John K Sutherland

Insurrection. John K Sutherland

Women warriors from the four cities had risen up against their Thorian overlords, and had been given a victory, outside of the walls of Fenn. Yet no one had died. It had been a bloodless coup. They could not believe it. The ten, heavily-armed Thorian warriors, intimidating giants, had surrendered to the hordes of women when they had been challenged, but they had not surrendered because they had been outnumbered. It had been a tactical surrender. A thousand warrior women could not have managed this, by combat. The women had expected defeat. They hadn't felt such terror before, facing even these few men. That terror would live with most of them for the rest of their lives when they returned to their own cities. If they survived this. The Thorians, these vicious overlords, must still be playing their devious and cruel games with them. A voice out of nowhere filled their thoughts, but where it came from they did not know."Accept your victory, and hope that you really do want, and know, what it is that you will be getting. Though that, is still to be understood, and negotiated. You must determine your own futures now, if you can. "Be very careful how you negotiate away what you already have until you know what you are giving up, and what you will be replacing it with. There were many good things in that treaty when it was first written."It sounded ominous. There had been nothing good in that treaty. The voice came at them again. "You have let them stew for long enough. I think I would advise that you accept their surrender before they change their minds."This, did not sound like victory.