The Rebel's Vision Read online

  I don’t waste my time training fools. Never did in the pits, won’t do it now.

  She pushed into the headquarters, a small building with only one room, and groaned internally at the sight of everyone else. She was one of the last to arrive.

  “Sorry, everyone. I got caught up in training with the females,” she said as she found her place next to Matesh. He wrapped an arm around her waist, and she used it to hold herself up until they were given leave to sit down on the stools lining the large meeting table.

  “How are they? Do you see any progress with them while we’ve been gone?” Alchan looked up from his papers as he talked. He generally didn’t look at anyone when he was focused on his stacks of plans and numbers, stuff she didn’t understand. He normally tried to look at her, though.

  “Lots of progress from the females who came from Olost, the ones we rescued. I don’t know how the new females were when they got here, but if it’s worse than it is now, then skies, I’m amazed they’re alive.” She snorted. “They’ll survive, though. They pay attention, and I bet most of them will be combat ready by the end of winter.”

  “Amazing. That falls right in with our plans.” Alchan nodded to himself as he looked back down at his paperwork.

  Mave took a chance to see who was missing. Sen was nowhere to be seen, which figured since he was good at disappearing. On the road back from rescuing him, she would go days without seeing him and had no idea what he was up to. Then again, on the road back from rescuing him, she only wanted to spend time with Matesh.

  Mave couldn’t find Luykas either. From what she saw that morning, he probably passed out and was either just waking up or going to sleep straight through the meeting.

  “What’s the plan?” Nevyn asked, breaking the awkward silence that fell over the room.

  “Sen talked to his sailors on the trip home about what they need to recover.” Alchan closed the door. “We’re going to get them back into top shape before they move forward with any plans. He’s also been considering what he needs to help shuttle Andinna from Olost. We need to boost our numbers here if we want to be a real threat against the Empire.”

  “Any of the Hornbuckles coming to the meeting?”

  Mave frowned. Was there anything the Hornbuckles could do for them now?

  “Not this time. They’re going to be surveying the mountains around us for needed materials. We don’t have enough steel to arm everyone, and if we’re talking about adding to our numbers, we need to start catching up and getting ahead.” Alchan looked around, frowning. “Where’s Luykas?”

  “I saw him this morning. Told him to get some sleep,” she explained. Alchan’s thoughtful gaze snapped to her, measuring her. They stared each other down for a moment until he nodded.

  “Fine. If he doesn’t show up, I expect you to pass on everything discussed today.”

  She knew a punishment when she heard one. She was the one who may have caused Luykas to miss the meeting, so she was the one who would have to lose precious time to catch him up if he never showed.

  “He needs to get here,” Nevyn commented sternly. “We only got back yesterday, and I bet we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of everything that’s changed here and how things went while we were gone.”

  “He and I spoke a little about that yesterday. He’s due to give us a full briefing today. I can always send Rainev to go get him.” Alchan didn’t seem worried. If anything, Mave thought the King was keeping a cool head about the entire thing. It was becoming a trend with Alchan. He was cooler, calmer since she had met him, even more so since they assaulted Ellantia and walked away from it. It was like the idea of another war made him focused, less frazzled and stressed. Everyone else was getting more stressed, but not Alchan Andini.

  “I’m here!” Luykas called as the one door of their headquarters swung open. “I’m sorry I’m late. Found Sen eating lunch and decided to wait with him.”

  “Hey!” Sen called, stepping around Luykas’ wings. “Lost track of time. Sorry, Alchan.”

  “It’s fine,” Alchan said, still maintaining his calm demeanor. “Roll call. Nevyn and Varon, here. Mave and Matesh, here. Luykas, here. Rainev…” Alchan looked over his shoulder at the mutt. “Here. Somehow.”

  “I didn’t know lyca was going to do that to me,” Rain mumbled. “Never happened before.”

  “Well, you won’t be drinking it anymore,” Alchan replied.

