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Diego had always been a crafty guy. I've known him as far back as I could remember. He used to live alongside me in the fortress until he relocation outside. I tried to keep in touch by providing him with food and clothing, but he rejected most of my offers. He looked on while I a faction of prisoners ganged up on me, but chose to not do anything. Ever since that day, we drifted apart. We allowed time to strain our burgeoning friendship. I guess that's why it's hard to make friends or keep close relationships here. Trust, indeed, was a huge hurdle to overcome.
"What's the plan, man?" he queried. "I'm freezing over here."
"The plan's the same as before. Don't let the other prisoners discover our agreement, and wait for my signal."
"But ... you said the signal!"
"I said keep it down. Do you want to announce our plan to the whole prison?"
"No, but ... I'm sorry," he murmured. "I'm just a little anxious, y'know?"
The darkness of the night provided us a veil of secrecy. If it were the daytime, then the whole prison would've seen us conversing. It was an opportune time as many of the prisoners were either already asleep or had trouble seeing in the dark. I waved my hands above my head and used my viento to provide us a barrier to mask our rendezvous.
"When I said the signal," I said. "I meant that we should continue where we left off."
"Dios mio why would you ... That's ... That's not what we talked about, esé. When you say the signal, that's when we start with it. I've done my part, too. While you were away all those years, I've built up my influence, organized a whole pandilla. I've even convinced them of the entire plan. It's all ready, all we were waiting for was the signal."
"My bad, then. I'm sorry if I wasn't that clear. I've been out of it lately. I haven't even fully recovered."
"No, that's ... It's alright, man. H-How ... How was it? The outside, I mean."
"It was ... It was brutal. Prisons everywhere. Metallic creatures patrolling every path I've journeyed to. It's just how we dreamed about in our nightmares."
"That rough, huh? It's ... Even if we break everyone out, where could we all go?"
"That's why I've readjusted my approach. It's not enough to just escape."
"New plan? A heads up would've been nice."
"Yeah, that's why I'm telling you now. I don't know if you noticed, but they've increased their security on me ever since they recaptured me. This was the first time I've gotten the chance to step out of the fortress."
"Where does it leave us, huh? What's our place in your grand, new plan?"
"You just ... Tell your crew to just sit still, train, prepare. I'm going to try and make the giants trust me, then we'll destroy them from the inside."
"Trust? That's hard to earn, esé. That could take you years to build. I don't know if everyone's going to wait that long."
"Make them. Convince them like how you convinced them to go along with the plan in the first place. It'll just take a bit more—"
"It's easy for you to say, man. You've just come from the outside. You talk about hardships and ... At least, you were a free man!"
"Shh. Quiet down!" I whispered. "Even if my viento helps block out the sound, it's still not enough."
"You were a free man, even if it was just a couple of years. How can I convince my amigos to wait a little more?"
As an explorador, Diego wasn't the type to sit still and wait. In his old life, traveling the world was a normal year for him. With his cousin and his older sister, they journeyed across the globe. They rescued wildlife from dangers that the giants brought. He has a natural gift of taking in stray creatures and helping them reach their full potential. It's what convinced me that he would be the best fit to lead a ragtag group of prisoners.
"Listen. This ... This new plan I thought of," I mentioned. "This would ensure our continued survival."
"Yeah, well out with it, esé. If you want me to get my men on board with this, I need to know what we're getting ourselves into."
"O-Okay, so," I stammered, as I try to think of a convincing plan. In truth, there wasn't any plan at all, at least nothing concrete yet. I've been having trouble keeping my sanity as of late, another escape plan was the least of my concerns. If I was to gain their trust, then I needed to come up with something. Anything that resembled a fully-fleshed out strategy would do. "Uh, well the thing is—"
"Shh. Wait, did you hear something? I could've sworn I heard leaves rustling."
I did try to instruct my viento to sway some leaves around to buy me some time, so I was glad that it worked to some degree.
"Someone might be listening in," I speculated. "Maybe we should reconvene at a later time."
"No. No, no, no. Keep going. We might not get another chance to talk like this."
"Okay, well, see ... In the old plan, we needed to start a prison-wide riot as a diversion to distract the giants while we escaped, right?"
