As I mentioned in the last chapter, I am combining short chapters at the moment so they can be read more smoothly. As such, chapter 57 contains both Alex and Fiona again.  Because these next three posts are kinda intense and cliffhangery I will add no further author's notes till the end of friday's chapter. Please remember to vote and comment! This section is supposed to be exciting. I would love to know if it is;-)

Fiona

As Fiona waded through the tavern, slipping among the ruckus of inebriated men, no one paid her any notice. All eyes seemed to be focused on the young bar maid as she swayed her hips and teased the men raising the hem of her skirts higher and higher to appreciative cheers only to lower them again.

Fiona inhaled the stale sour smell of alcohol and sweat like a sweet perfume, listening to the curses and screams as if to a beautiful song. She relished the commotion, energy, life, and freedom. Anything was better than their prison bellow with its suffocating stench of despair and fear. Still, there had no time to waste. Fiona pushed quickly through the crowd and made her way to the door.

Outside the day was fair, the sky bright despite the late hour, the air pleasantly brisk and the sun warm where it rained down on her exposed skin, embracing her like a long lost lover. Fiona stood for a moment, surveying her surrounding through burning eyes, unaccustomed to more than the dim flicker of a candle flame for so long, blinking back the tears that temporarily blurred her vision.

Fiona was glad to see the streets still relatively full with the bustling daily traffic of people and horses. Servants headed to collect a final item from the market square and the shops along the main street before they shut their doors, men on their way to grab a drink at the tavern or a quick rendezvous with a lover before going home to their wives and families, there were plenty of bodies she might hide herself among. Fiona entered the throng of pedestrians with little difficulty and brazenly stuck to the main streets, allowing the crowds to act as her disguise.

Their  current safe house was centrally located within the middle districts and it did not take long before she could make out the wall of the Western Gate. She slowed her pace,  knowing it was unwise to get too close on her approach. There was likely to be a fair amount of traffic at the checkpoint so late in the day, as various merchants, farmers, and craftsmen left the city on their way to residences in one of the closer suburbs of the Capitol. The commotion would be useful, but she could not risk being approached by any of the King's guard that stood sentry at the main entrance to the city. Fiona walked around a particularly tall building and slid into the thin alleyway beside. Pressing herself close to the brick wall she hid in the shadow as she edged her way closer and closer to the gate to gain a clearer view.

As she had suspected, there was no lack of activity or armed soldiers standing guard. The rumors of intensified security, at least at the Western Gate, seemed to hold true. Still, Fiona was not entirely disheartened. It had been less than three weeks since the attack on the House of Lords, yet already she could sense in the eyes of the citizens as well as the sentries, a certain ease and comfort.

As the King's men searched the wares of the merchants that passed their way she observed that their inspection were no more pointed or intense than any other she had witnessed before in crossing the boarder. Fiona imagined that if she were to have come only a few hours earlier, without the pressure of the impending curfew adding to the guards alertness against the immense throng of people, it would have been quite easy to pass through the gate. With no cargo to inspect, a smile, and a quick flash of one of the gate passes Alex had obtained for such purpose, Fiona had little doubt that she might be able to leave the city walls without much effort.

Without the cloth of the Nita and her standard royal retinue, the guards were unlikely to recognize her face at all, and if Fiona donned a head covering, like so many women wore to protect their faces from the sun, her features could be further disguised. She would wear in nondescript garb as she did now and be entirely inconspicuous, appearing to be nothing more than a lone female traveler. Hardly a threat. They wouldn't give her a second glance. No need to risk using Alex's secret entrance if she could easily leave the Capital through a legal route. She thought of the rebel leader and wondered how the Northern Gate compared.

Fiona hoped that Alex too would be able to see what she saw. The fears of the past weeks were now unnecessary. The middle and upper districts of the Capital seemed to have already reverted to their default sense of security and indulgent peace of mind. They still saw the acts of the Vox Populi as a problem of the Outerlands. They thought they were immune. One attack had not been enough to teach the noblemen of the Capitol to fear as they should have. So much the better. Their illusion of safety would only make future acts against the King and his allies easier for the Vox Populi.

Yet  despite the lax security she observed, Fiona was certain the King was scared. That the attack on Henry's life could not have failed to rile him. He was merely too afraid to spoil the picturesque fantasy of safety within Auresir to take the necessary action to end the rebellion with a decisive gesture. He wanted to maintain the illusion that he was in control and could not risk placing the city under true lockdown.

 In the end, he too underestimated the Vox Populi and their power. Henry undoubtedly thought that they would eventually give up in the face of the Empire's troupes and superior arms. He was greatly mistaken. Fiona noticed the sun beginning to move to the west and checked her pocket watch. A little over an hour remained until curfew. She began to make her way back towards the tavern.

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Alex

Alex couldn't help but feel vulnerable. As he stepped outside into the blinding late day sun, he imagined its beams were shining light on him alone, unveiling him to his enemies, and begging them to cut him down where he stood. Fiona was nowhere in sight, though he tried to resist the urge to search for her in the crowd. The action would have been suspicious and Alex had no desire to draw attention. He kept his cloak wrapped well around his body, collar turned up, hood drawn, head down.

It was easy enough for Fiona to suggest that they wander the streets. In spite of her position there was no question her face still maintained a high degree of anonymity within the city. Most Kanjin were entirely ignorant of the Senmin people and there was almost no chance of Fiona being recognized. For Alex, the stakes were higher. 

Though he had worked hard to maintain a low profile within the city boundaries, there were still many in the Capital who might recognize him on sight. With the current reward on his head, even formerly loyal acquaintances could not be trusted to resist temptation in turning him over to the Crown. Though the fresh air was a welcome change to their safe house cellar, as a breeze blew across his face, Alex imagined that the very wind itself sought to hang a noose around his neck.

