Rigged to Blow

The arquebus is an incredible weapon, but its weak point is the gunpowder. If it got wet, there was a strong chance that the powder would be spoiled or blown away. The brutal torrent of rain was beginning to flood all the buildings, and the ground was already starting to flood… So how on earth could we fight back?

I sat in my workshop, considering what sort of methods I could use to protect the gunpowder. I wondered if I could have created some sort of mechanism to add to the muskets so that their internal parts weren’t as exposed to the rain, but I doubt I had enough time to finish something and attach it to the guns.

I also could have created an external box to cover the firing mechanism to prevent water getting inside, but I also didn’t have the time to get waterproof materials for coverings. A lot of the less secured gunpowder stores that weren’t in the cellars of the palace had probably been made less effective by now.

Damn it! If it hadn’t been raining, or we had more time, maybe I’d have been able to come up with something. But it was the height of summer! I hadn’t even thought about it!

“Gah, I’m such an idiot! I should have thought of a waterproofing method earlier!”, I grumbled, hitting my head. “The gunpowder is going to be useless! What do we do?!”

Cordelia frowned. “Maybe the bullets already loaded into the weapons will be fine if we wrapped them up or something.”

I shook my head. “But that wouldn’t be enough to defend ourselves, and even if we did manage to get a shot in, there’d be far too many of them. Perhaps our only chance is taking the fight to the palace cellars, and using the gunpowder there. If we get hurt too much, we can retreat by that escape route Zeya talked about.”

“Speaking of the escape route, you never even showed us it, Zeya!” said Cordelia with a slight anger in her voice.

“First of all, I blocked it so the baron couldn’t re-enter. Second of all, I didn’t want to publicise it whilst we still had a traitor problem on our hands. But, if we’re on the topic of escapes, I do have a plan.”

“What is it?” asked Cordelia.

Zeya stroked the hilt of her sword, and turned to me. “Well, it involves you running away to Zelle. But not right away. We need to lure Audra inside the palace, and create a trap.”

“A trap?” I asked.

“We’re going to rig the entire cellar and foundations of the palace with explosives, and retreat further and further into the depths of the underground tunnels. And once you’ve all escaped… We trigger the explosives, and crush Audra under the weight of the palace.”

“That… that might just work!”

Cordelia frowned. “I don’t like the idea of giving up so soon… We should try and keep up a defence as long as we can. Kassora is the birthplace of the revolution, after all…”

“No, Cordelia. You, Cassel and Seraphine were the birthplace of the revolution. That’s why you need to move past your sentimentality for this place. The people of Leyth have risked their lives and homes for their freedom… would you really risk letting Audra live just to protect some stones and bricks?”

Cordelia frowned. “You’re right. I’ll let Cassel know when he calms down, and you two can make preparations.”

She clapped her hands halfheartedly.

“Dismissed!”.

Zeya led me into the depths of the palace, and took me into the hidden complex with the treasure and other high value items. She walked along an empty corridor, and then pointed to a stone.

“Can you help me push that out the way?”

“Sure.”

I wasn’t very strong, so I wasn’t able to help much. Zeya, on the other hand, did most of the work, and I was surprised at how much more athletic she was than me despite being double my age. The stone had covered the entrance to another tunnel, which I presumed was the escape route.

“You’re pretty strong, Zeya. I’m surprised you weren’t leading troops on the battlefield with me and Xiulan.”

I smiled. “I had my reasons. Besides, I expected I’d have to evacuate everyone..”

“What?!” I replied.

Zeya shrugged. “I didn’t think you’d actually be able to defeat the Archmages. In fact, if Sylvanus decided to get involved instead of trying to take the crown for himself, you probably would have all died.”

“Way to thank me for everything I’ve done,” I grumbled.

Zeya laughed. “Once you’ve worked with royalty for as long as I have, you get used to never being appreciated.”

We got to work moving the crates of gunpowder in the underground parts of the palace, ensuring that everything would explode. Zeya created a fuse that could be lit from the end of the secret escape route. The hope was that we could light it from one end, and detonate the gunpowder in the basement and treasure room.

“I wouldn’t really want all that treasure to go to waste,” grumbled Zeya. “So you should take these.”

Zeya handed me a small box with a crest on it, and took off her ring which had the same crest design.

Curiously, I opened the box. It was gleaming with the rare gems that Zeya had taken from the treasure room. The clarity of the stones was beyond belief.

“You could buy a mansion with this! Zeya, this isn’t ours to take!”

Zeya laughed. “Well, I took them as my payment, remember? But I won’t be needing them for much longer.”

“Zeya, what do you mean?!”

Zeya shook her head. “Cordelia, you do realise someone needs to hold off Audra to give you all time to escape? If Audra follows you through the escape route, that’d kind of defeat the point, don’t you think?”

“You can’t die!” I cried. “You’ve helped us so much, and without you, I would have given up trying to convince Cordelia that we need a government that listens to the people! You know so much! You can’t die! Without you, I wouldn’t have realised who the traitor was! ”

Zeya laughed. So you figured out who it was too, Seraphine?”

I nodded.

“Good. I told myself that I’d kill that bastard with my own hands. So I have no intention of dying in battle. Now let’s get dinner, and stop talking about such dreadful things.”

That evening, Zeya asked us all to eat dinner together with the finest cutlery. We judged by the letter from earlier that Audra would be coming soon, and Zeya wanted to celebrate before we had to go to battle. Cassel had calmed down a lot, and was calmly eating his food.

Zeya raised a wine glass.

“Everyone… I’d like to make a toast. To the revolution. To freedom.”

Everyone raised their glasses. “To freedom.”

There was no enthusiasm in our words anymore. The endless torrents of rain that had flooded parts of the town gave no signs that they would end. Our spirits were weak, and we knew that Kassora was going to fall… but still, Zeya wanted us to have a nice dinner.

“Cordelia…. I’d like to address you as a human being rather than ‘Your Majesty’ this evening. When you leave Kassora and meet the other members of the rebellion in this country… I want you to remember what the Archmages have done. The suffering the nobles have put them through. How these succession wars over kings and queens have killed so many.”

She frowned.

“I’m disappointed in you. You wield so much power, and yet you don’t know how to use it. I was going to leave the rebellion after you killed Ichabod, but Seraphine convinced me to give you one last chance. And I’m going to give you everything I have because of that.”

She gave Cordelia such a deep and terrifying stare that I saw the princess shiver slightly.

“Don’t disappoint me.”

Cassel looked at the dreadful stare from the corner of his eye, and shrank back in his chair, deciding not to argue. I ate in silence, watching the flickering of the candle on the table.

The rain poured and poured and poured. Would it never end? My mind flashed back to the volcano, where Audra had ruined a hundred lives to augment her magic. This was the end result. This incredible force of magic that bent days of weather to its will.

Having this sort of power was unfair.

Suddenly, the town bell roared, piercing the sound of the rain. Footsteps rushed into the palace, and a guard kicked open the door to the dining room.

“Your Majesty! Queen Audra’s troops are coming!”

Zeya put down her cutlery. “What a shame. I hadn’t finished my meal.”