The Pure Ones

Chapter Thirteen

VIRGIL'S POV

"Look alive boy" I heard as a large hand clamped down on my shoulder. I suddenly remembered I was in a wine cellar underneath a mansion with about a hundred other men tightly crammed in the room.

I looked up respectfully at the man who still had his hand on my shoulder. He was a huge and brutish looking man with a large orange beard and bald head. He was known by us Silver Hearts as "Colossus" and I had nothing but admiration for this man.

He slowly sat beside me on the cold ground.

"What's the matter boy?" He asked me concerned. I bit my bottom lip trying to think of an appropriate response. The truth was, I was a nervous wreck, but I could not disappoint Colossus by letting him know my confidence had wavered even a tiny bit.

"Oh it's nothing Captain. I am just thinking about how much things are going to change if we succeed"

"When we succeed" he corrected me sharply.

"Right..." I said as my chest started to heave rapidly. Colossus shook his head and stood up quickly.

"Listen up boys!" He said loudly making everyone attentive. I also got up and now he was looking around the room and at the faces of all the men gathered.

"Today... Today is the day we make a change, a difference. I am tired, are you not?" He asked the room. He was met with confused murmurs.

"I am tired, I could hardly get any sleep last night" a man admitted.

"Not that kind of tired! I am tired of the bullshit this kingdom keeps feeding us!" Colossus said.

"YESSS!" everyone replied in unison.

"All of those filthy nobles and politicians, out there hosting banquets and stupid tea parties while we hardworking men can barely eat?!"

Everyone shouted in protest. My heart was swelling with anger, Colossus was right.

"And you know what's worse? We cannot even complain! You know why? They'll kill us! Kill, kill, kill! If you so much as breath wrongly, kill! If you dare mention their precious king, kill! Nobody should hold that much power!

They act as if they are saints but they are the worst sinners of them all! How much longer will we live in fear?!"

"NOT ANY LONGER!" I screamed in response. Colossus pointed to me and said,

"Yes Virgil! Not any longer! Today we will march into that palace with our heads held high and we will take control!"

Now booming with confidence I threw my left hand up and then placed it on my beating heart. Everyone repeated our salute and Colossus flashed me an earnest smile.

"WE ARE THE SILVER HEARTS! Suit up boys, today, we make history" Colossus said before the room erupted in cheers.

For years I had been secretly part of a rebel group called the Silver Hearts. Almost two decades ago, before I was a member, we had attempted to overthrow the monarchy but failed.

The rest of the kingdom assumed our humiliating defeat would be the end of us, but we spent all those years meticulously plotting and analysing, waiting for the perfect moment to act. Luckily for us, the perfect moment had been served to us on a silver platter.

I still had not fully grasped that Alistair was a sorcerer of some sort, I guess now that I think about it he was always an odd person. I did not believe it at first but after I saw the charred bodies of the guards he was said to have killed I could not deny that magic was responsible.

I was sad that my long time friend had been forced to flee the kingdom for his safety and that he had now become an enemy of the state. But because of what happened, chaos had ensued and the King was inches away from insanity.