"Yes, yes. Go on. Sigue adelante."
"Now, instead of ... Instead of escaping, this is what we should do. We'll head inside the fortress, barricade ourselves in, and attack them from up high."
"I-I ... I don't follow. You want us to stay? That's your new plan?"
"Y-Yes. Yes, it is."
"That's suicide, vato!"
"No, see ... The giants' main advantage is that they're taller than us—"
"And faster, and stronger, and tougher. What's your point? Do you want to continue enumerating reasons why they won the Great War?"
"No, no. That's ... That's not the point."
"Well, what is? Man, how do you expect me to convince them to go along with this plan? If I tell them instead of escaping, we're going to be staying put, how do you think they'll react? Not only that ... Not only that! We're going to lock ourselves in. Dios mio! You must've gone off your rocker out there in the wild, esé."
"No, that's ... That's where you're wrong. I've never been more illuminated in my life. Everything seems so much clearer now!"
"We have very different definitions of 'clear,' my friend."
"Don't you dare call me your—"
"I'll have you know, vato, that when you escaped ... Ah! Everyone was so ... They were so jealous. Yeah! When word got out that you were gone, shoot! Everyone that you talked to, the ones you convinced to escape, they were all emocionado. They were like, 'Ay Dios mio I should've gone with that loco when I had the chance!' It was insane, man! The whole prison was like an all-you-can-eat buffet of recruits. I didn't even have to do much convincing. All I told them was that you were coming back, not knowing if you would, and you're going to lead us all to freedom. Libertad. Then, after all those years, you finally did."
"It's ... I—"
"All those years that we waited was perfect, too. I formed my own pandilla, and we faked a hatred for you. All the while, I was secretly building up other prisoners en previsión of your return. When we finally do the whole prison riot thing, it's going to come out all natural. The giants won't question a thing."
"Well, that's great then. You did more than I asked you to."
"Yeah, well all that build up was in anticipación of freedom. Everyone is expecting you to lead us out. Tell me ... How do I convince them of the opposite?"
"That's the thing though, it's not the opposite. If you just—"
"Not the opposite? You and I have very different—"
"The giants won because they were taller than us. If we ever hope to beat them, we need to strike them from above."
"But, isn't that what you flyers did? I mean, that was your thing, right? Strike from above."
"Yeah, but they outnumbered us then. In this prison compound, we outnumber the giants. The only problem is that hitting from below won't have much effect on them. Since I'm the only flyer here—"
"We draw them out of their fortresses with the prison riot, right? Then we lock them out of their bases, and hit them from above the fortresses."
"That's right! See, you're getting it."
Diego was silent for a moment. I couldn't imagine what was going through his head.
"But, what will—" he asked. "What about the prisoners on the ground? Wouldn't they be at the mercy of the giants? We can only throw so far. If the giants find a safe spot, they could do whatever they want to the others on the ground."
It was a good point he raised, and it left me speechless. I didn't know what to say, my mind had yet to think of an answer. I wanted to say that casualties were inevitable in the path to victory, but I couldn't say that. Diego had spent years forming solid relationships with the other prisoners. I couldn't bring myself to say that we needed to sacrifice some of his friends.
Was it wrong that I didn't feel anything? That I would have sacrificed them all if it meant my plan would succeed. It was an impossible decision that we've cornered ourselves into. There must be a better way to achieve our goal. One that doesn't involve too many, if any, casualties.
"What if we tied ropes to their waists and pulled them up as soon as the giants head into the grounds?" he suggested.
"That's an option. But, for that to work, we need twice the amount of people above the fortresses to lug them up. I'm not sure if there would be enough rioters to entice all the giants to step out and quell the commotion."
We exchanged ideas back and forth. It wasn't for me to say, but it felt a bit lopsided. For every idea that Diego suggested, I had a solid rebuttal that completely shut it down. I didn't take any pleasure in rejecting them, but someone needed to do it.
After a while, Diego paused for a bit to collect himself. He excused that he was catching his breath, but I knew that he was running out of ideas. If there was a better way than what I had planned, it was something that I would take into consideration. Unfortunately, Diego didn't know of any better way either.
