Rebel Song Read online

She gaped and backed away slightly.

  “I’ve been involved for a long time. I’m something of a…leader,” he said. He found he was somewhat proud to finally admit it.

  “What?” Her eyes were as round as the moon. “The leader?”

  “Well, not the leader, but one of them. And it’s about to get more serious than protests.”

  “How serious?”

  “Serious enough that you might be in danger.”

  She backed away further and her expression twisted in horror.

  “Let me get this straight. What you’re telling me is that you are—have been—the leader of a revolution against my father?”

  “El, let me explain. It’s not that black and white.”

  “No!” She snapped and stood. “So you’re part of this half-cocked terrorist group they’re always talking about? No, wait, you’re leading them?”

  “C’mon, El, you know me. It’s not how they make it sound. We’re not terrorists. You have to understand…”

  “Just stop.” She flew to her feet and began pacing in the grass, tugging at her fingers.

  “El, please,” Rogan stood. “You have to calm down and let me explain.”

  “Calm down? How can you expect me to calm down?” Her tone was flirting with hysterics.

  “You’re overreacting,”

  “Am I? Rogan! If you are discovered they will kill you.”

  “You don’t think I know that?” He almost laughed.

  “Oh yes, just laugh it off like everything else. How could you keep this from me?”

  “Well, I kind of told you before.”

  “No you didn’t! You offered me some vague warning about how the people are getting restless. You never told me you were leading a rebellion in your spare time. I don’t know what to do with this. This whole thing is…is just…insane.” She shook her head.

  He walked to her and took her hands.

  “It’s going to be okay.” She looked up at him, her eyes smoldering with green fury.

  “Is it? I find that hard to believe. Do you know that I sit and listen to my father and his council discuss how they’re going to crush your cause? How you’re disjointed and fragile and it’s nothing a few good raids won’t fix? The things they say they’ll do to you. Do you know what kind of position this puts me in?”

  “I know. I should have never let this happen. You and I—we were doomed from the start. But even once I found out who you were, I couldn’t bear the thought of not being with you. It’s no different now than it was then.”

  “No, it’s very different,” she shook her head. “Now we both know the truth.”

  “If you want out, just say so. You don’t owe me anything.”

  Elyra turned her head and stared at him with deep contemplation.

  “If I do want out? I just walk away pretend these last few months have meant nothing?”

  “You’ve done it before.”

  Elyra glared at him

  “You think I’m too weak and scared to handle it? That I run at the first sign of trouble?”

  “No, I—”

  She stepped toward him, fury in her eyes.

  “Who do you think is preparing to rule this country?”

  “That’s always been my point!” He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Look, you have to understand that most of us don’t approve of violence, I don’t approve. But things are in motion. And it’s going to get worse before it gets better. City rangers opened fire on a protest yesterday. A peaceful protest. My friend, a seventeen-year-old girl, was shot in the stomach for just standing there. My best friend was arrested and interrogated for hours—and not in a nice way. That is not going to be forgotten. And if we don’t show unity under fire then we’ll crumble. I have no choice but to see this through.”

  “But I heard protesters threw bombs at the rangers…”

  “That’s true. Someone let a bottle bomb go, after they threatened us with violence. And that happened to be a young boy who was gunned down. You see how quickly things erupt? It’s not just about who did what. It’s about the consequences of everyone’s combined actions.”

  “This just isn’t happening,” she sighed.

  Rogan took her hand and looked her in the eyes.

  “It’s happening.”

  “And so what? You and your band of revolutionaries are going to storm the castle?”

  “No. It’s not like that. I don’t, we don’t, want to see any more violence come down on our streets. But the country is in bad shape. People are starving, suffering. You’re on the council—you know these things.”

  “Yes, I know,” she said trying to put all the pieces together in her mind. “Things are in bad shape. And believe me, I do not see eye-to-eye with Pantone or my father on a lot of what’s going on. Is it true trouble is stirring in the north too?”

  “Trouble isn’t stirring, it’s bubbling over.”

  “But how did you come to this? What’s your part here?” Her eyes were wide and searching.

  Good question, he thought.

  “I’m just…I’m just someone who wants to find the right solution. I don’t want to see any more blood on the square.”

  Elyra reached out unconsciously and stroked his flushed cheek.

  “So what is the right solution?”

  Rogan shook his head.

  “I don’t know. But I’ve sworn to find out. You have to understand, before you, I was angry. I hated the king. I hated the council, everything about the ruling party. But it’s more complicated than that now. Both sides are guilty of terrible things. Besides, how could I hate something that gave you to me?”

  Elyra’s eyes swelled with tears, but then she scowled.

  “Don’t try to sweet talk me, Rogan. You put yourself—both of us—in serious danger. You lied to me.”

  “I never lied. I just didn’t tell you everything.”

  “A lie by omission is still a lie.”

  “Don’t be such a hypocrite. Um, by the way, I’m the princess,” he mimicked in a high-pitched voice.

  She scowled but couldn’t fight back a laugh.

  “But I came clean to you.”

  “And I’m coming clean now.” He squeezed her hand. “Look, I have no fantasies about a future for us. But regardless, big things are coming. Things so much bigger than either of us. We have to be ready.”

