[ WP ] Our cause is righteous and just . We will not falter

`` Our cause is righteous and just!'' Rathna punched a fist into the air, before him three hundred followers did the same, their roar threatening to escape the warehouse but Rathna did not care, his people were ready now. `` We. Will. Not. FALTER!'' He roared, the crowd responded in kind, three hundred voices to his own. Dust fell from the wooden rafters and the flaming torches around the edges flickered. 
 
 Finally the noise died and silence returned, just then a squeaky voice spoke from the crowd in front of Rathna. 
 
 `` What if we do?''. 
 
 Rathna sought the voice and found a man looking up at Rathna on his crate. He wore standard peasant clothing, a tan jacket and rough hessian trousers. His face was dirtied, blue eyes shining like small pools of water on a sunny day but his expression... Rathna could see a complete lack of understanding on the man's face. Rathna opened his mouth to answer but the man continued in a squeaky voice. 
 
 `` What if we do falter? I mean there's a lot of men out there. Men with swords!'' The man's brows were knitted in confusion so tightly that Rathna feared they might be stuck that way. 
 
 Rathna seized the moment before it could slip away. `` Swords?'' He bellowed to the crowd. `` Swords?! We have hope! We have passion! We have strength!'' The crowd roared again. Rathna took a breath to deliver the final part of his rousing speech. He could see his men entering the warehouse from the rear, bundles of weapons in arms. 
 
 `` Well that's all very well, but I'd rather have a sword than hope. Who ever got stabbed with a *hope*?'' 
 
 *He ca n't possibly be this slow? Surely this is a test? * Rathna scanned the crowd, they were still with him and he grasped their desire for freedom and fairness. Rathna laughed as if in agreement with the dumb man, `` What is your name my friend?''. 
 
 The man looked utterly confused. `` Jezzeth.''. 
 
 Rathna returned his attention to the crowd before him. `` Jezzeth says he fears a sword if all we have is hope. I tell you friends, we have more than hope, more than passion, more than strength. We too have swords!'' Rathna gestured to the back of the cavernous room where his men unveiled gleaming piles of swords. The crowd turned and cheered as the metal caught the orange glow in the building. 
 
 `` Well.'' Jezzeth began, his eyes searching the floor for words he had yet to think of himself. `` But they know how to use them, and!'' He waved a finger at Rathna as if chastising a child. `` They have armour. Eh, where's *our* armour?'' Jezzeth turned left and right to the men either side of him. `` I do n't want a ruddy great sword in me!'' Jezzeth nodded dumbly as he spoke, as if reassuring himself. 
 
 Rathna swallowed a sigh, `` Fear not the sword my friends, fear inaction! For centuries our people have obeyed the whim of the elite. Ordinary men, women and children have been killed or worse. Do not let the fears of one man sway you. Take up arms this night and join me!'' Rathna bellowed the words and the crowd roared back but it was a shade of the sounds he had incited earlier. 
 
 `` I'm an ordinary man.'' Jezzeth said, his brows crossing once more. `` I could get killed if I go out there! No, no no. This is stupid!'' Jezzeth looked almost indignant though Rathna figured the man could n't understand indignation let alone feel it. 
 
 Rathna laughed again, a friendly sound meant to endear him to the crowd but they were chatting to each other now, Rathna's control was faltering. `` Friends! Comrades in battle! Take up your arms, and let us show the elite the suffering they have put upon us! Let us end our struggle and be free, free to live our lives!'' There was a murmur of chatter and nothing more. 
 
 `` No, no, no.'' Jezzeth thought out loud. `` It's been nice meeting you Mr Rathna an' all but I'm calling it a night. Wotcha lads.'' Jezzeth smiled and waved cheerily as he made his way to the rear exit. 
 
 Within two minutes the three hundred men that had roared in agreement with Rathna had followed Jezzeth, shrugging and chatting.