Never his custom to take main roads, Alex slipped on to a side street as soon as he could, making his way towards the Northern Gates. Given their location on the edge of the upper districts, the Northern Gates of Auresir were the most frequently used for gentry. Part of the walled city's original construction they were well maintained and had been created to be aesthetically pleasing to the wealthy citizenry that used them. They were far more ornamental than their western counterpart,  made of elaborately carved stone, with lovely ethereal figures of heavenly beings and small reliefs depicting vignettes from the book of Kanjar, delicately framed by twisting vines and flowers. Alex generally avoided them as much as possible.

Though the degree of security in the Upper District was less obvious, Alex knew that the guards there were often members of the Crown's most elite squadron of soldiers, the King's Reserve. They were far more likely to be well trained, far more focused and  intent on protect the elite citizens of the Capitol from any danger. More importantly, given the dress and general appearance of the average resident this close to the Royal City, anyone even remotely out of place in their class distinction would stand out and hidden sentries lurked everywhere. Alex stared at gates from his alleyway, not daring to go any closer.

From a distance, the scene was more or less what he might have expected to observe on any other day. The well dressed citizens who passed seemed calm, unafraid, and oblivious, the guards no more or less alert than usual. Still, Alex could not imagine how Fiona could possibly leave through the upper district. In the west there was a chance that slight deception might allow her to pass for an average market goer, a member of the merchant or peasant class but Alex could not imagine that Fiona could blend in here among the city's elite. Even with her "tricks." 

His mind suddenly drifted to the image of Fiona and her disappearing staff. The incident had upset him far more than he hoped she'd seen. More than he wanted to admit to himself. Perhaps she could bewitch the guards of the Northern Gates. The idea was more frightening than exciting.

Alex found the stories and legends of the Senmin's demons and evil sprits creeping unbidden into his mind. What other powers did she have? Was it possible she been bewitching him? Disguising her true motives? How could he know? Perhaps she had been working with the King. The thought was unexpected but terrifying. Fiona had met with Henry many times after all. She resented the Vox Populi's past acts against the Senmin. He knew that. Could her aid have been an elaborate trap all along? Suddenly Alex felt even more exposed. He shouldn't be out of the safe house, he thought to himself. She had made him leave.

Alex shook his head against his own fears. He realized this level of paranoia was likely absurd. Fiona had been faithful to the Vox Populi for so many years. He cared about her. Perhaps even loved her. She could not be a traitor. Whatever power she might possess changed nothing. Except...it did. She had kept this from him. An important, possibly deadly secret, and he still had no way of knowing the extent of her abilities. He could not simply banish the thoughts of doubt from his mind. With one more quick glance to gates, Alex turned and headed back towards the middle district.

As he walked, Alex could not help reliving the night of the attack again and again. There had been a moment. The perfect moment. He had lined up his rifle, that hard won weapon, secreted into the building by a servant the day before the attack. It had been aimed squarely at Henry's head as all eyes focused in the King waiting for the man to call for the start of the assembly.

 Alex's finger had twitched, hesitate for less than a second as he readied himself, knowing he would only have one chance. The shout from the crowd rang out, preempting the sound of his shot by mere seconds, but it was enough. The King turned to look towards the balcony where the man pointed his finger. Alex fired. One of the men on the raised stage fell to the ground, but Henry, Alex saw Henry, still standing, just behind the body of one of the men who had jumped in the way of the shot.

By the time Alex could react, the crowd had already become frenzied. The King was sheltered by the panicking lords who ran into the path of Alex's gun. It hadn't stopped him from trying. They might never have such a chance again. Alex had ripped Fiona's riffle from her hands and fired another shot among the men on the dais but to no avail. The second man to fall was not the King. Alex saw two soldiers come and secret Henry from the crowd. It was all over. Fiona had grabbed him, forced him to abandon their weapons and retreat.

Now as Alex replayed each moment he began to wonder if Fiona had somehow alerted the man in the crowd. How else had they been noticed? It had seemed to be poor luck, but timing was too perfect. The man had cried out at exactly the right moment...

Alex increased his pace. He had the desperate urge to find Fiona as soon as possible. He longed to look into her eyes and know that his fears were absurd. That she was his. That she belonged to the rebellion heart and soul as she had sworn at the tavern.

He was less than one block from the safe house when he saw smoke rising in the distance, a gray and white cloud slowly blanketing the sky. Alex felt a shiver of unease travel through his body as he smelled the all too familiar smell of fire. Stepping from the alleyway, he saw a large crowd of people forming in the street. He slipped in among them.

"What's all this then?" a man beside him asked.

"Fire," replied another. "The Royal Brigade is over there now. Trying to fight it off before it spreads I should think."

"Vox Populi," another man said. Alex heard the words and his heart skipped a beat, as his body tensed, a cold sweat breaking across his forehead.

"Rebels?" The first man asked.

"Yeah. I heard it was the King's own men that started the blaze. They found one of the terrorists cells."

"Where was that then?"

"I heard it was at the Lucky Horse Tavern."

"Just my luck," said the first man, shakings head in dismay. "I was headed there for a drink."

Alex stood frozen as the words washed over him.

"Move a long then." A guardsman approached the crowd, the sharp point of his bayonet shining. Alex forced his leaden feet move him deeper into the shelter of the crowd.

"Curfew is coming folks. There has been an incident up ahead. No one in or out. Use another route home."

"Everything alright officer?" one of the men asked.

The soldier's face was hard. "Every thing is under control," he said. "Go home to your families."

The crowd began to slowly disperse as more armed men began to appear.

I have to find Fiona, Alex thought to himself, his doubts of her loyalty quickly replaced with fear that she might be out there, exposed, entirely unaware of the danger. I have to find her before she makes it back to the tavern.