  “Ah, you sleepwalk too?” Luykas patted Rain’s shoulder as he walked by. “It happens. There're other teas.”

  “Moving on…” Alchan narrowed his eyes on them until Luykas moved away and found his place at the table. “Sen, here. Leshaun?” Alchan looked up, and Mave moved to let Leshaun come closer to the table. He’d been leaning against the back wall, out of sight. “Here. Kian and Senri?”

  “Not here yet, it seems.”

  Only a second later, they barged through the door, Senri first, running to the edge of the table, Kian following slowly behind. Based on the disarray of their clothing, Mave smirked at her friend. Senri bared her teeth.

  “Have a good dip in a hot spring after training?” Mave asked knowingly.

  “Damn right,” Kian said immediately. Senri whacked him in the gut.

  “That’s everyone,” Alchan said loudly. “Let’s get this started. The first official meeting of the Andinna rebellion has begun. Now, the last few months have been slow, but we’ve freed our allies along with two hundred Andinna, and Leshaun is gathering support through our spies. The village is prepared for the winter, with the exception of a second communal barracks. Luykas?”

  “We broke ground on it last week. Another month and we should have housing for all the single males currently here. We’re going to need to branch out, though. This village doesn’t seem like it was originally built to handle more than five hundred Andinna at its best, and it’s not at its best.”

  “Senri, do we have the guards to defend a secondary location?”

  “No. To keep this village secure and secret, I’ve been sending guards out far and killing any Elvasi scouts we run across all over the Spine. At any time, I have fifty guards in action and another fifty waiting for shift change. The newly freed slaves won’t be able to start taking on guard duty for another couple months. None of them know how to use a sword, and I don’t want to get any of them killed.”

  “So, we need more numbers, so we can manage having more numbers,” Luykas said, shaking his head. “This is going to be an endless cycle, Alchan.”

  “Then we’ll manage. As long as no one is starving and everyone has a safe place to sleep, we’ll manage and expand from there. Sen, what about your sailors? Is there anything they need right now?”

  “Well, thanks to you and Luykas, we all have places to sleep. Feeding them and building up their strength again is mandatory. I can’t have half-starved sailors trying to man the ship.” Sen shoved his hands into his pockets. “Moving forward, I’m going to need more men. Lost half my crew and can’t man a ship big enough to shuttle the type of numbers you need from Olost.”

  “We need to get you a ship first,” Alchan reminded him. Mave resisted a yawn. Meetings were the worst.

  “Not just a ship. A safe port. It’s a two-month journey from the coast of the Dragon Spine to Blackstone, the closest port in Olost. I’m going to assume Blackstone is offering us their full cooperation after what you did when we were trying to leave, but I have nowhere safe here to port. Any ship big enough to shuttle a hundred or more Andinna will get destroyed trying to port where the Dragon Spine meets the water.”

  “The only choices are Ellantia and Kerit,” Alchan mumbled, shuffling through papers. “Obviously, can’t use Ellantia. It’s been part of the Empire for over ten millennia.”

  “What’s Kerit?” Mave asked, knowing she was the only person in the room who didn’t know.

  “Kerit is Ellantia’s sister city. The Anden port city just north of the Dragon Spine. Part of Bryn’s mission is to take a look at the
forces in the city.”

  “Right now, Kerit stands as a major vulnerability for us. If Shadra can’t get through the mountains with a majority of her forces, she can spend the time to send forces up to Kerit and try to hit us from behind,” Luykas said, expanding on Alchan. “Leshaun…”

  “There’s been word of her trying to gather the naval forces she needs to use Kerit, but we’ve done serious damage to her fleets in the last year, thanks to Rainev. She can’t leave other ports undefended from general threats just to attack us. Her southern fleet was in Myrsten the night we escaped from Elliar, and her northern fleet, while still strong, is missing a few of its ships and can’t shuttle soldiers around as fast as she would probably like. Right now, they’re still in the planning phases. We probably have until spring to secure the city before her soldiers ship out to use it.”

