Extra 20: A Bold Plan


    A profound nervousness smothered the residents of the quaking tent, the roaring winds outside crushing any attempt at conversation. The paltry shelter was packed full of people, all squashed together as closely as they could manage. This fact, while due in part to the number of people and breadth of supplies needed inside, was primarily in a desperate effort to get away from the fiercely flapping sides of the tent, in fear they may rip open and let the death outside, in.


    Moment by moment, the fearful eyes and minds of the rebels slowly turned from their worries and eased as they saw that, despite its struggle, the shelter was not going to tear away or fail. In truth, the tent was not facing even a fraction of the storm''s true power, sheltered behind dunes and the walls of a crater as it was.


    Whispers to chatter, chatter to shouts, the organisation slowly returned to normal socialisation, struggling to be heard over the wind. One by one, the people got back to work or rested if there was no work to be done.


    All were surprised by the appearance of the storm, no one expected it so soon into the realm of the Oracles’ expectation. But all were safe, the people had been warned by scouts the moment the winds were felt, life had to go on, storm or not. And while for most the raging death flying above them was a source of dulled anxiety, for one man hidden away behind makeshift barricades in the corner of the canvas, the one who would call himself leader of the rebels, it was a source of both great joy and great trepidation.


    Keshte poured over the maps in front of him, struggling to focus over the noise yet managing nonetheless.  His goal was simple, right now the Earliag had no chance of ever finding them, their tunnel here was blocked and going over the dunes was a hope so faint it wasn''t even worth considering. But they were equally trapped, even their longest tunnels and sections of ruin couldn''t get them any place significant without breaching the surface for a while.


    The Earliag had ways of finding them, if they stayed where they were they would be slaughtered the moment the storm ended, their little shelter entirely inadequate to defend them from a full scale suppressive force. They needed to leave and find somewhere they could hide, or make a stand.


    Keshte was taken from his study by the sound of knocking, as Detlashra stood in the gap in the barricades that acted as a doorway.


    “The people are keeping themselves busy, but soon we will run out of work, we must move again soon.”


    Keshte nodded at the news, inviting the masked Orshraka to sit.


    “I have been considering a number of places we could move to,” the bald man began, “but I feel like I should consult you before I make a final decision.”


    “I have narrowed it down to three places, all of which somewhat accessible by our tunnels, all of which put the most distance between us and the Earliag as possible.”


    “The first is a bigger tent along the old Shakratar trail that should be able to hold us better and is almost directly accessible by our tunnels. It lies next to the sea of glass, so it should be easy to detect attacks incoming.”


    Keshte couldn''t see Detlashra’s face, but he had long since learned to tell their emotions by other methods, and could already see that they were not loving the idea.


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    “Our goal is to ensure survival, its location will make us obvious to all. it will not help us survive as a mission. Next.” Detlashra stated.


    Keshte figured they would say something like that, but kept the suggestion just in case his second saw something he did not. Undeterred, the leader went on with his second plan of action.


    “Well, we could try to make it to the ruins underneath Markashrasa, which I know is risky but it would at least be a familiar set up. Our prior base served us for many years, its proximity to the city was very useful.”


    Detlashra thought for a while about this, before finally replying with resolution.


    “We wouldn''t be there long enough, to take a ruin and make it a decent base requires a lot of work and effort, and now the Earliag know where to look for us it simply wouldn''t work. By the time its sustainable we will have to move again, we will have come off at a loss and our reserves cant take much more. What''s next.”


    Keshte sweated a little about his final suggestion, one he was hesitant to tell even to Detlashra, his most trusted friend. He had to nonetheless.


    “I know what I''m about to say is a little, different, but I want you to hear me out.” the bald man began, working up courage.


    “Effectively, we take the graveyard of water.”


    Detlashra didn''t move a muscle.


    “Think about it, our tunnels can get us within half a day''s travel of the graveyard and they would be disoriented by the storm, they won''t be expecting an attack. There will be hundreds of slaves there so surely we could rally a group to our side and make losses minimal.”


    Detlashra finally replied with absolute incredulity.


    “Keshte. If we take the singular source of water in all of the south we are not going to attract a small peacekeeping force, we will be antagonising the entire Earliag empire, the whole of the Gitririag are going to descend on us like vultures.”


    Keshte was cowed by this, but rebutted anyway.


    “But think about it, we have caused too much insult to the Earliag for them to go easy on us anyway, and they are going to be putting some serious effort into finding us. It''s no longer about hiding, it''s about taking a stand, and as far as i''m concerned there is no greater place for that than the graveyard of water.”


    “Its defensible, its isolated, its valuable, it has slaves, our tunnels are near it and the Earliag won''t be too suspicious if they don''t receive anything from the yard for a while because of the storm. It''s not perfect but it''s as good as we are going to get.”


    Detlashra began to pace around the room and replied.


    “What is the end goal here Keshte, no matter what we do we can''t defeat the Earliag for long, are you suggesting we came all this way just to die?”


    “I''m saying we don''t have a choice, we can just run and run, but each time we will be a little worse off and if we don''t do something, we will die. eventually we were going to have to take action and make a run to actually end slavery, and now could be the time.”


    “ I don''t want this to happen, this is still just an option, but it might be our only one in the long run.”


    The masked man stopped pacing and took a seat in a chair opposite Keshte’s desk, doing little but sit there and stare at the man across from him. His opponent held the gaze until, finally, it broke and Detlasha looked away.


    “The people wont be happy with this, they are tired.” Detlashra said, but the objection had gone out of his voice, he had made his decision.


    “ I know, I will explain it to them, but we have to do this now or else we will continue to be on the run for the rest of our lives, the Earliag aren''t going to ignore us anymore.”


    Detlashra nodded and stood up.


    “I''ll prepare the people, make your address soon.” he said with conviction, previous weakness forgotten as he marched for the door.


    In a moment he was gone and the leader was left in his office by himself, the magnitude of what he had just committed to hitting him like a boulder. The anxiety that was held off by the reassuring presence of his second in command crashed with full force, knowing that he would have to soon tell his people that they were making such a bold move.


    Keshte had no intent for his organisation to be killed, no intent to die himself, but even he couldn''t deny that making such a desperate play for power and trying to force revolution as he was, was incredibly risky.


    He should tell Detlashra to come back, tell him to ignore what he said.


    But that wasn''t his own choice speaking, that was fear and if he was going to lead the desert to freedom he needed to see past his useless worries. What was done was done, what will be done had to happen, right now Keshte needed to focus on his duty to his people and pull together a plan that would get through in the end.


    With a crushing sense of anxiety, the bald man stood up from his desk and followed in Detlashra’s footsteps. He would do what he had to do to ensure the freedom of his kin, even if he terrorised over every action, that was his duty.