Chapter Twenty-Two We Bleed, We Burn, We Rise #3
Nox's fingers twitched and reached for her closest hand.
Adan didn't notice as she kept her eyes towards the Loch, the darkest part of the city.
Those parts of town could scarcely afford candles, let alone the imprisoned Undine who were only used by the elites.
Slowly they flickered and then blacked out all over the city. Like a field of fireflies dying.
"Its starting." Ren spoke in a hush tone.
Nox had sent out a message to the Undine, that tonight they would all go on strike and darkness would come to the City of Bones.
Adan didn't let her think about how many would die for this act of rebellion.
She did, however, remind herself, how the smallest flame, can have the biggest impact.
Nox was familiar with the people of the Vivet and the Loch, for more than just its camouflage.
They, too, were the workers that upheld the base of the systems in place.
They, too, were told to go on strike. it didn't matter what house they were from.
The word had been spread far and wide; the rebels would cut off the king's supply of anything and everything, especially labour.
Nox's tower was the last to be submerged in darkness.
The silence that followed the blackness was palpable. Adan swore she could hear more than just her heart beat in her ears.
The only glow to be seen for miles immersed in a sea of torches followed by the beat of drums filled that silence.
"That's our cue." Nox was solemn, but steady. Concentrated on one goal.
The distraction that brought the sounds of stomping feet and chanting to the steady beat of their drums was a hundred and fifty women strong. All of whom, one way or another, have been affected by the laws of this world-- made to control and subjugate females.
Every one of them had a heart tattooed on their cheekbones.
It was Czandra idea that the woman would strike in the streets first.
Most of them had agreed to do it naked--to further their point.
A protest against the abuse and slavery.
They all either carried torches to light their way, or signs explaining their displeasure.
Their voices carried high into the sky, reaching even their ears as they all watched from above.
The naked mob of woman was heading straight towards the castle gates.
Their voices grew louder as citizens added to their numbers, and Adan smiled.
She was the most worried about them--the woman had added an edge when they decided to do this naked.
It made them more of a target in Adan's eyes.
She was already worried about the guards hurting them--now with the added possibilities of civilians. Adan wasn't sure it was worth the risk.
"Let's go." Nox threw the coiled rope over the edge and gave Adan his arm.
She wasted no time and took it, straddling over the rail and lowered herself.
When she was secure in her grip Nox let go and unfurled his wings to fly down beside her.
Aster and Ren already working on their part of the graffiti.
Adan's fingers dug into the cement as she positioned herself to let go.
Her feet swung out, and she pulled on the ascenders.
The rope jolted and the joist system above her rattled, the rope harness around her legs and back dug in to her leathers.
She tested out the metal in her hands. Releasing pressure, she shot down the rope line below her.
She squeezed her fists shut and it stopped.
Her feet slammed into the wall and lunged to stop the impact.
"Fucking brilliant." She smiled to herself.
Propelling herself down and retrieved the paint can from her side began to work on the wall.
It was a simple design that they had planned.
But it would take the four of them due to the massive scale of the idea.
The three males worked quicker than Adan, since she was the only one without wings.
Sounds of the mob below reached them as they worked.
"We bleed, we burn, we rise!"
They knew that it would not take long for the city guard to try to staunch the protests.
But split between the workers and the women, they would have their hands full.
The parade of women had already doubled in size--and was growing.
Adan spared a glance down to see if the women were safe, and nothing seemed amiss--for now.
As Adan finishes another broad streak of orange paint, a sudden scream pierces the rhythmic chanting—not of pain, but of warning. Below, the first wave of city guards begin flooding from the castle gates in tight formation, torches, and batons in hand.
The chants don't stop.
If anything, they grew louder, angrier, more defiant.
"We bleed, we burn, we rise!"
"We bleed, we burn, we rise!"
"We bleed, we burn, we rise!"
Adan worked faster, even as Nox started working beside her. She had to pump her legs hard off against the tower wall to propel for one side, and then had to wait until she swung back. Aster and Ren were just finishing up when Thammas shot up to hover beside them.
"Someone in the hotel saw you, they alerted the authorities. It won't be long now."