"T-This ... This plan," he stuttered. I felt like there were blood and skin between his fingertips from all the head scratching that he did. If he asked for it, I would've thought about offering my head as a slight reprieve for him. But, I doubt that I would ever go through with it. "This plan isn't going to be set in motion any time soon, right?"
"Yes, that's right. It'll take time before I gain their trust and complete my end of the deal."
"Well ... that's good then! What are we even doing here, vato? I mean ... I mean, instead of telling them, y'know, to wait a while, I could ask them to ... think of alternate tactics. Outsourcing, y'know?"
"Yeah, that'll be fine. You could also weed out people who aren't on board with it."
"On board with what though? Let's say we defeat the giants, we take the prison compound, and then what?"
"Then we make it our own. This place doesn't have to be a prison. The world outside ... The world isn't the same anymore. Giants have overtaken everything. This place ... This could be our safe haven, a place where we can live free from the giants."
"What do we do for food? What do we do when there are prison transports? Those gigantes will keep coming until they overwhelm us."
"We'll cross the bridge when we get there."
"Esé, I ... I'm not sure that's gonna sit well with—"
"It has to. It has to be everyone or no one. If we do manage to overtake the prison, we ... Even those who didn't help will reap the benefits! I mean ... Imagine this: a place where we could call our new home. Where different people from different backgrounds join together and fight our common enemy. We could ... We could train and ... take in other strays. Once we get the feel for it, we could take down other prisons and liberate other inmates!"
"That's ... Well, that's something alright. Don't get me wrong, I'm down with this whole uprising thing. Really, I am. It's just ... It's way easier said than done, y'know?"
"Nothing worth having comes easy."
"Did you just ... Did you think of that just now?"
"I-I ... I'm not quite sure. I think I heard it from somewhere, but I'm not quite sure where. I, pft, I-I guess I did come up with it."
"That's good, esé. That's ... Y'know, a good way to rally the troops."
"I trust that you can get it done."
"You're the man with the plan, but you want me as the figurehead? Are you setting me up to take the fall or something?"
"N-No, that's ... That's not it. It's, uh ... I just ... I can't be connected with this, remember? I need to gain their trust, and this could really turn out bad for us if they ever found out."
"Right. Right, right, right. Okay, yeah, no. I got you."
Diego nodded, but I could feel his voice shaking the entire time he was supposedly agreeing. I couldn't blame him though. It was a dangerous plan. Being tasked with the job of asking people to sacrifice themselves was no easy chore.
Hopefully, someone will think of a better way. A plan where no one needs to willingly sacrifice themselves. I wouldn't do it for this lot, so I shouldn't expect anyone of them to do it as well.
All of a sudden, the ground trembled and the earth beneath us shifted slowly. I surveyed the surrounding to figure out what the cause of the tremors were. But, the pitch black darkness made it hard to discern.
"Go, Diego, go!" I yelled to him. It didn't matter if the other prisoners discovered our arrangement. What's more important is that we survived.
He ran away as fast as a jaguar, ever so careful not to fall into the pit. I turned around and sprinted in the opposite direction. Tripping over sleeping prisoners, I ran toward a faint light in the distance. I kept running until a maddening shade engulfed me.
Did I fall into the chasm that I created all those years ago? Had the giants' hellbeast caught up to me and consumed me whole?
I sneezed! And, for some reason, found myself lying in a cushion in the giants' leisure area inside the fortress. I didn't know how I got there, or what caused me to black out.
Dadier walked slowly toward me with a relieved look on his face. The giant must've knocked me out when he tried to stop Diego and I from congregating.
"Come on, Ledd." He urged me to stand up, as the other giants looked on from a distance. They huddled around the large wooden table, decked with a wide array of delicacies. That's when I knew that it was feeding time once again.
The extremely passionate @ryivhnn has created this magnificent viento-inspired artwork for this story. Close your eyes and picture this masterpiece, as you imagine Ledd soaring to new heights. Please be sure to check out @ryivhnn's wonderful artwork and in-depth logs of her experiences with homeschooling her children. You can also become a patron of hers on Patreon so that you can support her regularly.
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