The Caverns of Kronos

The Revolution - Part 3

     The distribution of food went ahead without a problem, and soon the news that there was an alternative source of food in the city spread among the commoners. Those that Tomsk was sure could be trusted, anyway. It was inevitable, however, that those who knew would tell their friends, who would tell their friends in turn, and five days after the distribution of  food packets began, word found its way to an informer.

     The informer didn’t know about the Tharians, or that there were clerics of Caroli in the city, so he was unable to repeat these things to his contact, but the alternative source of food was dynamite all by itself so that the news was rushed not just to Silus Vart but to Lord Basil himself, who had his own, although much smaller, network of spies and agents. It took him about half a second to make the connection with the large, bulky objects ‘about the size of Pantrys’ that Sejanus and his men had been seen carrying, and he flew into a rage, ordering them to be seized and the General to be arrested.

     Sejanus was at home at the time, asleep in his bed, when the guards started hammering on his door. Answering it, he was bundled out into the street in his nightclothes, but they were intercepted within moments by soldiers loyal to Sejanus himself. There was a brief tussle, the guards fled and the soldiers led Sejanus to an apartment converted into a guardpost which they immediately began fortifying. Sejanus and the six soldiers were soon surrounded and under siege, but a great many of House Konnen’s soldiers gave more loyalty to the General than to Lord Basil and soon battle lines were being drawn in the corridor-streets of Kronosia as everyone in the army chose sides.

     Meanwhile, another troop of guards was marching down Pantry Street, heading for the apartments indicated by the informer, and the Tharians fled back to their hiding hole, cursing in frustration and disappointment as they guessed what had happened. Their revolution was over before it had even begun, or so they thought.

     They didn’t understand the depth of the hatred the commoners felt for the Nobles and the army, though, or how high their spirits were at the thought that those terrible days might soon be over. The anger and frustration they felt when they saw the guards breaking into the apartments and carrying out the Pantrys was so great that a number of young men ran out into the street and grappled with them by hand. The first of them died on a guard’s sword, but that only fired the others on and soon the other guards were under attack by a howling mob armed with carpentry tools and kitchen implements. They continued to hack and slash at the guards long after they were all dead.

     Gradually it dawned on the commoners what they’d done. They had dared to strike back at the monsters who’d oppressed them all their lives. They’d been victorious against trained men armed with swords and they had no need to fear punitive starvation because they still controlled the Laxu Pantrys. The news spread like wildfire throughout the city, and citizens fell upon guards and soldiers who had the misfortune to be alone or in small groups at the time. The mobs then burst into the homes of those who were asleep in bed, dragging them out into the street and clubbing them to death.

     By the time the Tharians crept cautiously out of their hiding hole, unaware of what had happened, most of the city belonged to the commoners and angry mobs were converging on the mansions and on the area where the army had gathered. At first the Tharians were unable to believe what had happened. It had been so fast, so unbelievably fast! They had gone into their hiding hole with the city firmly in the grip of the Nobles, and emerged less than an hour later to find the city in anarchy, with dead guards lying in the streets and gangs of commoners dashing past in all directions, searching out the few remaining military men who were hiding in corners and waiting for help. Diana gave a wail of anguish at the sight and fell to her knees beside one of the corpses, searching it for signs of life and then saying a prayer over it.