  “But why you? Why does it have to be you?”

  Rogan sighed and chewed on the words. Why me? Another good question.

  “My father died for it. And I swore I wouldn’t let his death be in vain.”

  “I thought he died in the war?”

  Rogan shook his head and took a deep breath.

  “He died as a traitor.”

  CHAPTER 20

  Sitting in the damp grass by a peaceful pond, Rogan opened his wounds. Theron Elwood had been a good farmer, a loyal soldier who served in the Northern War and came home to find his sacrifice had gone unrecognized and his suffering untreated. And it turned out he wasn’t the only one. They were all left to wallow with festering wounds on dried-up dirt farms while the King pursued more profitable agendas. Then came Uncle Colt’s murder by a ranger’s hand on the square—all that blood in the lion fountain. That’s when the violence really erupted. That’s when they lost everything.

  “What people don’t seem to realize, is the first rebellion didn’t happen because they wanted something for nothing, because they wanted to sit lazily on the beach, getting drunk and waiting for a government check,” Rogan explained. “They did it because they saw no other choice. They were going to die of starvation or die trying to eat.”

  “Oh what a different tale the history books tell.” Elyra ran her fingers through her hair mindlessly.

  “You’d think they would have waited until those present were actually dead before they started rewriting them. Truth is though, a lot of people did die. A lot of innocent people.”

  “So your father was actually executed over this?” She
was wide-eyed, as if she were listening to a ghost story and not the sordid history of his life.

  Rogan pursed his lips tightly and shook his head.

  “Not exactly. He was charged with treason but he died in prison before he could stand trial,” he paused. “After he died, he was officially declared convicted. We nearly lost everything after that—the business, the land. Everything. It took us years to recover. The Cause kind of dried up after that, too. It goes down as one of the King’s great victories.” He was aware this was her father he was talking about, but he was beyond sugarcoating the truth. She stared hard into his eyes.

  “How…how did he die then?”

  He took a deep breath.

  “They said he hanged himself.” He saw her mouth quiver in shock. “He didn’t,” he added firmly. “Theron Elwood was not a traitor and he certainly wasn’t a coward. He was going to lead us all toward real change. I don’t think the King could risk the publicity of a trial so somebody made it look like a suicide. And it sent a message that the rebellion was weak and cowardice. My father would have never taken his own life. Never.”

  “I just…” she began, conflict dancing across her pale face. “I just can’t believe my father could be capable of such things. I know he can be a mean old bastard, but he’s fair. I watch him at court and council. He believes in a justice system that works.”

  Rogan chewed his nail. As much as he hated the king, how could he expect her to do the same?

  “I don’t expect you to just accept it. It was nearly a decade ago. He was younger and more rash then, and strongly under the influence of Pantone’s corruption. I’m sure he’s changed a lot,” he said without real conviction. He doubted a thing had changed. If anything, Pantone’s influence was growing.

  “I suppose so,” she still looked unconvinced his story wasn’t some rebel fabrication. “So now you’re out for revenge against my father?”

  “Revenge? No. There is nothing that’s going to bring them all back. But just like everyone else, I am out for justice. Not for the sins of the past. That’s history we can’t change. But for the present and the future. You have to understand, we can’t just ignore the past either. If we don’t remember it, we are condemned to repeat it.”

  “And now I pretend that I don’t know any of this? We just go on meeting in secret and kissing in the shadows while you plan a rebellion and I do my best to stop you in public?” She was being serious, but her flare for drama made him laugh.

  “For now, yes, something like that.” He reached out and stroked her flushed cheek. “I promise that you’re not in any immediate danger. But I can’t promise things won’t escalate soon. Not everyone involved shares my desire for a peaceful resolve. A lot of people remember what happened and many still live in the past. You need to be prepared for what their anger might lead them to do. The bomb at the protest is a perfect example of how unstable things are. The council can think whatever they want about the way things are out on the streets, but I need you to know the truth. I need you to be part of the peaceful solution I seek.”

  “I don’t know what I could possibly do to change anything. I’m just a pretty figure with no power.”

  “You have influence. That’s just as powerful as the gavel.”

  She looked at him as though she was trying to remember if he was even the same person she thought she knew.

  “This is really happening, isn’t it?” She asked as if just now waking from a daze.

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, then I’m going to be there for you. Whatever happens.”

  “Thank you.” He smiled sadly, knowing it was going to be so much harder than it seemed.

  “Promise me you’ll be careful out there, Rogan? Please promise me. I can’t lose you.” Rogan took both her hands in his and kissed her knuckles.

  “Always am,” he said with as much confidence as he could muster.

  He brought her into his chest and kissed her forehead. He thought he heard her let out a whimper but he pretended not to hear. Instead, he pulled her chin up and pressed his lips into hers. She returned his affections gently, then with renewed vigor. Her lips parted and she welcomed him in deeper. The stress of everything brewing in his world manifested in his kiss as he grasped at her hair and pulled her tightly against his chest.

  If they were going down, then they’d go down swinging.

