*
Eleanor woke the next morning feeling better than she would have expected given the excitement of the night before, and the extra bottle of spirits they’d shared on their return. She left the others snoring in the sleeping loft, greeted Rosemary and Jace who’d kept watch on the night shift, and went out into the city.
Two notes from Lauren waited beneath the tannery’s loose tile. Eleanor skimmed them while she crouched on the roof but there was nothing that required her immediate attention, only vague indications that the Empress would be pulling her forces back from the mountains to focus on squashing the pockets of revolt in her cities. It was news, but it was no surprise.
She left brief instructions asking Lauren to look into how many new recruits the Shadows were expecting, asking her if possible to provide names and schools before the assignment letters went out at the solstice. If she could fill the gaps on her list when she next passed through the city then she’d have time to go and approach a few more schools.
She dropped in at the Old Barrel Yard to exchange snippets of news with Ade, and found the tavern full of patrons eager to hear more about the previous night’s fire. She told them what little she’d discovered, and encouraged everyone to be vigilant with their challenges if they saw anyone they didn’t recognise in the rebel districts. Especially if that someone was carrying a torch.
After a light lunch she made her way back to the northeast gate, where she knew she could pass the time until evening with dice games and friendly conversation. Sally was picking out lively tunes on slim silver pipe when she arrived. Violet sang along, while Molly and Nicole kept watch and hummed occasional harmonies.
“Would you like to play?” Sally asked, offering the pipe to Eleanor. “We’ve only got the one.”
Eleanor laughed. “I wouldn’t inflict that on you.”
“Go on,” Molly said. “I bet you’re better than you think.”
“No, really. I’d much rather just listen.”
“Shall we do ‘Safe In The Storm’ again?” Molly said. “Violet’s been teaching us some of the prayer-songs that they sing on the boats.”
“D’you remember the words?” Violet asked.
“I think so.”
It was an energetic round with two parts; Violet conducted the others as she sang, until they’d gone through the words three times and she waved her hands to silence them.
“Have you spoke to Dash yet?” Nicole asked Eleanor once the song was finished. “He’s got big ideas for tonight.”
“What sort of thing?”
“He’s calling it the night of a thousand flames.”
“We’re going to set the city alight,” Violet chipped in. “By way of paying them back for the fire last night.”
“Tonight? Is that long enough to organize everything?”
“How much organization do we need?” Molly said. “Grab a few torches and away we go.”
“Ah, you’re probably right. Well, I’ve got other things to see to, but I’m sure I’ll have time to start a fire or two on the way.” She’d been hoping to get her first school visit out of the way that night.
“Talking about me?” Dash asked, coming through from the stairs.
“I’m just catching up on the plans for tonight,” Eleanor said.
“You’ll come, won’t you? I think we can get a hundred guards out with torches and still have enough people on watch across the city.”
“I need to get up to the Second City School tonight,” she said. “But I can drop a torch or two on my way there, if that helps?”
There was a map pinned to the wall, and he studied it until he found the school. “You could take one of the silk factories, you’ll be that end of town.”
Eleanor nodded.
“What are you doing at a school, anyway?” Molly asked.
“Association stuff.”
“You recruiting someone?” Violet asked. “We should do that. All the kids, not just the one or two your people care about.”
“They’ve had seventeen years of Imperial brainwashing,” Eleanor said. “And the revolution’s still pretty new. It’s a hard sell.”
“We came,” Jace said, indicating Molly and Nicole. “We knew what mattered, even as kids.”
Eleanor smiled at that. It was only a year since they’d graduated themselves, but they’d seen a lot in that year.
“Tonight should help,” Dash said. “It’s a rallying cry as much as it’s revenge. We always get more volunteers when we do something flashy.”
“Just be careful who you trust,” Eleanor said. “They’re not above sending someone to try and make friends with you.”
“We’ve restricted the gate to First Corps, like you said,” Dash said.
“First and Sally,” Violet corrected.
“Of course.” Eleanor smiled to hear the protective note in Violet’s voice; it was nice to see them so happy. “Why don’t we just bring Sally into First, Dash? She might as well be.”
“She’s leading Sixth Corps’s planning for tonight,” Dash said. “But she’s bound to come here after. I can talk to her then.”
“Maybe you should leave her there,” Violet said. “They need her more than I do.”
“She can choose for herself,” Dash said. “Meanwhile, we need to decide on our targets.”
They huddled round the map to discuss their plans. Eleanor suggested the armoury buildings, which no-one seemed to have thought about, and Dash firmly quashed Molly’s suggestion that they could save everyone a lot of time in future by just torching the schools.
Eventually night fell and they equipped themselves with matches, torches, and oil-soaked rags. Eleanor set out alone and made her way to the factory district where a number of Charanthe’s most famous cloths were manufactured. It was deserted at night, the looms silent and the dye baths still. She laid oily rags along the window sills and lit her torch, using it to set light to one window after another. Then she swung herself onto a nearby rooftop and ran, the fires steadily growing behind her.
At Almont 2, she found her target in a dorm room full of sleeping boys. She was about to pour sleeping vapours onto his pillow, but even beneath the sheets she could see the bulk of his body: she’d never be able to lift him. With a quiet sigh, she started to work her way around the room, dropping vapours on the other boys’ pillows instead. Once all but Bren were knocked out she shook him awake.
“Who are you?” he asked. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to offer you a choice,” she said. “I’m from the Association. I want you to know that our path hasn’t closed to you just because the Empress decided she doesn’t like us.”
“You’re working with the rebels, aren’t you?” he checked, looking a little confused.
“We’re using the rebels. See that?” She pointed him towards the window. He got up to look, and she gestured expansively across the city, where flickers of red and orange now peppered the skyline.
“Fires?” he said. “Rebel fires, I guess. So what?”
“Someone set a fire in the eastern rebel district last night – this is retaliation. Proof to the Empress that anything she does to us, we can repay tenfold or a hundredfold. The rebels give us the numbers we need to make big moves like this, but we tell them when and where to move.”
As she spoke, she realised that wasn’t quite true any more. Dash was becoming the leader she’d asked him to be. If she’d asked him not to set the city on fire, she knew she would have had to give him a very good reason. But there was no sense in confusing the boy with all that. For now, it was enough that she had a light-show to impress him with.