A Coward at My Side

Alright… we just need to figure out the best way to get inside, undetected. Once we’re in, everything should go according to plan—

Oh, there you are!

No, it’s fine, come in. The rest of you are dismissed… come, sit. We have some things to catch up on.

Isn’t it beautiful?

Just look at it… this map of the city is almost as detailed as the one inside the castle, our plan is completely foolproof. We’re going to do it, you know. After all these years, all this waiting… at long last, the rebellion will show them – we, will show them – that magic cannot be controlled or contained. We will know peace again in our lifetime… the streets will be lined with markets and magic-users once more.

Ever since the nobles decided to outcast magic, putting all those who wield it in chains, the world has been a darker place. But at last, you and I will finally have the life we always wanted together… we may even be safe enough to start a family of our own, rather than always having to protect everyone else’s. We can be happy… truly, happy. Everything will be perfect…

What’s wrong? You seem… I don’t know. Something’s different about you – are you nervous? I know… this all seems like an impossible feat, given everything that’s happened, the people we’ve already lost. But it’ll be okay – we will be okay. Now that we have all the information, we know exactly the best way to get inside the castle and how many guards will be waiting for us.

You are the best archer in the kingdom… with you by our side, covering us from above, there will be no real fight – they won’t be able to stop us. It’ll finally be over… and then? We can all start living.

That… isn’t what’s troubling you?

Okay, then tell me. What’s wrong?

That—ha, that’s a good one…

I almost… I almost believed you, especially with that serious look on your face. You can stop… I’m not really in the mood for jokes, not right now. Not when we’re so close to achieving our goals, to freeing everyone, when victory is finally ours for the taking. You are joking… aren’t you?

Tell me—no, no… tell me you’re not serious.

You can’t be. Did someone put you up to this? This must be some kind of trick, a prank or… something, anything else but this. You… you love me, don’t you? You wouldn’t betray me this way—betray us, our cause, everything we’re fighting for. You wouldn’t.

I understand that you’re scared. Believe me, no one understands that better than I do – I’ve lost more loved ones to the rebellion than I can even count. I know you have too… but that doesn’t mean you get to abandon your post now just because you’re what? Afraid? We’re all scared. We’re all terrified and if we sit back and do nothing, things will only get worse. You already know this—I shouldn’t have to explain to you what’s at stake!

You say you want to take your family out of the city, into the forest, before the bloodshed begins… that you need to protect them?

But… I don’t understand. What about me? Am I not… your family? Do you not wish to protect me in all of this, rather than taking off into the trees when you know as well as I do that it will be no safer there?

There will be far more bloodshed— and far more lives lost if you are not part of our plan! We have worked on this for months, every detail is precise, every route planned… if you are not on the rooftops, scouting for us, raining down your arrows, we will never make it past the guards. You know that… and yet you stand there, talking of peace and safety, as if you do not care?

I thought you wanted the same things as everyone else in the rebellion… that you wanted the balance to be restored, to be able to walk through a city full of laughter and light, by standing up against the oppressive forces that keep us in the shadows.

But more than that… I thought we wanted the same things – I thought that in all this madness, in the loss that we have endured we found love, conquered the odds, swore to protect each other no matter the cost.