this.
Beside her, Elena was pale, her grip on her shield trembling slightly. On her other side, Mira stood rigid, jaw clenched.
"This is wrong," Elena whispered.
"Quiet in the ranks!" Vorik barked.
The instructors weren't particularly happy with what was going on. The people didn't know that all of this was happening at the will of other nefarious entities that had now started to enter the town as security at the gates became relaxed. Or rather, the guards were more afraid than necessary that they would be standing with their backs open for ambushes.
Commander Aldric had tried to maintain security protocols, but with guards deployed throughout the town to contain protests, the gates were undermanned. Travelers were waved through with cursory inspections. No one had time for thorough document checks or careful observation.
Which meant Bonaks, Kanton, and another dozen pirates had slipped into Helwind over the past three days, scattered among legitimate traders and refugees. They wore plain clothes, carried no obvious weapons, and blended into the chaos of a town tearing itself apart.
They rented rooms in different districts. They watched. They waited. And they continued to stoke the flames through Daks's efforts.
But the lord has already ordered to quell this unrest, or the violators would be held for treason and those who disobey command will be executed.
The decree had been read publicly that morning. Lord Jouse, standing on the steps of the administrative building flanked by Knight Captain Adam and his armored knights, had spoken in a voice that carried across the gathered crowd.
"I have tried patience. I have tried negotiating. I have tried to reason. But you have answered with violence, with destruction, with rebellion against lawful authority. Therefore, under the Emergency Powers Act granted to me by His Majesty the King, I declare martial law. Any person found organizing or participating in unlawful assembly will be arrested and tried for treason. Any person who resists arrest with force will be met with force. This is your final warning. Disperse. Return to your homes. Return to order. Or face the consequences."
Even Brina was afraid that she might be forced to do something that she wasn't willing to do.
She'd never killed anyone. Never seriously hurt anyone. The thought of it made her sick. But if someone came at her with a weapon, if someone tried to kill her, what would she do? Could she defend herself? Could she hurt someone to save her own life?
She didn't know. She hoped she wouldn't have to find out.
The entire town was now at the brink of collapse, not just economically but as a town itself. Neighbors began to bicker and old wounds seemed to have been brought up during their discord and arguments on what is right or wrong at this juncture.
In Lowwinds, families who'd lived side by side for years stopped speaking to each other. One supported the lord. The other supported the protesters. Children who'd played together yesterday were now forbidden to interact.
In Marketsbreth, vendors who'd been friendly competitors were now bitter enemies. Accusations flew. Who was loyal? Who was a rebel? Who could be trusted?
Even in Tradeswind, where people prided themselves on staying above the political fray, divisions appeared. Some craftsmen refused to work for anyone associated with the rebellion. Others refused to work for anyone supporting the lord.
Helwind was eating itself from the inside.
Auntie Marta has closed shop, or when the vendors do open shop, they only have limited windows to sell. People had started hoarding food into their homes too. And economically they were now further hit by this growing tide of insurrection.
Brina had gone to see Marta two days ago, before the deployment. The market was nearly empty, only a few desperate vendors trying to move their goods before everything spoiled.
"How are you holding up, auntie?" Brina had asked.
Marta looked tired, older than Brina remembered. "Not well, dear. Sales are down to almost nothing. People are too afraid to come out, or they're spending what little money they have on supplies to hoard at home. And my husband..." She trailed off, her eyes welling with tears. "He's gotten worse. The stress of all this. I can barely afford his medicine now."
Brina had given her what little money she had from her recruit pay. It wasn't much, but Marta accepted it with trembling hands and grateful tears.
"You're a good girl, Brina. Your parents would be proud. Please, stay safe. Whatever happens, stay safe."
Lord Jouse, now left with no other choice as the other three council members have flamed up their people's minds with their poisonous tongues, was now forced to enact the emergency act. The town's guard was now allowed to use lethal means to capture the leaders of this insurrection.
But the true masterminds were watching in patient reverie as the people fought with stones, sticks, sickles, and rakes to fight off the guardsmen who had more formalized training.
Bonaks watched from a second-story window of a rented room overlooking the main plaza. Below, he could see guardsmen in formation facing off against an angry mob. Stone throwing. Shouting. The occasional charge and retreat.
"Beautiful," he murmured. "Absolutely beautiful."
Kanton stood beside him, silent as always. "When do we strike?"
"Soon," Bonaks said. "Let them weaken themselves further. Another day, maybe two. Then we come in as liberators, offering to help the rebels defeat the tyrant lord. They'll welcome us with open arms. And once we're inside the inner defenses..."
He smiled, a cold, cruel expression.
"Then Helwind is ours."
They, on the other hand, moved in the shadows, flaming up the hearts and poisoning the ears of the people.
Daks worked tirelessly, moving from tavern, to secret meetings, to whispered conversation in alleyways. He told Dodong's supporters that the lord was planning to execute their leader. He told Zino's people that Brunswick had betrayed them. He told everyone that help was coming, that powerful allies would arrive soon to aid their cause.