  “So, Kerit remains our first target in Anden. Once we secure it, it’ll be like the War, and Shadra will be hard pressed to try to take it again.” Alchan nodded slowly. “Good, but we don’t know what kind of numbers we need to take Kerit.”

  “That’s the sticking point,” Nevyn agreed. “Even if we had the sheer numbers right now, we don’t have enough trained warriors. This won’t be like Ellantia, where we strike and withdraw. We need to take the city and keep it. It’s imperative to the future of the rebellion to have a safe port for Andinna to come from Olost and boost our numbers.”

  “But we need numbers to take the city and secure,” Luykas reminded him.

  Mave’s head was spinning. Everything was going in circles. Numbers were needed to expand, but they couldn’t feed everyone without more working hands. Working hands meant fewer guards and warriors, which meant no force to defend the new areas. They couldn’t bring over Andinna from Olost without taking a city, but they needed the Andinna from Olost to do so.

  How in the skies are we going to do this?

  “What has Bryn reported?” Varon signed across the table from her.

  “That Kerit isn’t a bustling city anymore, but it’s not without protection. It was holding three war ships ready for a fight, and who knows how much of a military force. Much of the city is purely military. Not much for civilians, who are mainly making money off supporting the military there.”

  Mave frowned. “The Elvasi always had a hard time colonizing Anden. I would hear Nobles complain about it. The land was too wild, too difficult.”

  “The Elvasi weren’t built for this land. There are only two races built for terrain like Anden, and that’s us and the dwarves, whose traditional home is to the east of Anden on the other side of the Dragon Spine’s eastern range.” Alchan sighed. “Does anyone have any ideas about Kerit?”

  “Strike teams. A couple real svamor,” Nevyn answered quickly. Mave recognized the word. A svamor was an elite group of Andinna warriors. Her mother once led them. “Knock out their resources, destroy structures, in and out quickly.”

  “Possible, but that could leave the village without its defenses,” Kian reminded him. “There are only a handful of us who can perform those missions, and we’re considered the leaders of this whole thing.”

  “The Company,” Alchan agreed. “We’re the only Andinna who have run those types of missions in the last thousand years, and there are no other Andinna available. Even at its smallest, a svamor needs five members. That’s everyone—you, Varon, Kian, Mave, and Matesh could be one. Luykas, me, Zayden, Rainev, and Senri?” Alchan hit the table. “We just don’t have the warriors for it. We can’t be divided that way.”

  “Of course.” Nevyn looked away, and Mave felt for him. It was a decent idea, and if it were just the Company, it would probably be exactly what they did. With nearly four hundred Andinna relying on them, there was no chance it would work. They couldn’t abandon so many without any leadership.

  “What if we dedicate some time to training hopefuls?” Mave suggested. “There have to be some who can step up and go that far in training.”

  “There are a few females who might work. They just went with you in their first war group, but generally, a warrior spends years as a grunt before they’re recruited to a svamor as a somaro. They aren’t ready for a small tactical unit. They need direction.”

  Mave nodded. It took her years in the pits to get where she was—considered an elite warrior like the others in the room. Asking an Andinna who wasn’t as experienced in battle to suddenly work to be one of the best was asking too much.

  “Keep an eye on them. If they continue showing promise, approach them and see how they and their males feel about the possibility,” Alchan ordered, still looking down at his table.

  “Yes, sir,” Mave and Senri answered and nodded in unison. A few of the males chuckled at the synergy.

  “With that, I think we all know where we stand. Take a few days to settle back in and prepare for the future. We have to find a way to take Kerit this winter. It’s going to be hard, but I know with all of you, I have my best minds on it.” Alchan straightened up and dusted off his hands. “Dismissed.”

  Mave let out a long breath, letting others leave before her and Matesh, who stayed by her side quietly the entire meeting. They never even sat down. As the room emptied, Matesh leaned close to her.

  “You saw Luykas this morning?” he asked quietly in her ear.

