For the Rebellion

Chapter 2 - Looting the Barge

I adjusted my hood, keeping my masked face hidden in shadow. The riverbank was silent, the woods aware of our presence. The crickets had ceased when we arrived. Mist crept up, swirling around my booted ankles. Beside me, Amelina was a steady presence. She was the only person who knew who I really was.

The rest of our forces were hidden amidst the trees, waiting.

I watched as twenty dark bodies swam out into the river, intercepting the heavy barge headed towards Woodport. My stomach lurched as our operatives hefted themselves out of the water and stole towards the guards keeping watch. Lord Lasker had gotten more desperate, but so had I. So had we all.

They crept forward across the deck, keeping to the shadows, using the giant stacks of lumber to stay hidden. My bow was strung and waiting. I pulled an arrow from the quiver at my hip, placed it in the notch, then waited. I couldn't see much, but I watched as guards were dispelled. They fell in ones and twos, our operatives working their way from one end of the barge to the other.

A cry split the night air. For a moment, everything fell quiet, then more cries erupted. A bell began to ring. The oarsmen abandoned their jobs and began jumping overboard, fleeing for the opposite bank.

I spotted a lone guard near the front of the barge, barreling towards two of our operatives, just out of view. Taking aim, I drew my bowstring taught, then released. The arrow flew through the air and plunged straight through his throat. He clutched at it, then went motionless and fell over the edge.

"Good shot," Amelina said, even though she'd seen me make plenty of them.

I swallowed the bile rising in my throat. It was easier to kill like this, at a distance, when I didn't have to look them in the face. I'd been mostly lucky so far, but it wouldn't always be so. Lord Lasker would make this harder for us, soon enough.

Our operatives took quick control of the barge, taking up the remaining oars and steering it towards our side of the riverbank. The plunk of dead bodies meeting the water allowed me to count just how many we'd killed. My stomach tightened. At least they weren't our bodies. At least they weren't our people. I wasn't sure I'd be able to do this, otherwise. Lord Lasker had stopped using his own house guards long ago. These were mercenaries, hired from overseas. From places like Oshea. Men looking to earn some extra coin for easy work. But we hadn't made it easy for them, had we?

Hunger, cold, desperation. That's what fueled rebellions. What fueled this one, if it could be called that. I'd heard the rumors, the whispers spoken behind hushed doors. Woodport Rebellion, they called it. Had we ever intended for it to go this far?

"Be ready," I called quietly over my shoulder. Edric's voice sounded, repeating my command and prompting the others. They already knew what to do.

The barge slowed and came to a stop as it struck the shallows.

"Hurry!" Edric called. "Go. Go. Go!"

People in dark clothes rushed past. Men, mostly, but some women, too. Anyone strong enough to stomach this kind of work, strong enough to put their families at risk should they be caught. They were all eking out what they could to survive. I dreaded the thought of discovery, for each and every one of them. The consequences would be catastrophic. Not just for those relying on us, but for all the lives that would be lost.

Nearly forty sets of eager hands began the long, arduous process of lifting lumber and carting it away. It had already been cut at the sawmill up the river, ready to make the long trip by barge to the sea, where it would be loaded on ships and taken south. Or, it would have been.

We couldn't use wagons, not here. The trees were too close. So instead, canvas was used to make slings that were then dragged by the few horses we could keep hidden. Thunder sounded overhead. "Thank the gods," I muttered. This would all be over if the rain did not come, as predicted. Almost as soon as I thought it, I felt the first drop.