All lies. All designed to keep them fighting just a little longer.
Windspire now had been fully armed to the teeth. Knight Captain Adam and the other fifty knights and their three hundred followers now guarded the lord's castle.
The administrative district had been transformed into a fortress. Barricades at every entrance. Archers on the roofs. Patrols in the streets. Anyone wanting to enter needed proper documentation and a legitimate reason.
Lord Jouse's personal guard, the men sworn to House Jouse for generations, stood ready. These weren't town guards who might have divided loyalties. These were professional soldiers who would die before betraying their lord.
While Brunswick took a back seat and made no efforts to support any side. Because if he would support one side, then he would be tipping the scale of power. So he chose to barricade his home with his own private soldiers, fifty of them.
The other council members learned of this fact and felt betrayed, but they knew if they antagonized Brunswick, then the man most likely would aid the lord. So they would rather him not join the fight and maintain the current status quo.
Eleaine Sturman, meeting with Dodong and Zino in a secret location, spat when Brunswick's name was mentioned.
"Coward," she hissed. "He's waiting to see who wins before he picks a side."
"Let him wait," Dodong said, though anger burned in his eyes. "We don't need him. We have the people. We have the numbers."
"Numbers mean nothing against trained soldiers," Zino wheezed. "We need those allies you promised. The ones who said they would help."
"They're coming," Dodong insisted, though doubt flickered across his face. "They promised. They said they would arrive when we needed them most."
He believed Daks's lies completely. He had no idea he was being used.
Meanwhile, Brina thanked the stars that her brother Ren was with his master Brolyn, who went out of the town to go to another settlement to sell goods as a test for them or some sort. And they had already left a few weeks ago before everything had flamed to this point.
Now she could only wish that Ren was doing fine, as she wondered why everything seemed to be going wrong for her, when she was just starting to find her place in the world.
At least Ren was safe. At least he was away from all this madness. That was one thing to be grateful for.
But the guilt gnawed at her. She was here with a shield and baton, facing down angry farmers, while Ren was peacefully conducting trade somewhere. She should be protecting people, not threatening them.
She was yelled at by Sergeant Vorik, who saw her with a distant gaze once again.
"Feldwyn! This isn't training, treat it as it is or you will lose your life! Stop with your daydreaming and focus!"
She was brought back to their current scenario as they approached Dodong's residence in Outerwinds. But there was already resistance from the people here.
A barricade had been erected around Dodong's farmhouse. Maybe a hundred people, armed with whatever they could find, stood ready to defend their leader. They looked scared. Determined. Desperate.
The guard force was larger, maybe two hundred strong, including the recruits. But many of them looked just as scared as the rebels.
Captain Gareth, leading this operation, rode forward on his horse and addressed the crowd through a speaking horn.
"Herman Toregosa, called Dodong! You are ordered to surrender yourself for trial on charges of inciting rebellion and treason against the crown! Submit peacefully and your followers will be pardoned! Resist and you all face the consequences!"
Still, they were offering terms of peaceful surrender and laying down of arms. But the likelihood of that succeeding was low.
From behind the barricade, Dodong appeared. His eyes were wild, his movements jerky. He looked like he hadn't slept in days. Or like he'd been taking something to keep himself awake and aggressive.
"I will not surrender to a tyrant!" he shouted. "Where are my promised allies? Where is the help you said would come?"
He was talking to someone who wasn't there. Or looking for someone who hadn't arrived.
Dodong now was frantic and most likely drugged. You can see him expecting something to arrive, as if he was promised with honey-laced words of help and whatnot.
"They said they would come!" Dodong raved. "They promised! Powerful friends! They said we would win!"
Daks had been promised many things. But none of them were coming.
It must be similar to the other council members who have taken this revolt seriously.
Eleaine and Zino, in their own districts, were having similar realizations. The promised help wasn't coming. The allies weren't arriving. They'd been lied to.
But it was too late to back down now. They'd committed treason. They'd raised arms against the crown. Surrender meant execution.
So they doubled down, hoping desperately that somehow, some way, they could still win.
Captain Gareth gave Dodong one more minute to surrender. When the minute passed with no response, he gave the order.
"Advance."
The guard line moved forward. The rebels behind the barricade tensed.
Brina's heart hammered in her chest. This was it. This was really happening.
"Shields up!" Vorik commanded. "Stay in formation!"
The recruits raised their shields as one, just like they'd been trained. Step by step, they advanced toward the barricade.
Someone threw a rock. It clanged off a shield. Then another. Then a hail of them.
"Hold!" Vorik shouted. "Do not break formation!"
More rocks. A few got through, striking helmets, shoulders, arms. Someone cried out in pain.
The rebels started chanting, working themselves up to charge.
And Brina realized with terrible clarity that blood was about to be spilled. People were about to die.
But only time would tell, and now the stage was set.
Helwind would burn.