Light the flame of revolution

“þen… þe men being punished in þe streets… were Elis and his lover?!” Eleanor said, cupping her mouth with her hands in shock.

“Aye, ‘twas my darling son, no doutt! þat clergyman, þe vishous bastard… he pretendeþ to punish þe wikkid in þe name of the Gods, but nay, he be’þ a crule heaþen, who yuseþ þe suffering of þe innosent to take koin from þe purses of þe wealþy. And now my dearest Elis haþ been taken at his wimms!” Arthur cried in a strained voice, halfway between weeping in misery and screaming bloody murder.

The old craftsman sunk to his knees, utterly defeated. His expression was painted with the heartbreak only a parent could feel, overcome with grief at the cruel fate of his son, a young man who had done nothing wrong but love the 'wrong' person.

Eleanor, who had kept a level head even when talking about the persecution of her own sexuality, now stood wide eyed in shock and horror. If Arthur really was the craftsman from her past, it’s likely she and this Elis grew up with one another. The news seemed to be hitting her as hard as if it was her own brother.

It wasn’t just those two young men who were suffering at the hands of corruption and evil. It was everyone they held dear. All this misery and pain, for what? To uphold a ridiculous law and pilfer money for a rich lord who already made his way off the back of slavery?

It was enough to make my fucking blood boil.

“We’ll break 'im out.” Though anger coursed through my entire body, I made my declaration calmly. “We wanna make a difference in this world? Begin rooting out the corruption that plagues it? This is it. This is our first step. Two innocent men are set to be sold into slavery, what choice do we have but to stop it?”

Initially, I was met with silence. Arthur looked up at me, his expression a conflicted mix of hope and doubt. Eleanor looked at me much the same. Alice, however, averted her gaze to the ground.

“‘Tis… not kwite so simple…” she said, a melancholy in her tone. “If þe proseedings in þis town be’þ þe same as in my home, prisoners be’þ held in þe church sellar. ‘Tis only aksessible from þe bakk of þe church, and ‘twill be garded at least by þe two men þee and I saw earlier, perhaps mor. To even attempt to enter þe sellar, ‘twould mean a mortal dyuel wiþ þose garding it. At best, we would be responsible for þe taking of two or perhaps even þree lyves. At worst, it may spelleþ þe deaþ of us.”

“So, what, we just leave ‘em to rot?” I asked incredulously.

“‘þat is not what I say. I wish to see þem safe just þe same as þee. But if þis is þe paþ we are to persue, ‘twill be a costly wun. þere be’þ no garantee þat all of us, or even any us, survyve þe ordeal.”

I wanted to rebut, but I knew she was right. Such a mission would almost certainly result in the deaths of either us or the Edelweiss men we saw earlier. I knew there was constant risk to our lives for as long as we opposed lord Edelweiss, but throwing ourselves into direct danger like this was something else entirely. And while I can’t say I’d exactly mourn the fuckers if they ended up dead, actually taking a life was a line I had yet to cross. Still, to leave the poor sods to their fate just because we couldn't commit to a dangerous mission… I wasn’t sure my conscience could bear it.

“If þou dost as þee sayest…” Arthur suddenly said, his voice shaking and faltering. “…if þou saveþ my son from such a crule fate, I will craft your wepon. God’s willing, I’ll make a duzzen of þem. Use þem to end þis rotten establishment þat takeþ my son from me. I closed my yse to þe atrosities of þis world for fear of harming more þan I could help, but I can no longer pretend þis status kwo is anyþing but pyure evil. Please, lyte þis flame of revolushon and burn þis institushon down, I beg of þee.”

Alice and I both looked on in shock at Arthur’s drastic change. Though it was clear he was desperate to get Elis back, to have his whole perspective flipped was far more than I had expected. The love a parent holds for their child could truly be a double edged, it seemed. The misery caused by the cruelty towards his son had been enough to open Arthur’s eyes to the unfairness of the world, but I only wished he came to that same realisation under better circumstances.

“…Elis… I have wached him grow from a boy to a fyne yung man…” Eleanor suddenly said, a hint of pride in her otherwise dejected tone. “He hast been in my yse þe younger broþer I wished for but never had, and I have loved him as such. Wheþer I go alone, or wiþ you by my syde, milady, I will fyte to see him free. Even if it be þe deaþ of me.”

Despite the horrid circumstances, Eleanor stood proud, her hand over her heart and her head held high. Whether it be determination or naïveté, something drove her to truly mean those words. She would undertake even a suicide mission to see them through if she had to. Of that much, I had no doubt.

“Gods be good, Eleanor, and after þou skolded me for my own rekklessness just þis morn…”

“I understand myne own hipocrisy, but in þis moment it conserns me not. Gods willing, I will stryke down every man hoo standeþ in my paþ. Myne apolojies, milady, but I cannot allow even you to talk me down.”

“Fool, þinkest þou þat I am a kauward? I mean not to tredd on þy will. I mean to join þee in seeing it dun.” Alice shook her head like a parent scolding her child. “My conserns doþ remane, no doutt, but if þis may be þe ferst akshon we take on þe long road to revolushon, þen so be it. I will be at þy syde until we draw our fynal breaþs, I swear þis to þee.”

Alice matched Eleanor’s determination with her own. Even in the face of death, Alice Edelweiss proved herself to be as loyal a friend as one could be.

“Sounds like ya’ve got'chaself a deal, Arty,” I said to the old man, still on his knees on the shop floor. “We’ll get your son back for ya’s, and we’ll rip out the rot corruptin’ this bloody place with our own bare ‘ands if we ‘as to. We’ll light your flames a' revolution, don't you worry. And we’ll light up the whole damn establishment with it. World’s gonna change, and we'll kickstart that change today.”