Chapter Seventeen

‘Warden Orana believed in a life of luxury for those who deserved as such. She kept her own consort of humans to bid on her every whim. These men and women lived complete lives of servitude but did so in safety and without need of their own.’ 

Caid slid out of the tunnels in Cros. Creaton, Alis, and Caid had been debating the points of Creft versus Pryce all morning.  

Seer Creft had spent the better part of his rise to fame criticizing the air conditions of Cros and neighboring districts. He claimed the emissions of coal burning lamps or machines poisoned not only the air but also the water of the city.  

Some people listened to him, following him toward the use of other less harmful products to light their homes. Creft promised to provide them with light at a lower cost, which he did through research with other scholars.  

Sadly, this had done nothing to change the minds of those in Cros or those who backed them. The coal was continuously dug from the earth and used to provide electricity throughout most of the city.  

The consequences were evident to all those who cared to notice. Even Caid, who never bothered himself with city politics, could see the air quality in places like Cros was horrible.  

The quality of air meant little to those who depended on the mines to make their living. The slaves of Oranaos did most of the digging, but Cros men then transported it, made the machinery, and converted the coal to fuel. Without those jobs, Cros would be even worse off than Anella. So, coal prospered even in the face of obvious doom.  

With the debating, Caid remembered to grab respirators before entering the district this time, which not only helped him breathe, but it also allowed them to blend in with the growing crowd. Those who lived in Cros never removed their respirators, and those coming in to work or just to visit always had theirs on hand. With respirators, they blended in easily with the growing crowd. 

“How many people do you think are here?” Alis asked.  

Caid watched every direction as more and more people poured into the small square. This crowd was at least as big if not bigger than the crowd Seer Creft had drawn only a few weeks earlier in Parian. With the growing civil unrest, more and more people ventured out to hear what Seer Pryce had to say about the troubles.  

Seer Pryce had been silent and visually absent for over three years. The man was secretive, only venturing out to accept his nomination as Seer of Cros every four years. At this point, it was arbitrary, as no one would even run against him in his home district. Seer Pryce had a way about him that made him as much the district as its name.   

Creaton, standing beside Caid, strained his neck trying to see over the tops of hundreds of heads.  

“I couldn’t even guess how many people are here,” Caid answered.  

 “If there are fewer than a thousand, I would eat a rock,” Creaton said.  

Caid assumed Creaton would be safe from eating a rock; he figured there were two thousand or more people filling the block. Others squeezed in along the other side, possibly bringing the total to almost five thousand people present for Seer Pryce’s speech. 

Caid reached up, adjusting his respirator; although it wasn’t comfortable, it filtered the air well enough. 

 “How far are we from the stage?” Alis asked.  

Caid realized that Alis probably couldn’t see very far. Most of the people in front of them were full-grown adults, and here she was just a young girl. 

“About another block or so, but it won’t be easy to get there. Well, I should say it wouldn’t be for most people, but I have a trick.”  

Caid pulled Alis by her wrist, guiding her to the left, with Creaton following close behind them to a small subset of buildings much lower than the three-story storefronts.  

Caid stopped short of the shops, grabbing an electrical pole about ten feet in front of a rundown meat shop.  

“Grab on to the pegs and climb up after me,” Caid told Alis.  

Before Caid could climb, a heavy blow to his ribs knocked the air out of him. Even though he was caught off guard, his warden training made him faster than a pickpocket looking for quick coin.  

Caid turned and grabbed the man’s wrist in a fluid motion.  

“Let me go, you crazy!” the man yelled as if he had been innocently passing through.  

Another man grabbed Alis, trying to haul her back into the crowd. Creaton stepped up, seizing him from behind. Now others were stopping to watch.  

“What are you doing with that girl?” a random man yelled. He lunged forward, attempting to punch Alis’s attacker, who pulled Alis in front of him, using her as a shield. The man ended up accidentally punching Alis in the side of the head and she let out a gasp, a daze instantly coating her eyes.  

Caid twisted his attacker’s wrist until he heard their shoulder pop. Others also began to fight, not even knowing what they were fighting for or against.  

Creaton let go of Alis’s attacker in order to fight two others who had randomly attacked him. Luckily for him, most of these men were not good fighters and threw punches at wide angles. Creaton slid under the punches, landing a few of his own, dropping the men back into the crowd.  

Caid rushed to Alis, and as he did her attacker tried dragging her away. Caid struck him with an open palm against the side of his jaw, feeling a satisfying crunch. The man crumpled to the pavement. Caid picked Alis up and carried her over his shoulder, pressing through the growing mob. Reaching the electrical pole again, he put her down instructing her to climb. She followed his instructions, though she moved slowly.  

