Path of Change

Part 4

PATH OF CHANGE

By Seth Campbell

Part Four

We headed out the back door to a small alley littered with rubbish. We slowly inched towards a nearby street. The streetlamp next to the alley entrance was broken.

Clement slowly peeked sword first out of the alley to give the street a once-over. After a couple looks, he darted across the street, turned around, and gave us a signal to follow him. We all silently exited the back alley and quickly crossed the street. After getting back together and re-oriented, we headed straight forward.

The Eleventh City was laid out flat as an eleven-pointed star enclosed in a circle. Each district was contained in a specific arm. Me and Adrian lived in the Scholar's Arm halfway between the Academy at its base and a public forum at its point.

The roads all pointed towards either the base or an outer point. So getting lost was kinda hard to do. All we had to do was hug the side and head straight forward.

We hugged the south side of the forum at the gate's end. The gas lights gave way to the traditional torch-bowls. The forum was bathed in its orange-red light instead of the white-yellow light of the street lamps.

The gates were large hulking cedar doors with cast iron reinforcements and a small door built into the one on the right near its hinge. Next to the small door was a small room that housed the night guard.

"Keep going," Clement inched forward. ""Harry's on duty tonight." Harry was one of Clement's drinking buddies. We followed him around the forum towards the small door inside of the larger doors.

While the large doors are locked with a key at night, the smaller door is just locked with a lever. Clement wrapped his hand around the lever's base and used his other hand to slowly turn it towards its unlocked position.

"On the count of three," Clement was unusually calm; even more than usual. "We'll make a break for it to the woods. The mill's on the other side. I'll catch up." We all nodded our heads in understanding. "One," I took a big gulp. "Two," We all crouched down to begin running. "Three!"

Clement thrusted the door open and we immediately bolted out of it through the outer courtyard and into the woods. Once we were past the tree line, I turned around to see how far Clement was behind me. Before I realized it, he was right next to me.

"Damn, you're a fast runner." He just shrugged in passive humility. "So, which way to the mill?"

"That way," Clement pointed towards a small path that didn't seem to have been used in a long while. Clement lit a small torch and unsheathed his short sword before heading onwards. I slung my bag over my shoulder and followed Clement to my prison.

The path was cold, dark, and anything but treadable. Clement kept us moving forward, using his sword to cut foliage blocking their way. I kept close to Clement's friend the whole way. We said nothing.

After what felt like half of an hour, Clement stopped in his tracks. Me and his friend quickly stopped as well as he put his torch out before tossing it into a puddle.

"We there yet?" I asked. Clement turned around and nodded. We all crouched down and began waddling the rest of the way. This was surprisingly more comfortable than walking.

When we cleared the forest, I saw the mill. It was an old flour mill powered by a nearby stream. It had been used as a safe house before. During the Revolution, the resistance used it as a home base. We made our way towards the front door and went inside, closing and locking the door behind us.

The inside was a simple circular room with an upper balcony that circles above it. I put my bag on a table and started to unpack my things. Clement and his friend started to make themselves at home as well. Clement went to the fireplace to start a fire and his friend unpacked some food and ale.

After stacking my books, folding my clothes, and laying out my other things, I looked around at the place. It was sparsely furnished; with only a hearth, two tables with chairs, and niches for bedrolls up on the balcony. I picked up my bedroll and headed up the ladder to go to sleep.

I laid down in a bedroll set atop a patch of straw in a niche. I wondered how it had come to this. I wondered why all of this had happened and if I deserved it. I quickly decided that my self-doubt was foolish. The moral standing of my actions aside, the violent response could never be warranted. I took a deep breath of resolution as I silently drifted to sleep.

"Cecil, wake up!" Clement shouted in a hushed tone as he shook me awake. I got up to the sounds of a muted crowd. I suddenly jolted awake and rushed towards a window, hoping it wasn't what I feared it was. I was once again wrong.

It was a mob. They had the mill surrounded. They had torches. And they had weapons.

I just looked out the window in shock. Clement and his friend were raiding a secret weapons cache left over from the Revolution. They set them up by the other windows while one of the guys in the mob stepped forward, holding his torch aloft.

"Cecil, your time is up! If you surrender you and your friends will be spared. But if not, then perish in the flames of perdition!" The others roared with affirmation.

Before I could even take a breath, "Don't even think about it." Clement cut me off. "I'm not gonna let you do that."

"I never planned to," Clement quickly realized that I was smarter than that. "This place must have a secret passageway."

"There's a tunnel to the Seventh City," my mind immediately drifted to memories of my old hometown.

"Where's the entrance?" Clement grabbed his bedroll. I followed him down the ladder and shoved my things back into a bag. Clement started swatting at the fire with his bedroll, putting it out. He carefully jumped over the still hot firewood before using his bedroll to push against the back revealing it to be a hidden stone door. His friend followed afterward and got behind him.

"Cecil, come on." I was about to leap the cinders when I heard the distant sound of organized marching. I stopped and turned around. "What are you doing?" I made my way towards the front window. The marching grew louder, the sound of heavy armor becoming apparent.

I snuck a peek to discover that the City Guard had mobilized and surrounded the mob. They stopped marching and held their pole arms aloft. The Captain rode in on his horse and dismounted.

"To all the people who have picked up arms, throw them down and return home!" I breathed a sigh of relief. "Whoever among you is their leader, come forward!" The man who had made the ultimatum came forward, torch and sword still in hand. The captain motioned to a Guardsman who then put his hands in cuffs. He then turned to the mill; to me.

"Will whoever is inside also exit?" My relief quickly dried out. I looked back at Clement and his friend still there behind the hearth; weighing their options. Clement nodded and I nodded back. I grabbed my bag as Clement relit the fire and closed the door. I then went outside to the sight of the mob having been broken up, and surrendered.