"What's going on? Where am I?" Seven asked.
"You are in Aquarius. I am Corrine, and I am the Citadel Minister of Aquarius. I am their leader," Corrine smiled and helped Seven up.
"I am Seven Kazachov," he said. "You're the Lady of the Lake aren't you?"
Corrine chuckled. "Yes, I believe that is the moniker your Major Beam has given me. I brought him here to protect us from the Overworlders and I brought you here to help us."
"What's going on?" Seven crossed his arms and readied himself for Corrine.
"One of our brightest scientists and his followers have been trying to take over Aquarius and we feel that they are close to succeeding."
Nicholas came home to the Vieux house at almost three o'clock in the morning. As he walked down the hallway to his room, Tara came out of hers. "Where have you been?" she asked him.
Nicholas looked at her with sleepy eyes and scratched the back of his neck. "I was helping Samuel and the other men," he said.
"With what?"
"Samuel and all the men in town are riding to Uniontown to burn it down."
The men took their positions in a semi-circle one mile from Uniontown. They had planned everything out, gathered the men and rode to the up-and-coming town.
Samuel and two other men positioned themselves at the top of a hill, making certain the other men could see them. "When we light this torch," Samuel began in a hushed voice "we charge into the town."
They waited for what seemed like hours. Samuel looked up at the sky, then struck a match and raised it to his torch...
"The Uniontown Massacre"
"They're gonna do what?" Tara shouted.
"They're going to burn Uniontown down. Uniontown broke the treaty and when Samuel, Mr. Robideaux and Mr. deBoissiere went to Uniontown, they shot deBoissiere," Nicholas explained.
"What? They shot him?"
"And killed him."
"Are we safe here? Should we leave or...?" Tara was starting to cry.
"We should be fine. Besides we have to stay here and wait for Cassius and Seven," Nicholas said and pulled Tara closer to him.
"I wonder if Cassius is out of jail..." Tara said.
"I'm sure they are headed our way now."
"Homer Caesar was Aquarius's best scientist. Caesar helped establish most of what you see here," Corrine pointed to all the amazing buildings and various technology scattered around the city. "As he got older, he got more respected but during the last decade began fighting the government at every turn then an assassination attempt three years ago left Caesar paralyzed from the waist down, it was also learned he had a terminal disease and is currently near death."
"If he's that close to death, then why is he such a threat?" Seven asked.
"He has many followers willing to fight and die for him. His followers are well-armed and rumor has it that Caesar has missiles and bombs placed strategically around Aquarius," Corrine said. "We're afraid that if we attack him, the explosives will detonate."
"I see," Seven nodded. "Then why did you lure me here? I'm just an average boy."
"The great prophesier, Virgil Luther, has determined that you are to become a great hero which is why I appeared in your friend's visions and why I lured you here," Corrine revealed.
"I would love to help out but I don't know what I can do," Seven said.
"Being willing to help may be enough," Corrine said.
The men of Indianola charged at Uniontown, carrying their torches. They rode through the streets burning every wooden building and attempting to weaken every stone structure. Women and children screamed in the night as the Uniontown men attempted to shoot and incapacitate their attackers.
Samuel and half a dozen other men rode to the bridge and jumped off their horses. They began pushing stones and tools being used to build a stone bridge into the river. As a final gesture, they set the wooden bridge on fire.
All of Uniontown was in flames and the citizens of Uniontown were helpless and could only watch as their raiders rode around town ransacking everything they came across.
Samuel, his face covered by a bandana, rode up and stopped in front of General Baker. "Enjoying watching your town burn, General Baker?" Samuel guffawed.
"Why are you doing this?" General Baker asked, nearly pleading.
"You declared war. Why start something you can't finish?" Samuel looked off to the east and saw the sun coming up. "The sun!" he shouted and the raiders began dispersing in different directions so no one in Uniontown knew where they were headed.
When the men returned to Indianola, they all returned to their houses as if nothing had happened. Samuel walked into his house and walked down the hallway past his bedroom like a zombie. Mary opened the bedroom door and saw her husband.
"What is going on? You've been gone all day and all night," she said with a panic in her voice.
"I had some business to attend to," Samuel said with a sigh. "I will be in my study if anyone desperately needs me."
Samuel shut himself in his study and locked the door. He sat at a huge desk and pulled out a small book. He opened it and took out a quill and a small jar of ink. He began writing.
Uniontown had broken the treaty--something the treaty itself says is an act of war. The men at Indianola came up with a plan and we followed through. By the time the sun rose, Uniontown was just a charred memory. We all rode back in silence, not wanting to acknowledge Indianola's darkest time.
Homer Caesar was sitting in his wheelchair as he watched the monitor. Once the smartest and most powerful man in Aquarius, Caesar was slowly being reduced to a wrinkled husk. Barely able to move under his own power, Caesar could only give orders and watch people follow them.
"Sir, we really need to get you into your life support tube," said another scientist.
"Very well," Caesar croaked. The scientist wheeled Caesar over to an elongated egg-shaped device and a couple other scientists helped hoist him out of the chair and placed him carefully in the life support system. "Are the fighters ready?" Caesar asked.
"Yes, sir. They are positioned exactly where you said. The Aquarius officials have no idea we're going to attack."
"Excellent. I've waited too long to see Aquarius as the city it should be--a city of technology and power. I will destroy them all."
Elsewhere, Corrine and Seven were in the huge Citadel Tower near the center of the city. "So what's the plan? Do you have an army or some form or military you can use to prepare the city in case Caesar does attack?" Seven asked.
"We have no formal military," Corrine began "but we do have our guards and security forces. They are at your disposal."
"My dis...? You don't even have a general or anything to plan for an attack?" Seven was shocked.
"The people of Aquarius are peaceful and we had no need for weapons," Corrine said.
"But you do now. We need to get every guard and security personnel here as soon as possible. Plus we need to enlist any citizen out there who's willing to fight for our side," Seven was cut off as a large explosion rocked the city sending him and Corrine to the floor. They got up and ran to a window. There were several fires in the area of the city to the east and a couple damaged buildings. They could see a large group of people advancing on the city capturing and, if needed, killing innocent citizens. "We need to get organized as soon as possible," Seven said.
Next:
The Uniontown aftermath and the Battle for Aquarius.