He doubted Alis was fully aware of what she was doing, but there was nothing he could do to help her. If she made it to the rooftops, she would be fine. Caid looked back, seeing a group of men swarming around Creaton. He couldn’t help both Creaton and Alis at the same time but as he watched, an envoy strode out of the crowd toward them.  

Caid looked up at Alis. She was about halfway up on the pole, looking around dazed.  

“Don’t move, give me one minute,” he yelled up to her.  

He ran off in the direction of the envoy. It took only a moment to find the man in full riot gear. Caid speedily grabbed the one-shot from one of the man’s hands.  

Caid bolted away, not looking to see the envoy’s reaction. He pushed through the rumbling crowd, narrowly missing a few shots to his head from flying fists. Where had he lost Creaton? He turned, to check on Alis. She was still hanging on, but he doubted she would make it for much longer. 

Caid turned back around, pushing a little farther into the crowd, looking for Creaton. He spotted him a little way away from the electrical pole.  

Caid ran forward, sliding into the crowd beside Creaton.  

“Cover your ears!”  

Creaton opened his mouth to question him but saw the shooter in Caid’s hands and immediately covered his ears. Caid shot at the nearest man’s leg. Although shooters were not highly accurate, they were loud and tended to disorient people.  

Caid grabbed Creaton’s arm, heading for the pole where Alis hung on. Caid scrambled up, grabbing Alis around the waist, he guided her up the rest of the pole. Holding onto her tightly at the top he jumped across the gap onto the meat shop’s rooftop with Creaton following. 

Caid lifted Alis over his shoulder as he started up the side of the next, taller building. He progressively moved higher and higher, zigzagging back and forth across the varying heights of front and back buildings. Finally, he stopped on a tall water tower that overlooked the stage. They would have a difficult time viewing Seer Pryce, but with the sound system, they would at least be able to hear everything he had to say and keep themselves safe.  

*** 

Creaton was surprised by the lack of Envoy presence in the crowd. Below them, he watched the small riots grow into bigger fights, and very few envoys bothered to walk into the fray.  

He had been lucky even one envoy joined the crowd. Without him coming into the crowd and Caid having the bright idea to steal a one-shot, Creaton would still be down there; he would probably have been trampled by the moving crowd.  

Creaton looked over to Caid, who was busy tending to Alis. She seemed to be more aware and alert, but the hit she took was already bruising around her outer eye.  

Creaton wanted to thank Caid again but decided it would make things between them more awkward. Ever since Caid had tried to kiss him, the two hadn’t talked much at all. Creaton hadn’t made the choice; Caid had become more distant, which Creaton thought was probably for the best. 

How many times was it now Caid had saved his life, even after he had tried to feed Caid to the traitorous wardens with no remorse. And it was all because Creaton thought they were trying to accomplish something bigger, or at least Creft had told him as much.  

Creaton tried to get out of his own head, looking down toward the growing crowd. More and more people were showing up without respirators, which meant even other districts as far away as Athena were interested in what the Seer of Cros had to say. What would be important enough for him to pull himself out of the manor and into the light?  

Creaton wondered how long they would have to wait for Pryce or if he would even show up. This had been a whispered event, not a posted one; however, it seemed odd so few envoys were there. Why were they allowing the fighting to continue?  

The question lingered in his mind only for a moment longer. A loud horn blasted through the air, almost causing Creaton to stumble. He reflexively placed his hands to his ears, looking over to see Caid holding his hands over Alis’s. When had he become so selfless? Or maybe he had always been that way and Creaton had just failed to see it.  

Another horn blast ripped through the air, continuing intermittently for almost two minutes, then abruptly stopped, along with the fighting. Those who had fallen slowly got back on their feet, none bothering to retaliate. Everyone’s attention was now squarely focused on the town hall building. There was no stage set up, there were no fancy banners hanging like Creft had done for his own speech a week before. This was plain and undecorated, just like Cros as a whole.  

Creaton saw the doors to the hall open. Exiting those doors was the answer to his questions¾the envoys had been absent in the streets because they crammed into the public hall. They came out in three lines, then fanned out left, right, and center forming a hundred-and-fifty-foot barrier around the steps. Each of them carried a riot shield and their shooters. No one in the crowd moved to breach the line. Creaton figured with such a presence, there would be no fighting for quite some time.  

With the envoys in their places, the next group that came out was the nobles of Cros, filling the first step of the hall. All of them wore the black ribbon of Cros nobility, showing their status as those who wielded power.  

