The streets run red with the blood of our people, cries and tears stream into the air. The heaven turns crimson with poison, our children lose the will to live, the end is near and yet hope and faith still reside in our hearts…
--Anya Selois--
She quickly walked down the street under the cover of the cold and wet night. taking quick light steps she swiftly entered Hazza Court, she was so intent at getting to her destination that she did not notice when she walked into a puddle, the water seeping into her shoes; her feet became colder and began to heart but she did not listen. Suddenly she tripped and fell into a pothole falling hard on her hands as she cried out, she quickly rose and looked around to see if anyone had noticed her or heard her; breathing a sigh of relief she continued on her way. Then, suddenly in the corner of her eye she saw the tale tell sign of a sentry, the blood red blinking light on the sides of a hovering semi-sentient machine programmed to find, detain and shoot to kill if necessary; those that violated curfew. Thinking quickly she ran into an abandoned home burnt most likely by the Keltar “not” so secret police. As she hid from the Sentry’s prying video cam and life sign scanner she noticed a picture and picked it up. It was the picture of a baby girl, no older that 11 cycles. She was a beautiful child, long black hair, her eyes a shade of violet with grey and green intermixed…the eyes of a Merovingian. She put down the picture as a tear rolled down her cheek; “that child is probably dead along with her family”, she thought. After awhile she shook away the thought and went outside to see if the sentry was gone, when she was satisfied that it had left she continued on her way.
* * * * * *
“where the hell can she be, she should be here by now; soon the others will tell me to begin the meeting damn it, what if she was caught by a sentry Lorel?”
“Calm down Salron your sister will be here soon, she knows how important her presence is required at this meeting,” Lorel said
“Yes she does, only she can give out the order, only she can rally the people and only she can do what will be necessary when this is over” Salron stated with a twinge of sadness. Lorel walked up behind Salron and hugged him tightly knowing what Salron was worried about.
“your sister is strong, resourceful and she knows what this action and job will ask of her, she did not go into this blindly” Lorel stated, in an effort to calm him down. Salron looked into her eyes and then turned away.
“You truly are my best friend, when we divorced I thought I could never look at you again Lorel, but you have proven to me that we were never meant to be husband and wife but friends”
“I know, when weq lost Laylana I thought that was it and for our marriage it was but for our love as friends it was only the beginning…” she said before being interrupted suddenly by Ather, the assembly secretary entering and greeting them
“Lord Salron your sister is here she has asked to speak to you before she addresses the assembly.” Ather stated before he bowed and walked out of the room.
“I better speak to her she may want to opt out, although I hope not” Lorel looked into his eyes
“Salron, your sister will not decline the position, she knows that you have suffered too much already” She murmured soothingly. “ Now go to her and see what she wants, maybe she needs your support.”
* * * * * *
So many thoughts were running in her mind, would she be able to handle the job that she was about to accept? Could she defeat the Keltar and their hold on her people? She peered out the window and looked up at the two moons of Kel; As always Arnaa was silvery and brilliantly, it was the closest moon to Kel and it was easy to see the pot marks that asteroids and meteorites had created millennia’s ago. However, Triso was dark and far, not to mention a disturbing blood red color that chilled her bone. Could it be an omen, a message that the blood of Merovingian’s would stain the streets of Kel? In any case the view of Arnaa was truly beautiful, or would be if her people did not suffer so much, she sighed and closed her eyes remembering the bad memories of the first Rebellion, many had died, many like her brother Riak who led his seemingly ragtag army into the capital. They held out for 2 months before being slaughtered by the Keltar Elite Guard; 3,827 Merovingian’s had died and 10,598 Keltar capital residents had lost their lives.
She remembered being taken by the Keltar secret police and interrogated, tortured, and stripped naked; persistently being ordered to give the interrogator the information necessary to quell the rebellion. Of course she couldn’t because she did not know anything, Riak had left her in the dark as to his plans for action, she had been a figure head and her mistake in not demanding to know more caused too many lives to be lost. Now however she would actively be apart of the new rebellion, in fact she would be the one to lead it, but first she needed assurances from her brother Salron as to her role, she needed to be sure that she would not be a puppet without any real authority. Her thoughts began to coalesce into a muddled pool of abstract and random thoughts, suddenly she was jolted out of her intense brainstorm as someone began knocking on the door.
“Enter” she said knowing who would be on the other side.
“You asked to see me my sister?” Salron answered as he crossed the doorway.
“Yes, I need to ask you some things, I need to be sure of what I will be and what I will represent.” she stated matter of fact, she was not one to beat around the bush when it came to official business, a trait that had always been in the Arnox family.
“What kind of questions, what do you need me to tell you?” Salron asked.
“I need to be sure of my role in the rebellion as well as my role after the rebellion” She said “if we are successful that is.” she quickly added. Salron sighed and began to look at the floor, it felt like an eternity before he looked into her eyes.
“My sister, my young sister, do you think I would use you as a pawn, use your image to rally our people and take power after it is all said and done?” he asked still looking at her eyes.
“I do not know what to think, Riak used me in the same way and I ended up being tortured and many of our people were killed, so to tell you the truth I do not know what to expect from this second rebellion.” The silence that followed was awkward, Salron knew what Riak had done, and the price his sister had paid for Riak’s mistake. Finally Salron broke the silence
“You will be in command, you will lead not only our people but me as well, I am bound to your word; you will receive no opposition from me, and from those that serve under me I swear it.”
“So be it I will accept the throne, you can leave now; gather the assembly, I will deliver my speech to them.”