  “Yeah. He caught something through the bond. Ended up having breakfast with him, then got back home to wake you up.” She hadn’t brought it up earlier because it didn’t seem like a big deal. Their eyes met, and she wondered if he was going to ask for more. He knew something was wrong, knew she was getting less and less sleep.

  “What did he catch?” Emerald eyes narrowed, and she shook her head in dismissal. She didn’t want to answer that. The fewer people who knew she was up and panicked in the middle of the night, the better. “Mave, I just want to know you’re okay.”

  “I’m fine, love,” she promised softly. “Just stressed out.”

  “Tell me what I can do to help.”

  “You two, take it somewhere else,” Alchan ordered, sitting down at the table alone. Not even Rainev was left in the room.

  Mave bared her teeth at the king. Alchan bared his in return and added a dangerous growl. He was done playing the calm leader, and it was time to get out of his hair before he got snappy. She acknowledged the warning and pulled Matesh to follow her out.

  “I’ll always tell you if there’s something you can do to help me,” she said to Matesh once they were out of hearing range of Alchan. “I’m not…I’m trying not to worry anyone. Luykas only picked up on it through the bond, and you know I’m not sleeping well because we sleep together. It’s not affecting my performance, and it won’t. There’s nothing wrong.”

  “Okay, ilanra,” he conceded. “You know I love you more than the moon and stars, right?”

  “Yeah, I do, and I love you.” She reached up and cupped his cheek. Before he could say anything further, she kissed him slowly, a promise they would continue to have time together now that they were back in the village. “Now, I have to get back to work.”

  “Of course. I’m promised to help Zayden with some of the males. Alchan didn’t ask, but I’m going to be on the lookout for any males who show promise like you are with the females.”

  “Why wasn’t Zayden at the meeting?” She felt bad for missing his absence in hindsight.

  “He covered for Senri and Kian with guard training to give them the chance to report to Alchan together. Allaina wasn’t there either.”

  “She’s with the females, covering for me. Plus, I feel her meeting with Alchan is going to be private. She’s not here to fight a war even if she helps and trains. She’s here to run the community, keep us proper, and listen to grievances about living conditions.”

  “You know she can fight, right?”

  “Yes, which is why I’m comfortable letting her train the females. I’ve seen her use a morok. She’s skilled, but she’s not someone we’re going to send on missions. She’s needed here.” Mave
relied on Allaina more than she wanted to admit. A mativa kept petty complaints from getting to Mave and Senri. She handled the day-to-day lives and functions of the village, leaving the rest of them free to focus on the future of their bid for freedom from the Empire.

  “Good point.” Mat shrugged. “See you at home for dinner?”

  “Of course,” she said, kissing his cheek. “Be good with those guards. Don’t hurt them too much.”

  “I’ll try,” he promised.

  She backed away and watched him jump and fly off. Alone, Mave looked back at headquarters and decided to leave Alchan to whatever he was doing. He obviously didn’t want anyone around anymore.

  She launched into the air and headed directly for the female training field, landing behind Allaina, who was silently watching the females training.

  “How have they been for you today?” Mave asked. “They didn’t give me a problem this morning.”

  “Fine. Fyren calmed down, which led to her friends calming down. She’s not happy, but she’ll do,” Allaina answered. “If she were raised by Andinna and educated properly, she would make a strong candidate for a mativa.”

  Ah. Well, that’s an idea.

  “Do you think it’s possible to begin that type of training for her now?” Mave asked, sitting down on the grass. Allaina’s ruby eyes followed her, narrowing as Mave got comfortable.

  “Why?”

  “Just some small talk about beginning a second location since this village can’t host many more Andinna,” Mave explained. “Don’t ask me for the logistics, but you mentioned she’s got potential. I don’t think you would want to run two villages.”

  “I could, but it would be a disaster in the making. There’s a chance I could begin her training, but she wouldn’t be ready to take over even the smallest of villages for a century.”

  “Even if there’s no one else?” Mave raised an eyebrow.