Jane was… unique.

She was an outlier, especially so for their family – not only was she the second girl born in seven generations, the first being her mother, but she lacked their signature brown hair and eyes. Her waist-length hair was a vivid vermillion and her eyes were ocean green.

Jane sighed, remembering the events that lead her to this moment.

*****

She’d heard that her father, Smith Stone, had thrown a violent fit when Jane’s hair started growing and her eyes changed from baby-blue – assuming that Jane’s Mother, Grace Stone, had an affair – even though Grace committed all her time to managing their family business, the ‘Stone Merchants’. Her mother, quite promptly, had Smith ‘appropriately punished’.

After spending a week locked in the basement with naught but the dark, rats and the occasional loaf of bread, Smith readily admitted his idiocy and fault. Years later, Grace informed Jane that she had, in fact, had a hidden tryst with another man. She had hoped that the child would be Smith’s, or that it wouldn’t be too obvious that it wasn’t his.

Grace knew, that while the child was certainly a Stone – she wasn’t legitimate – and should have been discarded at the first opportunity; but Jane was a girl. Grace didn’t want to pass the business back into the hands of some idiotic boy – she had spent decades pulling the Stone Merchants out of the deep hole that stupid men had dragged their family into. So, Jane had quite the dilemma.

Abandon Jane to save the family’s reputation or keep her to preserve the Stone Merchants – these were her options. She needed some method to keep her daughter, without losing any face. Grace didn’t have to come up with a plan straight away; she had years before any decision had to be made.

A little over a decade later, Grace had an epiphany; letting a bastard child, even a girl, become the family head would be a mark on the family’s status, but welcoming back a young, successful merchant, and grooming her for the position – that could work. With her course of action decided, Grace set her plan in motion.

The next day, a ten-year-old Jane, along with four guards and a hundred bars-worth of tools, clothes and building supplies, were sent out, away from the capital of Delruse, and to the frontier – to a small village on the coast; Greycliffe.

She was forced to leave behind a mother, father and her baby brother, John. Jane vowed to become the greatest trader Delruse had ever seen, not only to make her mother proud, but to aid the Queen. After all, the more successful Jane is, the more bars she can earn for the Queen! For every ten bars she makes, nine will be sent to the Queen for her tax.

*****

Jane shook her head, bringing herself back to the present.

“Are you well, my love? I know this must be difficu-”

She smiled, caressing his face with her hand. “I’m fine, Angus. It’s just… we’re so close. We’re nearly there! Near thirty years of work, and it could all come crumbling down around us.” Jane’s fists clenched. “What happened to John…”

Angus embraced her, holding her tight. “I know he was your brother, but his sacrifice… unknowing or not, it has given us the chance to finally defeat her!”

Jane sighed. “I know, it’s just…”

“It’s just that you care too much, Jane. The people through that door, they don’t need the sweet, loving Jane that pulled me the Queen’s control when I was but an unthinking slave!” Angus looked her in the eye.

“They need the cold, calculating Jane that saved Greycliffe from the Cloud-Crawlers! The woman that, all alone, scoffed at an entire regiment of Delruse Knights, armed with nothing but the clothes on her back and her voice! The shadow that didn’t only infiltrate Delruse and free tens of people from the Queen’s slavery, but kept each and every one of them alive for three months in the Jazdar Forests, whilst hunted by countless assassins!” Angus was near shouting, both admiration and love in his eyes.

“They need their leader, their hero! They need the General!”

Jane squared her shoulders, stepping back from him, her jaw set. “Thank you, Angus. This is no time for personal issues. Delruse and her people’s freedom is at stake.”

Taking a breath, Jane pulled open the door and walked through.

She stopped, seeing the crowd staring at her. Some were friends, others were those she’d saved, but most were just… people. Farmers, woodsmen, healers, smiths, tailors and too many others to count. Even Patrick, their sole man on the inside – it had taken him years to inconspicuously join the castle’s staff and to slowly fade into the background. Even now, he was sweeping – Patrick had sacrificed so much for Delruse; he had once been a promising artist but, after his entire village was slaughtered, his creativity turned into a thirst for vengeance.

Jane could feel all their expectations, their trust, weighing over her. “My people… it has been too long… too long has our so-called Queen ruled over us! Too long has she been able to strip our very free-will! Too long has she lived without just retribution! Are you with me?!”

The crowd was murmuring now, nodding in agreement.

“It falls to us to free Delruse! It is our responsibility! Our duty! We are the Awake! We will not let the Queen terrorise Delruse with her whimsical desires any longer! She cannot defeat us! Are you with me?!”

Her followers yelled – they were furious, excited and determined, all at once, but Jane silenced them in a single sentence.

“Some of you will die.”

Once more, the crowd stared at her – but uncertainty flickered behind their eyes.

“Some of you will die. You could take a sword to the neck, or an arrow in the gut. Your deaths will not be painless, quick or easy. But…” Jane cast her gaze across the crowd, somehow managing to look each one of them in the eye. “You will die for your friends. For your family. For Delruse! To free our people from the Queen’s tyranny! Whether you live or die, you shall never be forgotten! So, I ask again!”

The crowd leaned forward, with bated breath.

“Are you with me?”

The crowd roared its approval.

Jane nodded and spoke again – her voice was somehow heard through the din. “We shall always remember my brother, John, who wrested himself from the Queen’s control, too late to save himself, but he provided the distraction necessary for us to sneak our way into the castle. His sacrifice paved the way to Delruse’s freedom, and it shall not be in vain! Let us storm the castle! Let us bring the Queen to justice!”

The unruly mob turned around, heading for the exit – the way from the servant’s quarters into the castle proper. The crowd charged, but its momentum ground to halt before it had even started.

A man’s shaky voice echoed voice echoed through the room. “What is that?!”

Before the doorway ahead of them, the floor rippled; a hand raising from it, quickly followed by another. They latched onto the edge of the stone puddle and an armoured man hauled himself out, panting as he rolled onto his back.

“Patrick? Is that you?” The knight sucked in a breath of air. “Fancy meeting you here… You wouldn’t believe the day I’ve had.”

Patrick paused. “John?”