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Rat Rebellion

Chapter 15 (Finale)

By Draconicon

Anastus was lucky. The courts found in his favor by a vote of three-to-two, and the two were foxes of former nobility that were displeased with the fact that they were having to share their authority with rats rather than any legal disagreement with his process. One fox - he had insisted on having a jury against him, just to drive home the fact that his trial wasn't rigged - even voted for mercy in his case. Of all the outcomes, it was, perhaps, the most fair one could ask for.

At the same time, it wasn't consequence-free. The two dissenting voices had demanded that something happen to him, and Anastus was sentenced to six years of hard labor for the deeds that he had committed. The rat had bowed and accepted his fate. He would have done the same for a death sentence, so why not accept something far less severe with the good grace it deserved?

Other rats he knew were likewise judged. Isay and Kir, the cooks from the manor, were given one year of hard labor and no punishment, respectively, for dealing with what they had. The courts were overwhelmed with cases of different rats brought before them, ringleaders and more of the rebellion, and more often than not, they were judged to have had little choice in what they did. They were given no sentences, or light ones, and the world went on.

There were, however, exceptions, and one of those exceptions was the reason he stood outside the governor's mansion that day.

Anastus watched as Lidochka was brought forward, her hands tied behind her back. Other altered rats walked with her, holding her arms in place as she squirmed and fought against them. Her mouth was gagged, more for the sake of the crowd than for her. She had shouted herself hoarse again and again since she'd been arrested, and in court, she had less defended herself than spent the whole time shouting at the foxes present to judge her. He'd been in the audience, listening, watching, hearing her shout down their evils and her own righteous anger, how nothing she had done could be judged by those that had hurt her people as much as they had.

It had done her no favors. At the end of it, the three rats and two foxes overseeing her trial had decided that she was destined for execution. Her screams had been the stuff of legend as the rats assigned to watching over her had to drag her from the building kicking and screaming, pulling her back to the cells where she could be watched over until the day of her beheading.

Today was that day. Anastus stood among many other rats and foxes. The crowd was, of course, segregated; there was no getting around that, considering the lingering hatred that existed on both sides of the fence. The foxes were suspicious of the rats, and the rats, even those that had been deathly loyal to their masters, were more interested in seeing what they could get from their former owners. Life had upended itself, and there was little rhyme or reason to anything. No new system had been implemented yet, and anarchy threatened to take hold of everything.

This is why we have to do this, he thought, looking back at the execution platform as he shook his head. If there are no consequences to our actions, then everyone will just do what they want, and nobody will ever have peace. What she did...it has to be punished. It has to be.

Shaking his head, he hoped he could keep believing that. Some of the rats turned to look at him, while the foxes across the aisle pointedly ignored him. The former probably wondered what he was thinking, considering Lidochka had been seen as almost a second in command of the rebellion by most. Surely, he must be feeling something?

And in some ways, he was. Regret, mostly. Regret that it had gone the way that it had, sorrow that it had turned as violent as it did. Horror, too. A lot of horror at what they had done, how the only chance to turn the world around had come through such violation of others. If they'd been in any other situation, that sort of rape and molestation and mind-break would have damned them all for all eternity. As it stood, it was only somewhat forgivable, and some of them had gone too far.

Like her.

As the albino rat stood on the platform, all but hissing her rage at the crowd, Aeliana took her place at the crowd side of the platform. The vixen was dressed again, of course. There were limits to what they could do these days, limits on the perversion that had run rife through the manor during the last days of the rebellion. She had to be respectable, despite the fact that she still acted under his influence. As the armored vixen pulled a scroll from her hips, Lidochka let out a guttural growl through her gag as she made a futile attempt to lunge for the vixen guardswoman.

It didn't work, though she dragged the rats behind her forward by a half-step each. Aeliana shook her head, unrolling the scroll.

"By order of the court, and under the sentencing of a council of three rats and two foxes, the former slave Lidochka has been found guilty of rape, murder, conspiracy of murder, assault, theft, destruction of property -"

"MMMPH!"

"...And more crimes than there is room to write them on this scroll." Aeliana shook her head, and Anastus bit his lip. "For these crimes, the court has found her worthy of execution."

Anastus flicked his eyes through the crowd, waiting, worried that someone would speak up on her behalf. There had to be some, surely; there were many rats that had embraced her fury when the rebellion had started. She had a whole faction under her during the early days, a faction that she had threatened to take with her if he didn't take things more seriously and aggressively. Were they here? Would they cause problems?

He saw one at the front of the crowd, someone that looked beyond furious. The brown rat raised a fist.

"She had her reasons!" he shouted.

"The court was unanimous in its verdict," Aeliana said.

"Rigged courts!"

"There were three rats -"

"They were intimidated! The foxes will do anything to keep from losing power! They -"

"I was there," someone in the crowd said.

Lidochka's supporter whipped around, about to rip into the speaker, only to freeze. An older kitchen rat, one of the first of the rebellion, stared down the younger rodent.

"I was there. I saw her kill; I saw her rip and tear. And I was on the court. I know what she went through. And I know that she's lost it. It's time to stop."

"..."

"It's time to stop."

The flame of frenzy momentarily put out, the protester fell silent. Anastus flicked his eyes across the rest of the crowd, looking for anyone else that might have something to protest about, but it seemed that the kitchen-rat's speech was enough. Nobody else in the crowd wanted to look like a hot-head, perhaps, or maybe they were starting to rethink their position.

