“Good.” Alassa stood and held out her arms. Emily embraced her, gingerly. “I’m sorry this caught me by surprise.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Emily said. “Did the revolution panic them?”
“It might,” Void said. He stepped into the room, followed by Silent. The maid carried a tray of additional drinks and snacks, which she placed on the table. “I’ve been speaking to a couple of my sources. Something was in the works, clearly, but everything blew up faster than any of them expected. Master Lucknow must have been laying his plans for quite some time before all hell broke loose in Alluvia.”
Silent stepped back and stood against the wall. Emily blinked - it was rare for the maids to wait in the room when they could be summoned at any moment - and then decided it wasn’t important. Guests weren’t allowed to use the wards for anything. Void motioned at the tray, inviting them to eat. Emily took a sandwich and bit into it eagerly. The food was very simple - Void had no taste for the high life, she’d discovered - but it tasted heavenly. Jade and Alassa ate without comment. Lady Barb didn’t touch the food at all.
“The princes, and the royalists, are sure someone is backing the rebels,” Alassa said. “Your name has been mentioned, as you know, but there are others. It seems fairly clear that the revolt could not have gotten as far as it did without some backing, although no one really knows who. It could be someone from the kingdom itself or a foreigner. If that is the case, the revolt could just be the first stage in a plan to invade and occupy the entire kingdom.”
Emily wasn’t so sure. “The commoners could have planned the revolution themselves,” she pointed out. “Or they could just have taken advantage of something that happened by accident.”
“The reports aren’t clear,” Alassa said. She indicated the papers on her chair. “However, it seems unlikely that someone could have planned everything without tipping off the king and his spies.”
“Maybe,” Emily said. She’d met hundreds of aristocrats who regarded commoners as beasts and less than beasts. They’d lavish care and attention on dogs and horses, all the while ignoring the peasants in their fields. It was quite possible the signs had been there all along, only to be ignored because everyone knew the commoners couldn’t add two and two together and get four. “I think, whatever really happened, that the rebels have taken most of the country.”
She took another sandwich as Alassa ran through the high points. Again. Alluvia had been in trouble for months before all hell had broken loose. Reading between the lines, some kind of uprising had been pretty much inevitable. The Crown Prince probably hadn’t made matters any better by dismissing most of his army, including the infantry and musketmen. It wouldn’t be the first time that gunpowder weapons had turned a country upside down, particularly if the men who knew how to use them had been discharged and told to find employment somewhere else. She could imagine some of the gunners she’d met finding new roles in the rebel army...
“Prince Hedrick has moved to Dragon’s Den,” Alassa said. “You’ll meet him just outside the town, then travel to Jorlem City. The rebels have sent messengers to Whitehall, promising to respect the school’s lands as long as the school doesn’t interfere with their affairs. You should be able to send a message from there, notifying the rebel leadership you’re coming and requesting safe conduct. If there’s anyone they’ll listen to, they’ll listen to you.”
“But watch your back,” Jade added. “They’re desperate men.”
“I know,” Emily said. “And what am I supposed to convince them to do?”
Alassa sighed. “It depends on who you ask, I suspect,” she said. “The White Council hasn’t managed to get over its shock. No one expected to see an entire kingdom overthrown in less than two days. Rebellions are normally fairly localized affairs. This one... ideally, I think the council wants Alluvia to be relatively stable, with a government that respects its obligations to the rest of the Allied Lands. They also want to know who’s behind the revolution, if indeed there was a conspiracy beforehand.”
Her eyes hardened. “Practically, I don’t know how far the rebels are prepared to bend for peace.”
Emily nodded, slowly. “What do you want?”
“Ideally, something akin to Zangaria,” Alassa said. “A monarch, an assembly, a balance between nobles and commoners... I don’t know if that’ll happen in Alluvia. Too much blood has been shed too quickly. Prince Hedrick wants revenge, Emily. He was talking about fire and blood. His older brother might feel the same way too. And I imagine the commoners feel the same way too.”
“Yeah,” Emily said. She’d heard too many commoners cursing their aristocratic masters to feel otherwise. Zangaria had been wracked with class warfare for years before the civil war. Even now, Alassa had to maintain a balance that was permanently on the verge of falling apart. “It may not be easy to convince both sides to come to the table.”
“No,” Void agreed, dryly. “It won’t.”
“I’ll leave the documents with you,” Alassa said. “And I’ll keep you informed of developments in the White City. Or what’s left of it.”
Lady Barb stepped forward. “I’ll see you both home,” she said. “And then...”
“I was hoping you would stay,” Void said. He gestured to Silent. “The maid will show you to a guestroom.”
“I have to get back to Miles,” Lady Barb said. “He’s currently in Dragon’s Den.”
Emily’s eyes narrowed. Void... actually asking someone to stay in the tower? That was odd. It was so out of character she was tempted to test for outside influences. The only person she knew who’d stayed a night in the tower, without being an apprentice or a servant, had been her... the day she’d first arrived in the Nameless World. Now...
“I’ll be in touch,” Void said. He stood. “Thank you, all of you, for coming.”
Alassa dropped him a short curtsey, then
