Auger's Uprising

The fire was dying down. I had been sitting on the ground, staring into the flames for hours now. It was getting cold, but I refused to move. This was my place, the spot where the dead girl lay. The spot where her blood pooled and stained the soil.

Not long ago I had been a happy man, content with my lot in life. A simple farmer who enjoyed tending crops and drinking a good ale now and then. That all changed when they killed her. I had found her body lying there in my field, violated and slaughtered, a gaping hole in her chest that still dripped blood into the dirt even now.

They had tried to convince me it was an animal. An attack by wolves or some other creature of the wood. They told me she died peacefully, that it was quick and painless. Lies! All lies! Every time I closed my eyes I could see her face, contorted in fear as she cried out for help before those monsters silenced her forever! Her eyes pleading with me as the knife plunged through her chest and spilled out her lifeblood onto my land! A poor innocent child taken from us by those who wished to silence her!

I would have left it alone except for one thing: This wasn’t just about justice for this girl’s murder; this was about something much larger than one person’s death! For years now our leaders have been telling us we were free, that we lived in a democracy where everyone had a voice and equal say in how our communities were run. But what they failed to explain is that there are two voices spoken in our village: Theirs, and ours! Privately they tell us how we should vote, who we should support at local elections, nearby town hall meetings…they tell us what jobs are best suited for each of us based on our families heritage and history within the community! They tell us how many children we should have, what type of home we should build…hell they even tell us who we can marry and when!

That’s not freedom; that’s oppression! And if you don’t do as you’re told you disappear…just like that poor girl did! Maybe she giggled too loudly at something funny or smiled at someone she shouldn’t have? Perhaps she argued with someone about voting choices? Hell maybe she simply wore the wrong color shirt on election day? It doesn’t matter because soon after something bad happens to them and all of sudden no one knows anything about them anymore! We can call it coincidence if we want but I know better than that; they are covering up their crimes so they can continue their reign of terror over us common folk without any interference or repercussions; people like me dead or imprisoned so we can no longer speak out against their tyranny!

So here I am…a lone peasant sitting by a dying fire with only one thought running through my mind: Revenge! Not just for this poor girl who lost her life at the hands of our leaders but also revenge for all those others they took away from us…and myself included! After all if I am going to die anyway why not make them pay for what they have done?! The only question is how? I am no warrior nor do I have any training in combat beyond basic self-defense lessons taught by our village blacksmith…but maybe there is another way?! Perhaps if I could find allies among those brave enough to stand up to those corrupt officials maybe together we could take back control of our little part of Elanoa from those tyrants?!

I knew it would be risky to leave my farm since it was likely being watched by those same officials looking for any sign of resistance or rebellion among the people but perhaps if I could sneak out of town during early morning before most people were awake it might be possible? My neighbors were nice people but none stood out as particularly outspoken or willing to put themselves on the line for anything more important than watering crops or taking care of animals; besides most of them were either too old or too young (too young meaning under 20) to be willing to put themselves at risk so early in their lives…I needed men like me who wanted more from life but didn’t want to settle down without seeing more than their farm fields first so they could understand why I fought for change! So many generations born and raised on these tiny plots of land would never understand what freedom really meant because they never experienced anything else; the world outside our small villages filled with new sights, sounds and smells were nothing more than myths and fairy tales told around campfires late at night to scare misbehaved children into behaving well until sunrise came again…but there are others like me who want more than what has been given to us by our leaders…men willing to stand up against injustice even if it means certain death or imprisonment! Men willing to risk everything just so they can live out their lives knowing they lived free rather than trapped within invisible walls built brick by brick by those who sought only power regardless of what price those lower classes may pay in return once the work is done!

I nodded at my decision confirmed knowing tomorrow would be an important day for both me and many other men across Elanoa determined to make things right even if it meant risking everything in order to do so….hopefully it would also mark a new beginning for us all.