Finally came Seer Pryce, a tall, skinny man whom Creaton put in his early fifties with a more youthful look. He walked with a straight back and a confident strut. His red coat over a white shirt was in stark contrast to all the black clothing those around him wore. On his head, he wore a bright white top hat that just barely hid his curled ponytail. Pryce also sported a long-stemmed smoking pipe, the smoke curling into the air in small wisps.  

Creaton noticed unlike the rest of the nobility, Pryce had forgone the respirator. The air didn’t seem to bother him as he pulled deeply on his pipe.  

Seer Pryce started down the first step; suddenly he stopped, and his hand flew up with incredible speed. At first, Creaton was just as confused as the rest of the crowd below him, but then a smile crept over Pryce’s face, and he opened his hand to show he had caught a rock that probably was meant for his head. He chuckled into the headset microphone he was wearing, tossing the rock up into the air, catching it, and placing it in his pocket.  

*** 

Caid was unaware of Pryce’s entrance until he heard the small gasp from Creaton. He had been too busy making sure Alis was aware enough not to stumble off the small grated platform they stood on. Her attacker hadn’t broken any bones in her face, but she was not as responsive as Caid would have liked. Her eyes seemed to go in and out of focus, and her speech slurred; unintelligible. She could say her name, and he was sure she had told him where they were, at least it had sounded like she said Cros, but it was still hard to understand.  

When Pryce started his speech, Caid gently leaned Alis back against the outer band of the water tower, then moved closer to Creaton to observe the proceedings.  

Caid saw Seer Pryce surrounded by nobility, and in front of them were hundreds of envoys in full riot gear. The crowd had stopped its fighting, standing still, watching Seer Pryce pace the steps.  

Caid noticed the atmosphere change when the seer spoke. In Parian, there would have been merchants hawking their goods and children running playfully. Here, there was no hawkers and children stayed close to their parents. Was it Cros? Or was it the fact everything was changing so rapidly in the city?  

Caid swung his eyes back to Pryce, who stopped his pacing, and drew deeply on his pipe, and blew out smoke. Caid found it odd even a man who had lived in the mining district all his life could breathe so deeply without the help of a respirator.  

“Thank you all for coming.” No one applauded; the audience seemed frozen. “No, really, thank you. It is important you all have gathered here today in the beautiful district of Cros. It is important for you to hear about the world around you and about those who threaten your very way of life.”  

No one reacted; everyone seemed to be hanging on Pryce’s strong words as if they were the last handhold to a reality they once knew.  

“Let me say I saw the crowd’s rowdiness and expected better from Cros and its denizens. Don’t get me wrong, I expect there to be some fight in all of you, just not amongst each other when there is a much bigger threat. I respectfully send my regards to the families of Seer Creft and the overseer, may they be found whole and sound. However, I do not stand lightly on clouds of dreams as they threaten to break down the walls that contain our livelihood. I do not plan to stand with my mouth held aghast as they crumble the foundation we have all built together.”  

Seer Pryce delivered his speech in an animated way. He was demonstrating to a crowd of statues.  

“Coal has seen all of us through some tough times. It has put food on our tables, clothes on our backs, and given us the means to take care of our families. Coal has given us a purpose, and it has given us light to see the world by. Seer Creft has threatened that, but it wasn’t only his words that threatened us and our way of life. It was his ideas that were put into the hands of others. Into the hands of those who would see us thrown out into the streets without food, clothes, or a means to care for those we love. I saw you fight, and I know you all have it in you, but we must make sure we are fighting for the right purpose. We must make sure we are directing those blows at the right people. It is not a time to fight each other here in Cros. Do not break down your neighbor’s doors to take the nourishment you need. Take up fist, sword, or whatever weapon you possess and drive it into your enemies! Those who would see you crumble beneath the bricks of their selfish ideas.” Pryce paused and drew his pipe back up to his mouth.  

Caid noticed rumblings had started in the crowd. Something had awoken in the silence and it was now humming as if an engine had been brought to life.  

“He wants to start a war,” Caid said.  

Creaton turned as if he, too, had been transfixed.  

“He wants more than a war, he wants the city to destroy itself, but the question is why?” Creaton replied.  

Seer Pryce lifted his arm, and rumblings slowed. “Do not let those who would make you into slaves be the only ones whose ideas are heard. Rise up and let the world know Cros and those like-minded districts will not be trampled upon. We have our rights to vote and no one can take that away from us. Do not let men like Seer Creft silence you. This is not tyranny as he would like it, this is a people’s city, and you are the people!” 

The crowd burst into a fervor. Caid knew any chance of the city returning to normal after a small tremor was now long gone. The streets would break, the buildings would fall, and people across the city were about to die.