The Joksan Uprising
image source: google images
Sori sprinted along the railway, checking behind her every few minutes to see how close the Joksa soldiers were getting. Night had fallen but only just, so there was only a matter of time before she lost the illuminated blue light of the sky for the dark obsidian of true night. Loud yells let her know the Joksa were gaining on her. She could feel the beat of horses’ hooves in each of her strides.
She looked up to the cloud that pointed her in the direction of the star she was supposed to be following. Soon all the light she’d have would be from that one blinking dot in the sky. She heard Kora’s horn blast somewhere in the dark trees to her left and saw the flank of the soldiers on that side pursuing her defect towards the tree line. She sent a mental thank you to the at-times disagreeable rogue and made a promise to be more patient with her if she made it through.
Suddenly, a fallen branch broke the steady pace of her legs and she tumbled over, her cheek hitting gravel and getting scratched up by the brambles strewn across her path. Sori knew this was the end of the line, ironic seeing as the railroad ended just yards away from where she had fallen. The horses reached her in seconds, circling round her as the riders jeered at her, the horses hooves just inches from slamming into her legs or arms or even her face. A white horse broke through the circle and its rider dismounted, drawing his sword and placing it under Sori’s chin. She knocked it aside and spit at his feet.
“Now is that any way for a lady to behave in front of a commander of the Royal Army?” He taunted and removed his helmet to reveal the face of the Prince of Joksa, Ronak, a tall dark haired man with almond skin.
“It is when he isn’t worthy of the privileges he has been given and when he has done nothing to prove otherwise,” she spat at him.
His face hardened, “You must care little for your life, girl.”
“I am a woman, and yes, almost less than I care for yours.” And with a swift sweep of her legs, she knocked him to the ground, straddling his chest with her dagger at his throat, their faces millimeters apart.
Screams from the forest where Kora’s horn was heard broke the tense silence and a sudden boom from the opposite direction of Sori’s escape distracted her for a moment, and that was all they needed. Ronak deflected her blade and pushed her aside almost into the tips of the blades of his men.
“It was a trick,” he spat, “what have you and your friends done?”
“And then, from both sides of the tree line, emerged Kora from the left with her wolf, Oran, and from the right, Loren, his blade against the neck of Emeria, the Queen of Joksa and Ronak’s mother.