Fire of the Inquisitor

It was always uncomfortably warm in Orchid. It struck her odd that even for someone like Helena, who had been born in this underworld and had known nothing else, often felt this way. Of course, there was also the stories and the curses that had been handed down from that first generation that had found itself in Orchid. However, there were times during brief moments of relief from the suffocating humidity, a rogue current of cold air or a trip into a deep cave, when Helena felt in her heart that this was not how it was supposed to be.

Helena found that the opposite conditions also produced this effect. On occasions like this, after she had finished her work and had made her way to the outer edges of Nova Edenis and stepped into the warehouse that stored the town’s building supplies. Surrounded by at least a group of fifty other sweaty excited townspeople, most of them women, but a few men also. She knew that no people who enjoyed gathering for public debates as much as the people of the legion would have come from such a warm place as this world.

As Helena made her way to the front of the assembly or rather was being pulled to the front of the assembly, she noticed quite a number of familiar faces. There was Thrya, a girl she had played with as a child and Clio who was famous for her singing voice. She spotted many of her mother’s friends and many of the faces she recognized as women who fought as soldiers in the War of Ice. When she came to a stop it was in front of a raised platform that looked like it had just been put together for this event. A tall girl around her age with stunning natural blonde hair smiled at her.

“I’m glad you made it,” the girl said. Her deep voice gave her away as the soldier who she had met at the water clock. “We are just about to start.”

Rising up on the stage was a distinguished older woman, Helena recognized as Acantha the Elder. She must have been older than her mother, but she possessed an energetic youthfulness in her face that was instantly likable. When she was poised to talk the entire room fell silent and every head turned to her.

“When I first learned that my daughter had been killed in the great war I was completely overwhelmed by the sense of pointlessness of it,” the woman said, holding her hands close to her heart. “I was against her enlistment from the beginning, I couldn’t even understand why she wanted to fight.”

Knowing the makeup of the audience behind her, Helena couldn’t help but take peek over her shoulder and see their reaction. Each of the female soldiers was completely enthralled by the speaker and some even had tears in the corner of their eyes. Helena considered that many had already heard Acantha’s story.

“I was lost for a long time after my daughter’s death,” she continued. “It was only after speaking with many of you that I realized the real reason my daughter decided to go to war.”

The crowd behind her clapped and Helena found herself joining in under their influence. The taller girl next to her turned and smiled in her direction, Helena felt herself blush as she gave her a shy smile back.

“My daughter was not fighting for the empire, for General Octavius, or even for me.” Acantha’s voice grew even more confident. “She was fighting for herself, to feel alive.”

There was a pause as the crowd responded with cheers of agreement.

“Now, I’m told that our leaders want to take away the right for some of us to follow our true calling.” Acantha had to raise a hand to quiet the boos that the statement had brought with it. “This is only one example of how they want to hold us women in check, but it is not the only way they will try.”

Helena thought back to the conversation she was a part of in her uncle’s house.

“They would like to forget the sacrifices that we have made to make a home here in Orchid.” The strong woman continued. “They would like to go back to old ways of their fathers.”

“There’s no going back!” Someone angrily shouted.

“I agree with you, sister.” Acantha held out her hand as the crowd started to get rowdy. “But we must be willing to show that we are serious.”

The crowd cheered, clapped, and shouted ideas about how to show that seriousness. Even Helena was starting to feel that excitement within her. The girl next squealed in delight when she saw Helena’s positive reaction and patted her hard on the shoulder.

Acantha nodded and raised her hand for the crowd to quiet down, but with the excitement in the room, she was forced to raise her voice. “We must also be willing to fight.”

This comment effectively brought the crowd to a standstill and Helena noticed the some in the crowd even lowered their heads.

“I know that this has been a contentious subject for many of you,” the speaker said. “With such a small group it seems like pure lunacy and it’s not my first choice either.” She closed her eyes for a moment and then something unexpected happened, a smile formed on her face. The respected woman opened her eyes again and she looked younger than ever. “But we are no longer alone in our endeavor.”

The crowd looked confusingly at each other.

“I have met with a representative of the queen of this land and she has seen our struggle.” Acantha reached out with an opened palm as if the queen was standing in the rear of the room. “She is willing to send us the aid of her beautiful soldiers and all she asks is that we consider calling her mother.”

Helena felt her heart sank and she was relieved to find that she wasn’t the only one.

Acantha sensing she had scared some of her crowd let her voice become more somber. “I will not ask any of you to change what you believe in, but please consider this. Instead of following a god that is made available to us only through the permission of men and has yet to make himself known to us when we needed him most, we could follow an immortal queen that is ready to embrace us with open, tangible hands.”

Some of the crowd clapped, some of it murmured, and some of it like Helena could only stand in silence. Even the seemingly constant smile on the blond girl next to her had faded.

“I will leave you with this, my friends.” There was a hint of sadness in Acantha’s voice. “Queen Invictus’ army is made up entirely of female soldiers who fought for us and with us and whatever we choose to do in our fight for freedom they will stand with us again.”

The crowd clapped and Acantha bowed and left the stage. Some of the crowd broke off into small groups of conversation and others started to make their way outside the door. Helena found herself following the later, she couldn’t remember if she had clapped at the end of the speech.

It felt like night outside, but of course, the sky was bright with the fire of magma fountains. It had been a long day, but she did not think she would get much sleep tonight. She hoped her mother had fallen asleep already, so she did not have to lie about where she had been. Helena had worked late for her uncle before, would her mother even ask? Would someone from the meeting tell her mother she was here?

“So, what did you think?” a voice beside her said. Helena jumped and turned to see the blond girl walking next to her. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Helena shrugged. “I thought it was interesting.”

“Interesting, what are you, my father?” The girl laughed. “Come on. What did you really think?”

Helena smiled sheepishly. “I liked the idea of standing up for our rights.”

The blond girl bent down so she could be more eye level to the much shorter Helena. “But ….”

Helena shrugged again. “But I don’t know about changing our entire religion over it.”

“I know it surprised me as well,” the girl said. “Acantha is our leader, but she doesn’t make decisions one her own, believe me, we’ll be talking about this. She must have just been excited, you of all people should know how the elderly can get.”

Helena laughed, she had never thought of her uncle’s moods as excitement. “What is your name?”

“Isabella.” She smiled. “I’m glad I could finally meet you.”

Helena nodded. “Me too, but how did you know about me?”

“My grandmother used to work in the general governor’s house, she was quite taken by his loving niece who was very smart and hardworking.” Isabella stopped. “So when our group asked us to find individuals who might be sympathetic to our cause I thought of you.”

Helena blushed. “I’m very flattered.”

Before Helena could say anymore Isabella reached out and took her hands in her own. “Look, we are going to be making our statement soon and having you there Helena, a relative of the governor general, would mean a lot to us.”

Helena couldn’t remember the last time she had a real friend and she hated to think rejecting Isabella would hurt any chance of them becoming friends, but something still felt wrong about this whole situation. She sighed. “I wish I could, but my uncle is very ill.”

“I thought it might be a long shot,” Isabella said. “But this is going to be a long fight, there will be other chances for you to join us.”

“Sure,” Helena said, glad that Isabella still sounded in good spirits.

“Well then,” Isabella pivoted on her heel and put her hands on her waist, “As it is late in our people’s day it is my duty to walk you home.”

Helena smiled and nodded.

“Good,” Isabella started to march, “Let’s go!”

Helena laughed. “It’s the other way.”

Isabella immediately turned and continued toward the town center. “Of course, just making sure you’re as smart as my grandmother thinks.”

Helena smiled and walked home with her new friend.