Revolution (Chronicles of Charanthe #2)

  *

  By the time she reached the council chamber, news of her arrival had spread and most of her colleagues had already assembled.

  “Well?” Laban asked.

  “I think we’ll get a good showing,” she said. “I was very persuasive.”

  “Can you estimate a number?”

  “I’d say somewhere between eight and ten out of eleven.”

  “There were not eleven names on the list we agreed.” Of course, it had to be Daniel to throw the first stone.

  “We need all the good people we can get,” Eleanor said. “Venncastle have always supplied talented students.”

  “How could you? Do you not see what you have done?”

  “And it went well, actually – thanks for asking.”

  “It did not go well. We must assume they have reported your plan.”

  “Well, of course we have to prepare for an ambush. We’ve always had to assume an ambush, that’s why we picked the caves in the first place.”

  “But now you have guaranteed it.”

  “It’s too late for regrets now,” Ragal said. “All that remains is to make the best of it. If we’re lucky, we may gain one more recruit from this.”

  “I’ll make sure of it,” Eleanor said. “An ambush is the best gift they could ever give us – by the end of that, we’ll have our own brand of loyalty nailed in place.”

  “If we could compete with Venncastle loyalty, why have we lost every last one of them?” Don asked. “They care only for their own.”

  “We can play them at their own game,” Eleanor said. “We just need to invent some rules that suit us. And I think I’m starting to get the hang of this.”

  Daniel shook his head. “You cannot win.”

  “Watch me.” She turned and strode from the room, feeling a little taller with every step. The more she thought about it, the happier she was with her decision to change the plan. An ambush was almost certain. Now she just had to make it work in her favour.

  But they were still weeks from the solstice, and before any of that she had a revolutionary force to train in Almont. She went back to her room to start preparing everything she expected to need.

  The door opened without a knock and she knew who it was before he opened his mouth.

  “I don’t want to hear it,” she said. “You don’t even think I have a chance.”

  “No.”

  “So what are you doing here?” She counted out practice daggers as she spoke, stacking them alongside her travel bag.

  “I came to help you.”

  She turned then. “What?”

  “You will not succeed with Venncastle, but that cannot mean you fail in the end. What do you need from me?”

  “Well, if you’re offering...” She could think of plenty of ways his apothecary’s skill could be useful. “There are bound to be injuries, so I’ll need painkillers and compresses. And if you’ve got some of that bull extract, I’m sure I could make use of it.”

  “When will you leave?”

  “Tomorrow, but I’m going to Almont first. Mack’s coming to meet me at the caves, so you can make up a case with whatever you think we’ll need, and send it with him.”