Rise of the Resistance (War for Orion Trilogy Book Two) (44 page)

“Let the girl fight,” Hildereth said. “It’ll
encourage the rebels to fight even harder. They won't want to see
their Princess die.”

“I believe Hildereth is right,” Bertrade
nodded. “She’s already told them she’ll be fighting with them, we
can't pull her out now. If we do, it will look bad. They’ll believe
the rebellion is hopeless if they don't see her by their
sides.”

“Oh, you can't be siding with them now too,”
Alura threw her hands up. “She's the Princess, she can't fight in a
war!”

“I am the Princess and I
will
fight
in a war. A war to free my races from the suppression and slaughter
of monsters. A war that will bring back peace to our homes. A war
that we will win.”

“Then go,” Aldrick motioned. “Hildereth,
Bertrade, and I are on your side. I'm sure I can convince the
others to side with you too.”

Reginold nodded. “You’ve convinced me, just
don't die. Orion will need a leader like you when this war is over.
You’re strong and stubborn, that’s what they need when this comes
to an end.”

Kanti smiled to them and turned to leave the
room. She and Anlon walked off the stage and met Pyrrhus at the
door.

“That went better than I thought. I thought
for sure they'd have your head for what you said,” Pyrrhus
said.

“I'm their Princess, they can't stay mad at
me. I’ve rallied every rebel in Orion, how could they possibly stay
mad?”

“I don't know,” Pyrrhus shook his head. “But
you sure surprised me with that speech. I wasn't expecting anything
like that.”

Kanti blushed. “I was speaking from my
heart. This is my mother's galaxy, and soon it will be mine. I need
to take care of it and that means telling the truth. Warning the
rebels of what's lying ahead, but also giving them hope so that
they may make it through.”

“You’re wise for you age,” Pyrrhus opened
the door. “Go get some rest before the rebellion starts. I'll bring
you back here once we know the crodillians have moved.”

Kanti and Anlon walked down the steps and
left the building behind them. The streets were empty, but they
could still hear cheering a couple blocks away. Fighters were still
streaming back and forth across the sky, adding to all of the
celebration that would end soon. Both of them knew the reality of
things after traveling in Orion together. The terror of war and the
fear of not seeing loved ones again would soon be in the back of
the mind of every rebel.

Kirill stormed into the Reception Room that
Merikh never seemed to leave. The few remaining screens that hadn't
been shattered to pieces were displaying the Princess' speech
continuously with the crodillian hunched over, fists clenched and
growling through his snout. If Merikh had listened to him, none of
this would be happening and he would be ruling without resistance.
Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like listening was something this
beast was good at.

Merikh turned to him with fury in his red
eyes as he let out a roar. The black deformed crodillian that had
brought him back from Erebos appeared from around a corner.
Maolmordha walked over, glaring at Kirill with his dark orange eyes
and grabbed him with his oversized hand.

“Let go of him, Maolmordha,” Merikh said
through his gritted teeth. “We'll let him try to save his
life.”

“Save my life?” Kirill asked. “I’ve done
nothing but help you!”

“You said you could prevent this!” Merikh
pointed to the screens with his black nails. “
You
said you
could stop any rebellions before they happened, yet it seems to me,
you’ve done nothing. From what your daughter says, this has taken
time to put together, yet you’re probably going to claim you knew
nothing of it.”

“I didn't know anything about it!” Kirill
defended himself. “Do you think I’d have come to you if I’d been
hiding this from you? I want the same thing you want!”

“Then why is this happening?” Merikh
shouted, slamming his fist on another screen and breaking it. “Why
are they rebelling after you promised me you would wipe out any
rebellions?”

“Because of what you did to Adira. You
sparked something in them after striking her for all to see. That
woman was their leader and you publicly harmed her.”

“And now I’ll strike them with full force!
I’ll kill every last rebel in Orion. None will survive my wrath.
They’ve awoken a monster and now they’re going to pay the
price.”

“You can't kill the humans. Let them live,”
Kirill told him.

“Are they rebelling against me?” Merikh
asked rhetorically.

“It was a part of our agreement that we not
kill any humans. It doesn't matter if they rebel or not. Just
because a few do, doesn’t mean all should suffer the same
fate.”

“I remember no such agreement,” he balled
his fingers. “You never mentioned anything about saving your own.
You said you wanted to see Orion burn, like me. You said we both
shared the same vision.”

“You can't kill the humans!” Kirill
insisted, face reddening. “It’s the only thing that I'm asking for.
If you kill them, there will be none of my own left. I’ll be the
last of my kind in this galaxy!”

“Your own kind?” He chuckled from deep
within his stomach. “Do you think I care about saving your own? You
offered a service to me and you haven't delivered on your end of
our agreement. And now, your
humans
will die for it. Your
kind
will pay the ultimate price for your negligence.”

“Merikh, I’m begging you. Don’t kill the
humans. You can kill every other race, but let the humans live.
They’ll understand their mistakes once this is all over.”

“You’re in no position to ask anything of
me. You’re useless like Jahdiel. You’re lucky I don't kill you now,
pathetic human.”

Kirill clenched his fists. “I gave up
everything to side with you! It's not my fault you started a
rebellion with your foolish actions! This is all on you.”