  CHAPTER 21

  The screech of the telephone shook Rogan from sleep. It took him a few dazed moments to realize what it was and then to comprehend why it would be ringing in the dead of night. Most people he knew didn’t even have a phone, so the threat of trouble felt very real. He sprang up and hurried to the main room before it woke everyone, realizing it was too late when he saw Ari standing sleepy-eyed in the doorway of her bedroom.

  “Go back to bed,” he hissed at her as he rushed past. She stuck her tongue out and didn’t move.

  “Hello?” He whispered into to receiver.

  “You need to come down to the Brigg,” Ben’s voice said on the other end.

  “What’s happened?”

  He heard a deep sigh.

  “Rogan, it’s not good. Can you come?”

  “Yes, but if you’re going to drag me out in the middle of the night, you’ve got to tell me what’s going on.” There was a pause.

  “They’ve bombed the Governor’s office.”

  Rogan nearly dropped the receiver but clutched it tightly to the side of his face.

  “Who?”

  “Us. The Cause. Well, not really us. It was Alec.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah. Look I’ll explain when you get here. You need to get down here immediately. We’ve got to do something. This is going to turn to hell really quick.”

  “Yeah okay, I’m on my way.”

  Rogan turned to see Ari standing next to him, wide-eyed and eager. He shook his head.

  “No. Don’t even ask.”

  His motorbike pulled into the Brigg Cannery twenty minutes later, located at the edge of the Valley and the city outskirts. He slipped through the darkness to the back of the old building and slid his key into the back door that led to the secret basement. He was only one of three who had a key now. Cable trusted fewer each day—apparently for good reason.

  Ben, Cable, Donal, Iris, Mikkel and Sibby sat at a round table huddling over a flickering hurricane lantern. Rogan slipped into the room quietly, not taking five steps before Ben whipped around and pointed a cocked pistol at him.

  “Damn it Rogan, you scared me,” he said recognizing him. “Get your ass over here.”

  “What the hell is going on?” Rogan asked, taking a seat with the group. Their eyes were stricken with worry.

  “Alec’s gone off the deep,” Cable said, shaking his head. “Ben came to us with his intel last night and he lost it. He just snapped. Stormed out in a fury. I knew he was rash but I never thought he’d pull something like this.”

  “He’s always been a hothead,” Donal said.

  “What exactly happened?” Rogan asked.

  “Sent a bottle bomb into the Governor’s office. A big one. Nearly burnt down the whole building. It caused a massive explosion,” Cable said.

  “There’s no way the whole city didn’t hear it!” Mikkel piped up in panic.

  “What? When?” Rogan asked.

  “About eight this evening,” Ben said. “I was down near the square when I saw the flames, heard the sirens. I rushed over, saw Mikkel at the scene. He confessed to following Alec there. Suspected something was up.”

  “He was saying all kinds of things that were freaking me out,” Mikkel concurred. “About how he’d show them how powerful their government really was.”

  “Was anyone hurt? Governor Grey?” Rogan asked.

  “I think he has some minor injuries, but we don’t really know the extent yet. It was a pretty big explosion. It could be bad,” Cable said.

  “It couldn’t have been Alec,” Rogan said. “He’s smarter than that.”
<
br />   “Is he?” Donal asked. “Or is he just as headstrong and impetuous as the rest of you?” He snarled.

  Cable glowered at him.

  “Did you actually see him do it, Mikkel?” Rogan asked.

  Mikkel hesitated and shook his head.

  “Not, exactly. I was following him but I lost him for just a few minutes. Then the explosion came.”

  “We’ve asked around and have it on good authority that he did it,” Cable said.

  “Why am I just now hearing about this?” Rogan asked, frustration bubbling at his surface.

  “I didn’t want to pull you all in until I knew for sure he had done it,” Cable said.

  “So what now?” Rogan asked. “Where is he?”

  Cable shook his head.

  “Don’t know. He could be in the wind. Mikkel said he took off on his bike right after the explosion. Didn’t stick around to see his handiwork,” Cable’s last words trailed off.

  “Or?” Rogan asked, detecting something more in his tone.

  “Or, there’s a rumor he was snatched right up. Didn’t make it out of town.”

  “No,” Rogan muttered and massaged his temple.

  “We don’t know that it’s true,” Iris said, trying to pacify them.

  “We have to assume it’s true,” Ben interjected. “And that if they have him, they’re going to get what they’re looking for. We have to prepare for the worst.”

  “Alec won’t talk,” Sibby said. “He’ll die first.”

  “You’re assuming they’ll let him die first. I’ve seen Demos’ handiwork,” Ben said solemnly. The bruises on his face and nose were still yellow and swollen and the red circles where cigarettes had kissed his arm flesh were scabbed and blistered.

  “Like Ben said, we don’t know what will happen, but we have to prepare for the worst,” Rogan said.

  “What exactly can he tell them?” Iris asked.

  Cable sighed and shook his head slowly.

  “Enough,” Cable admitted. “He knows enough to get us all locked up. Or worse.”

  “Rogan’s right. It’s time to arm ourselves,” Ben said. “Create a plan. The Northern factions have already started rioting. Real rioting. None of this peaceful protest bullshit. Ballantyne can’t ignore this anymore.”