Rise of the flower girl

[malyssa]

With the confusion in the people's palace, it was getting easier and easier for Janice to walk about unnoticed. The servants had long since become accustomed to her presence and assumed she belonged, and the guards were getting a little lazy in the absence of the current ruler. The exception was, as always, the members of the First File. Those men were always on their guard, but since they only guarded the most restricted areas of the palace, she was able to avoid them quite easily.

She had been stopped several times, but each time she managed to convince them she was not a threat to anyone, and was only delivering flowers for a "m'lord" and couldn't rightly say which one. With a sufficient blush to her cheeks, and their own assumption of a clandestine affair taking place, they simply escorted her back out of the main palace complex, and left her to go back to her merchant stand. which was, as always, untouched except for some minor pilfering of roses by young fools in love. Janice didn't begrudge them their tokens, she could have them re-grown in moments, and making a profit wasn't her real goal anyway.

[malyssa]

It took time, but Janice had been able to learn that the man who had taken over the palace, and with it assumed leadership of D'hara, was gone. On his way to attempt to take over Aydindril. That left an opening she could use for herself if she chose. She'd need more help than just herself, but that could be arranged. She knew that the resistance was alive and well, if a bit quieter than she'd have liked.

The surviving Mord Sith might have been the logical place to start, she'd lived in the palace long enough to know their faces, as she'd never been as afraid of them as others were, but she dismissed that idea. They might not like the idea of serving her, even if it would most likely be a temporary situation. She wasn't big on direct confrontations, and had no desire to face a Wizard of her brother's caliber with the spell from the palace working in his favor as much as hers. A wizard's gift was much more suited to that sort of thing.

With a plan forming in her mind, Janice closed up her shop for the day and flashed a friendly seeming smile to the passing guards. The flower girl's rise to power had already begun.

[malyssa]

Part one of Janice's plan was simple, get in contact with the resistance and rally them to her side,and to do that, she simply had to politely find out where each resident's loyalties lie.

Her first target had been one of the off duty soldiers, a pity he had failed her test. It would take a powerful wizard indeed to find his bones after they'd been taken beneath the ground by her enchanted vines.

Next up was an older man, one she had seen speaking to one of the disguised Mord Sith at one time. Though of course she couldn't be certain if he'd known who he was talking to. She knew his habits as well as she knew the rest of the palace, and had chosen this secluded nook for just that reason.

There would be no fancy snares or spells for this work, she would do nothing that might be detected unless he also failed her test. Her patience was soon rewarded by the familiar sound of his footsteps.

The moment he stepped beyond her darkened corner, she lunged out and grabbed him, her left arm snaking around his neck as one of her vines might if so commanded. "Whom do you serve old man? Trabane, or Rahl?" she hissed as she pressed the tip of a small dagger against his back.

The man was surprisingly calm given the situation, and with no hesitation he answered her in the same barely audible tone. "Rahl."

Janice smiled and leaned in closer. "Good boy. Now... Are you in contact with the resistance?"

Again the man answered her without fear. "Yes I am."

A faint chill of excitement raced through her body at finding one who could help her so quickly. "Then you are of use to me... I wish you to deliver to them a message.."

Though the man seemed surprised at this, he nodded as much as he was able. "What message would you like me to deliver?"

Janice leaned in closer, her lips brushing against his ear. "Tell them.." she began in a borderline seductive whisper. "Tell them, Mistress Rahl sends her regards..." The instant she felt his muscles tense with the shock of hearing her message, shoved away from him and vanished quickly into the waiting screen of vines which bore her from that place, and back to the equally secluded garden of her temporary home.

If the man were truly in contact with the resistance, she was certain that at least one of them knew of her existence, even if they were unaware that she was still alive, or that she was right under their noses. But with that knowledge, they would find her. And if he wasn't, then her enemies would know of her existence, and be on their guard. It was a risk, but risk makes the game more fun.

[malyssa]

Janice stood calmly in the center of her garden, trimming shears in her left hand as her right roamed over the intricate topiary wolf that was the center of her artistic displays. The slightest imperfections would be trimmed away, or smoothed with a gentle touch of her Gift. In time she would bring it, and the others to life as the front line of her army regardless of the response from the Resistance.

She hoped they would come to her, and be willing to work together. But she had to accept that there was a chance they would not. They might even turn her over to Trabane's command in a false show of loyalty to improve their own position. But that was the least likely scenario in her mind. "Soon my pets, very soon..." she whispered, smiling as the breeze blowing through the branches of the wolf produced a faint growling sound. It had taken months to get that effect, but it would work in her favor when the time came.

[malyssa]

Janice walked openly through the halls of the People's palace now, an armload of flowers and a short list of destinations, most of which had no names attached, and all had some kind of message attached. Most were meant to set up meeting places for secret love affairs, but one would be very different. The guards ignored her, as she knew they would. If you look like you belong, most will assume that you do.

Her message would not be dropped off first, nor would it be last. Either could draw suspicion, so she settled for dropping it off some time in the middle of her route. She did not knock on the door, nor announce herself in any way. None of her customers wanted that, so that would also have drawn attention. She simply left them by the door of her contact and moved on at a normal pace.