It didn't hurt that Aeliana was looming over them, nor that Lidochka was pinned down by other rats rather than foxes. Anastus had suggested that; the more that they could do to show that the decision for Lidochka had been made by rats rather than foxes and that she was judged by her own people rather than by the former overclass, the better. Foxes holding her down for execution would have looked like the enemy putting their greatest foe to death. Rats holding her made it look like there was a reason she was there, that she might actually have gone too far even for them.

It seemed to work. As she was forced down to her knees, screaming and hissing and spitting against the gag in her mouth, one rat and one fox stepped forward with the executioner's blade. A heavy axe that was meant as a symbol of fear as much as it was a means of killing, the dark blade shined from its recent polishing. Anastus watched as Lidochka finally saw herself in it, and saw her fear finally overcome her fury. She went still, her chest heaving, her eyes widening.

There's no getting out of it. No rescue. Nothing. You've gone too far.

"Under the authority vested in me by King Jovian, I hereby authorize the execution of the rat criminal Lidochka," Aeliana said, her voice as steady as it could be. "May your end be swifter than what you visited upon your victims, and may whatever finds you in the next life be kind."

"MMMPH! MMMMPH!"

For a moment, it seemed as if the white-furred rat might throw her captors off and escape, but they piled on tighter and pinned her to her knees. Her head was bound into the wooden stand, and she was held in place as the rat and fox stepped forward. They each held one end of the axe blade, ready to drop it, and despite Lidochka's many attempts to squirm out from under it, there was no escape.

Thunk.

Her head rolled out of sight, and even the foxes trembled. They looked over at the rat side of the crowd, and Anastus begged with all his heart for his people not to disappoint him.

And they did not.

There was no outrage, no weeping. Instead, there was a stoic resolution that spread through the crowd, each rat taking a breath and letting it out slowly. Instead of being angry, instead of shouting at the injustice of the execution, they just...nodded. Even her supporters nodded, as if they agreed with it.

There was no new uprising.

There were no new attacks.

It was justice, and it was done.

As the foxes dispersed, muttering in shock about how the 'beasts' were taking it so civilized, and as the rats left in silence, Anastus remained where he was. Lidochka's body did the same, slumped forward, bits of blood running down on the fallen axe. He didn't know what he expected. Perhaps he thought that even in death she might rise in pure fury, but it seemed that the magic brought on by old Florus's potion wasn't sufficient to bring her back to life like that.

Aeliana hopped down from the stage, walking over to him as the rats began the process of collecting the body. She looked back at the mess, shook her head, and turned back to him.

"I'm amazed that turned out as well as it did," she said.

"It was either going to go horribly or go well. There's no in-between."

"They just...accepted it."

"We're not monsters. At least, not most of us," he said, rubbing his arm. "That was what terrified me most, you know. That Lidochka's anger was what all the rest of us felt, that none of us could actually let go."

"The court decided in your favor."

"Yes, but this...this was the final reckoning."

And it had passed. They had passed. They were not beasts. They had the capability of understanding, moving on, being practical and pragmatic and...and not what Lidochka had become. They were better than that. They were better than what the foxes were afraid of.

He would have cried at another time. Today, he was just so relieved that he didn't have room for anything else.

"So...public service and hard labor, hmm?" Aeliana asked.

"Yes."

"You'll be staying in the city for that?"

"For now...until the rest of the kingdom catches up."

"That will take years. More years than your service."

"You say that...but I think you're wrong."

He reached behind his back, pulling out a folded piece of parchment from the pouch hanging from his new belt. As he passed it to her, she arched an eyebrow, unfolding it before glancing at it. Her eyes widened as she read more and more.

"Just make sure that you follow this, and we should be on-schedule for something more."

"You want to bring them here? All the nobles?"

"They need to see the difference. They have to see it, know it in their bones. And if they bring their rats with them, then it will spread the story of this city to the rest of the kingdom. No matter how much the nobles try to alter the story in the new schools, if there are rats that see the difference, they will spread it around."

Aeliana stared at the plan. It was risky, and he knew it, but the orders from the King to educate the rats and to uplift them from slavery could only go so far. The nobles would find every possible way to get around the decree, do everything in their power to sabotage the teaching process either to make it clear that the rats weren't actually smart enough to be educated, or to put the wrong ideas in their heads and keep them under the heels of foxes for the rest of their lives.

Seeing the truth, seeing a city where it worked, was the only way to bring the rest of the kingdom in line. Anastus couldn't do that; he was a criminal, and on record as one. Aeliana, however, as the captain that was rapidly gaining the reputation for bringing peace to the city and helping the king broker the deal against the rebellion, could.

"I am trusting you with this," he said.

"...Not ordering?" she asked.

"No. I'm not doing that. Not anymore."

"You could. If you believe that this will work -"

"The courts decided that my cause was right, but they still - rightfully - punished me for the methods I used. I won't be forcing it any further. I won't let anyone else do it, either. So...we have to do it the right way. And sometimes, the sneaky way."

"..."

"I trust you. You pulled me back, but you've also seen the truth. Please, don't let it get buried again."

He patted her arm, she did the same, and he turned to leave. There was nothing more to be said. He was a criminal going through his punishment, and she was a guard. They were not to be together, and that was for the best. If she was going to help him improve the kingdom, then she needed to have her own freedom to act, not be dragged down by someone like him.

And he...

He could start building things up again. Constructing things rather than blowing them up. It gave him a feeling of hope.

It was nice to have that again.

The End

Summary: The end of the series, finally.

Tags: No Sex, Execution, Anger, Fear, Death, Rat, Fox, Epilogue, Series,