A cave-in? In the twenty years they had been forced to work this mine there had never been a single cave-in. Azaacar had always guided and protected everything they did. As the Children of Azaacar gathered outside the mine, doing a head count and talking among themselves, they began to gather reports of strange movements in the shadows, and sounds of distant footsteps with no source. All things considered pointed to sabotage. Next the conversation turned to what or whether to tell the supervisors. They had to be careful, whatever they said they had to make sure not to reveal that they had been secretly rotating out for combat training. This cave-in would bring an investigation, and they could not afford the extra eyes on them now. They decided to keep their mouths shut. Any evidence of sabotage should have been buried in the collapsed mine, meaning the investigation will quickly rule this out as an accident. At the same time, the sabotage shows that there is some kind of unrest going on among the Rednasi, which could possibly present an opportunity. Someone needs to talk with Omnira.
Raeni and Omnira were in Raeni's tent going over their plans for the next several days. They agreed they needed to accelerate the training schedule. Everything had gone smoothly so far. With the overseers gone no one had noticed there were fewer workers onsite as they rotated out for training. There had also been no backlash for the slight dip in production. It seemed like they could afford to press their luck just a little bit more. Both times the Rednasi had attacked had been devastating. They had been caught lacking and many people had lost their lives with no way to defend themselves. That was changing. Azaacar had chosen a champion and soon he would return to lead the charge against their oppressors. The problem was, in order for him to lead the charge, there has to be a charge for him to lead. To that end, the Children of Azaacar were learning to fight. Raeni taught the people how to tap into the remnants of the old power that still lived within them, Omnira taught them the martial arts she learned from studying their history. The plan was to turn the entire workforce into a fighting force, while still maintaining appearances at the work sites. Everything seemed to be progressing well, so far.
A short muscular man entered the tent and bowed deeply. He told them about the sabotage at the mine. As he was getting ready to ask how they wanted to handle the situation he was interrupted by another man who ran in clearly panicked. There had been an explosion at the main factory and the entire place was on fire. Omnira and Raeni looked at each other confused. they said almost in unison, "What the hell is going on?"
There was nothing in this world Naga loved more than causing chaos. She usually did this by toying with the hearts and minds of suitors. She was rich and beautiful so she had no shortage of play things. She would give them just enough attention to make them think they had a real shot at her, then she would come up with some excuse to be mad with them. In their desperate attempt to hold on to her they would do anything, extravagant gifts, large amounts of credits, trade and family secrets, these sad boys gave her whatever she wanted. Once she got what she wanted, she would drop the guy like a bad habit, leaving them crushed. It had gained her a reputation in the Rednas empire as "the viper with the poison kiss", a moniker that did not bother her in the slightest. For one, it didn't seem to deter her steady stream of play things, at the same time, it was true.
It made her laugh out loud. She had finally found a man that actually interested her. One that instead of trying to control her, he unleashed her. Prince Greyson didn't just have ambitions, he had a plan, and that excited Naga to no end. She grinned wickedly as she stood on a distant hilltop watching the factory burn. All it took was a couple of loose bolts and a turn of some key pressure gauges and boom, chaos. Much easier than last night's cave-in. That had taken setting several small charges and a lot of stealth. In a couple days there would be another "accident" at the docks and the Coup de grâce would be a fire at the farm. The plan was to cause a series of large-scale problems in quick succession to grind production to a halt and make the Queen look completely inept. Greyson would then swoop in with solutions with the help of some very rich benefactors. This would cause the aristocracy to move to oust the queen and install Greyson in her place. Once Greyson is king, he swore to make Naga his queen. There was nothing any of the other boys she played with could offer that could compare with that. Naga trembled with excitement. She had bagged herself a prince, and the prince was going to make her queen.
Greyson sat at his desk in his room enjoying an expensive Rednasi brandy. It was a brand that was made from ingredients only found on Rednas Prime. In the background he was listening to an opera that told the story of a king that had killed each of his five brothers, one by one, in order to take the throne. It was a dramatized account of the rise of the founder of the Rednas Empire. Greyson imagined himself in the old king's place. He thought about what it would be like to have to kill that many people to get what you want, and if he could do it. He looked at his data pad and chuckled to himself. Of course he could do it. He had managed to get rid of his so –called brother and was well on the way to dismantling his own mother. In some ways he felt that made him even more diabolical than the founder. Too bad his father was just some nobody concubine. He would love the chance to match wits with someone formidable just to sweeten his victory a little bit more. He was going to be king soon and had managed to talk so many people into doing the dirty work for him, including a beautiful viper that was so willing to do his bidding. Of course, when all was said and done, he would have to cut the strings of all his puppets, including the one who thought she would be queen.