With an inward smile, she noted that one guard seemed more paranoid of her, and was shadowing her movements, checking the note attached to each bundle of flowers she left in the hall. Smart, but not smart enough my dear. she thought. Though he would know where and when each of the noblemen would be hoping to meet the target of their amorous attentions, they would miss the hidden message in her's. The message read simply "Midnight, central fountain." But within the hour, those words would fade into nothingness, and the true message would be revealed. No secret meeting setup, only the traditional words of devotion, followed by the words "Third bell" and "Sun chamber"

She was confident that the resistance would understand, given that most of them would remember when Devotion had been required, and the bells still tolled for them despite attendance no longer being required.

As she neared the end of her route, she felt a strong hand grip her shoulder. "Hold it right there miss." a deep voice said as she turned around. It was the young guard who had been following her. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked.

"Delivering flowers sir..." Janice said in her best innocent little girl impression. "Would you like some? I have extras." This wasn't in the plan, he shouldn't have stopped me..

"No I do not. And you've used that line before. This time you're going to tell me who ordered these flowers, and I'm going to check, so you'd best be truthful. If you lie about even one of them you'll be in the dungeon before you can even think of that crying bit you pulled on Bruce last week." he growled.

Shit, they have been watching.. Best play along. she thought, biting her lower lip and looking up at him with her eyes seeming at least twice their normal size. Without hesitation, she told him who had ordered each set of flowers except for hte one that had not been for a customer.

He nodded, but continued to glare at her. "And the last one? Two drops ago. Who ordered that one?" he demanded, his hand tightening on her shoulder.

I can't kill him, they'd notice that... I got it! she thought, lowering her gaze to the floor, and calling up an artistic blush to her cheeks. "Those were mine sir... I.. We've seen each other in passing.." she blushed a little more, as though uncomfortable with further explanation.

The guard laughed and let go of her. "You're either very brave to be admitting that, or very clever little girl. Don't let me catch you wandering un-escorted again." he gave her another once over and growled "such a waste." before walking off.

Janice held in both her sigh of relief, and her laughter. Given that the flowers had been dropped at the door of one of the clandestine Mord Sith, a fact that only helped her story due to the fact that, while such relationships were known to happen, few talked about them. So he would not check up on it.

After dropping the last bundle off, Janice hurried home, making certain that the guard at the gate saw her leave. Once she arrived, she bolted the door and sank down it, finally letting out the sigh she'd held in. "Too close..." she muttered.

[malyssa]

It was time. Janice knelt as near to the center of the sunny devotion room as she could, suppressing a snarl of rage each time those gathered offered their perverse devotion to the usurper. At first she followed along with the others, saying the devotion to Trabane as they did, though in her mind she spoke the true words.

As the guards settled in for their own devotions, near the walls rather than near the center, everything had finally clicked into place. Starting softy, but gaining strength with each repetition, she began chanting.

"Master Rahl, guide us. Master Rahl, teach us. Master Rahl, protect us. In your light we thrive. In your mercy we are sheltered. In your wisdom we are humbled. We live only to serve. Our lives are yours."

By the third repetition, others around her had begun chanting along with her, and the guards had taken notice. One drew his sword and marched toward her, and still she chanted, using the words not only to gain the attention of the others, and get them to proclaim support for her family, however unintentional that may have been for them, but also to focus her mind on what she had to do.

Only one guard coming so far... The other could go for help... Better make this good. she thought, her voice rising to echo around the chamber.

"Master Rahl, guide us. Master Rahl, teach us. Master Rahl, protect us. In your light we thrive. In your mercy we are sheltered. In your wisdom we are humbled. We live only to serve. Our lives are yours!"

The approaching guard reached her at that moment, and grabbed her by the hair. With one arm, he hauled her to her feet and shoved her into the center of the room. As the chanting grew even louder, Janice was almost certain that she had the support of everyone in the room, intentionally or otherwise they had bound themselves to the Rahl line once again.

"This woman's death will remind all of you of the penalty for treason!" the guard bellowed, his voice barely audible over the rising voices gathered around them. Without warning, he swung his blade down at Janice, just as she'd hoped. She quickly stepped inside his swing, gripping his wrist, and allowing his momentum to carry him over her as she bent for the throw. As he left his feet, she felt him loosen his grip on the hilt, and she transferred her hands to it, twisting at the last moment to snatch it from his grasp.

The second guard hesitated, torn between his desire to subdue the threat immediately, and his duty to report the disturbance. In that, he made his fatal error. Janice shifted her grip to the base of the blade where it would be duller than the rest, and hurled it like a spear toward him. It was a bold throw, and one that shouldn't have worked, but in a bizarre stroke of luck, the blade flew true and pierced the man's neck at the base of his windpipe.

Unwilling to trust her luck a second time, Janice let her Han flow into the vine wrapped around her left bicep, causing it to writhe down and around the first guard's neck, tightening rapidly, and cutting off the flow of blood and oxygen to his brain before the shock of what she'd done to him could wear off.

As his eyes closed, she plucked a dagger from his belt, not as impressive as if she'd still had the sword, but if she had to hold a weapon, this would be more her style. She took a deep breath and turned to those gathered around her, most of them still giving devotion. A smile crossed her lips then as she stood proudly in front of them with the dagger raised in a salute.

"Sons and daughters of D'hara! The time has come! Rise up and reclaim our homeland! For D'hara! And for Lord Rahl!" she yelled, a touch of magic allowing her voice to be heard throughout each of the devotion rooms.

Several of the people in the room stood and cheered. "For Lady Rahl!" But even then, most simply continued with their devotion.

In every room, similar scenes played out, though there would inevitably be some casualties, the mobs quickly overpowered their guards, and very few refused to offer devotion once again to the Rahl line.