"Go help the crowd." Nox nodded to the moving mob below.
Thammas didn't even hesitate and bolted to the front of the march.
It wasn't just woman anymore, fathers and sons had joined in on the protest.
The crowd had more than tripled in size, and still marched towards the castle gates.
"You two head down to take guard, we won't be much longer."
Nox ordered, and Ren and Aster followed.
Nox was making compromises to not only allow Adan to join in, but for her to do it her way. He could have given her an ultimatum—use her wings or don't participate. Instead, he built her an apparatus that could help her.
She pushed her legs harder to finish the massive mural.
"You have to hurry, Adan. The second signal will be going off soon."
She knew, and still, he stayed back, hovering behind her, giving her the time and space to do it herself—her way.
"Almost." She swung away from that last spot. She kicked her legs and ran against the wall as the harness held firm. She reached out her arm and sprayed the last of the paint. "There." She grinned, pressing the ascenders slightly to fall to the middle of their art.
"Good?" She looked over her shoulder, grinning at Nox. "Let's go." He nodded and winked before diving head first towards the ground. It seemed he wanted to race, so she released her ascenders. Freeing them from the grip on the rope as she free fell to the ground with him.
She stuck out her hand and let herself feel the wind between her fingers. And at that moment she felt free again, in the only way that flying could make a person feel.
An explosion from above wrenched the air, followed by the world shaking awake.
Fire and fallen debris had her covering her head as the penthouse of the tower erupted. Below, the mob burst into cheers. Even the guards paused.
Adan's hands flew back to the ascenders, but her body was jolted to a stop. The shock sent waves of pain down her spine, arching on impact, and she cried out from the shock. She was flipped upside-down, but was still tethered to the rope from Nox's harness.
She hung their for a moment as debris fell all around her.
The rope underneath her was no longer a straight getaway, but a tangled mess.
Like one of her necklaces in her jewellery box.
She hung there for a moment, trying to figure out her next move.
She was about halfway down the building, and Nox was already at the bottom waiting for her.
She could see the three small bodies of her comrades.
She pulled herself up with her stomach muscles and groaned at the throbbing pain in her back.
Adan looked up to see the top of Nox's tower immersed in flames. They lit up the mural perfectly. A perfect rendition of her pendant that Asha had gifted to her. Nox had explained why that was the imagery that they had chosen for the rebels.
A well-known artist long dead had painted it. It was too modern for its time--no one understood the concept--except the artist.
Nox explained that it was meant to be a phoenix wrapped in chains—on fire. He had called it 'powerful imagery that speaks to personal and collective rebirth'.
Rebellion as Resurrection.
Fire cracked and burned, and her eyes narrowed at the top of her rope, it had caught fire from the explosion. Her mismatched eyes widened and she began kicking her legs. The process of building up momentum was slow, especially with the added weight of rope below her.
She pulled out one of her blades from her thigh, and began cutting away at the tangled rope underneath her. As she cut she felt the rope above weaken with every lick of flame.
She heard the males below yelling her name.
It was nothing more than a hum in the back of her mind. She was focused, and it was not the first time her life had been in danger. She honed that singular focus on the blade in her hand.
She sighed when the rope below fell free, and she quickly went to work on the single tie that kept her harness locked in.
It broke away quickly, but she had to drop her blade to switch her hands to the ascenders.
Her body fell, and her shoulders threatened to pop at the sudden weight change, but the rope held.
It wasn't until she started to swing her legs to the small ledge of the window that she heard a threatening crack.
She was suddenly falling.
She didn't scream, it was lodged in her throat as the ground quickly came up to meet her.
All thought ebbed out of her head as she dropped, the world rushing towards her too fast to see.
She was going to die. Her bones and blood would be splattered on the cobblestones, all because she was too stubborn to even try to fly.
She closed her eyes and prayed to the gods that she would do it differently—next time.
--
It took everything in Nox to keep his feet firmly planted on the ground. He would not move until she asked, or she gave him no choice but to act. Ren and Aster were looking at him like they had never seen him before.
"What are you doing?" Ren gasped, "go help her!" Nox ground his teeth as he watched Adan handle herself beautifully, she didn't need his help.