Merikh and Maolmordha chuckled. “You had
better choose which side you’re on Kirill. Are you on the rebels’
side, or are on
our
side?”

“I’ve always been on your side, let me prove
it!”

“He wants to prove his loyalty to us,”
Merikh looked to Maolmordha with a grin. “Let's hear what he
finally
has to offer us.”

“I’ll kill Kanti,” Kirill fumed. “I’ll kill
her and you’ll let the humans live once it’s done.”

“Ahh. You’d kill your own daughter so that
other humans may live?” He stroked his chin. “Fine. But you’d
better act quickly, because we’re still going to war with them.
Until Kanti is dead, humans will continue to die, so that should be
encouragement for you to act quickly.”

“I’ll kill her,” Kirill nodded. “She won't
be a problem much longer. When she dies, the rebellion will fall
apart. Everything centers around her and her mother.”

“I have yet to personally see you hold your
end of a deal, but I'm sure you’ll find a way to get this done. Who
knows, maybe I’ll even get to see those assassins of yours in
action.”

“You will. You’ll see them
very
soon.”

“In the meantime,” Merikh sat back down.
“The first human will die soon for all to see.”

“The Queen?” Kirill asked, already positive
of the answer.

“Yes, I’ll kill the Queen. I’ll show these
rebels what happens to those who rebel against
me
. I hope
you don't mind Kirill, but then again, until you hold up your end,
I don't care if you mind. This is my war to fight, you can sit back
and watch.”

“You’ll only brighten the flame in their
rebellion,” Kirill warned. “They’ll have even more reason to fight
you, even more reason to kill you.”

“They’re already going to fight me. Their
numbers are no match against my crodillians' strength. They think
they stand a chance, but they’ll all die, including your humans if
you don't leave now to kill your daughter. Move quickly Kirill,
once my soldiers taste blood, they are hard to stop.”

Kirill turned to leave but was grabbed by
Maolmordha. He yanked him back towards Merikh with his cracked arms
and twisted him around.

“Just one more thing, if
I
kill the
Princess first, you didn't hold up your end of the deal,” the
crodillian leader grinned, revealing his teeth.

Kirill left the room and hid the fury raging
inside of him. Merikh had thrown him out, rendered him useless, but
hadn't witnessed his full strength yet. The savage didn't believe
his men could actually do what he claimed, but soon he would see.
Abdul had been right and it’d been stupid of him to wait, but the
result would be the same. Merikh would die, he couldn't live any
longer. If Merikh was going to kill humans, then he'd just have to
die.

Jahdiel watched the screen in front of her,
smiling at the Queen's daughter. The Princess had guts, but that
didn't mean she'd survive. She’d worked with the crodillians long
enough to witness their brute strength, something which the rebels
had yet to see. Hearing about it was one thing, but actually facing
it was another thing entirely.

Getting the rebels to accept her help would
be near impossible, but she’d have to gamble and hope she lived to
see another day. Merikh had still put her in charge of taking Ares
which meant she was in control of all the ships. It was unlikely
he'd let one lone fleet go to Ares after that speech, but she was
in total control of her Colchian. If she had to, she’d fire on the
others when the time came, though it’d mean sure death, but it also
meant the death of the entire crew. It’d give the rebels some help,
and if she could escape, maybe allow her to join them and share
information.

She wished she could do something else, but
unless she was the only Colchian attacking Ares, there was nothing
else she could do. She let out a deep breath and stared at the
screen. Things had quickly fallen apart, but she was glad they had.
It disgusted her to have ever worked with these monsters and was
now willing to do anything to get away from them. It was now up to
her to ensure they failed, even if it meant she died before seeing
the resistance take down the crodillians.

Leilah and Donnchadh walked to the Capitol
building. They knew that's where Pyrrhus was and Leilah had just
seen something crucial to the rebellion. None of the others had
seen it, and none of them had wanted to come along. Since going to
the house, the entire tribe had secluded themselves in their own
room, not speaking to anyone, even Leilah.

They walked up the steps to the building and
let themselves inside just in time to see Pyrrhus coming down the
stairs. When he saw Leilah, he rushed towards them.

“What is it Leilah?” He asked. “What’s
happening?”

“The crodillians. They're readying for
attack.”

“We know that. After the speech Kanti gave,
we knew they’d be departing. It was a declaration of war and we
expected them to act no slower.”

“Things are a little different than you’re
expecting. My visions have changed since the first one, and things
are looking a little better, but there’s also new danger. Something
I didn’t feel before.”

“Let's talk this over with the Council,”
Pyrrhus started walking down the hall.

“No,” Leilah stopped him. “They can't know
some of the things I'm going to say, otherwise they may try to
change tactics which will once again change my visions. They’re a
cautious bunch, and right now we don’t need them interfering with
what must be done.”

“What do you mean?” He asked. “What’ve you
seen?”

“The Princess is in grave danger,” she
revealed. “I know she’ll be fighting with the rebels, I’ve seen it,
but if the Council pulls her out, the outcome could be completely
different. The bloodshed I originally saw, has changed, and
she
is the reason why. They can't pull her out even though
she’s in danger.”