A speech

You suddenly turn around and take a few bold steps towards the throng of poorly armed poor people, surprising both them and your comrades by doing so.

“You all think that slavery will end and that your lives will be better after the United Armies take this city, don’t you?” You ask the crowd, and you’re met by enthusiastic cheers from both them and the people looking on from inside the tenement buildings.

“You’re wrong,” you declare, and here you come to the risky part of your chosen strategy, “there’s soldiers coming this way, and they’ll be looking for loot and slaves when they get here, and the bastards leading them are as bad as the ones’ who’ve been running your city.”

It’s at this moment that Leotonis and the others live up to your trust in them by stepping up next to you and doing their very best to look big and mean to keep the locals sedated for a little while longer as you continue with your speech. It’s been a while since you last addressed a crowd, and you’re not really used to audiences not consisting of hardened warriors.

“Now, the lazy bastards who got you in this mess, and who’s fault it is that you’ll see your daughters, sisters and wives **** and enslaved, a lot of them will be able to buy their freedom. They’ll get to keep their freedom while you’ll toil away until you’re all dead.”

“That’s not right!” Someone cries out, but you carry on with your speech, having mustered up the pathos which has ensured that you’re considered a pretty good speaker amongst your kin.

“Now, the first warriors that’ll reach this point will be Galatians, like us, and they’re reasonable men who don’t sneer at people just because they know how to work and don’t douse themselves in perfume. You hand them the East Canal Bridge, and they’ll leave you alone. And if you hand over some lot and some slaves, they’ll gladly stay here and protect you.”

“We have nothing to offer!” Someone shouts out, and this is an indication that they’ve begun to consider your suggestion, rather than considering to try and kill you.

“Of course you have something to offer!” Your mouth cracks into an ironic smile as you pump your thumb into the air behind you, “You have an entire city to offer, with its guards dying on its walls right now.”

“Freedom is the only thing a man has by birth, and he’ll have to fight if he wants to keep. You’ll have to choose if you want to fight for yours.” The brief moment of irony is over, and you’re once more sounding like the epitome of firm determination.

At first, the crowd is silent as they ponder your words, and your hand is resting on the hilt of your sword as you remain prepared to draw it while Calyce stands behind you and your brethren at your side.

“I’ll fight!” one of the poor and downtrodden eventually decides, it’s possibly the same woman who earlier called for the end of slavery, and seconds later someone chimes in with an excited “Me too!”

In all, pretty much everyone seems to have been swayed by your speech, and the crowd has swelled up to number more than fifty people, all of which have thrown away the idea of fighting for some lofty principles in favour of the only thing really worth fighting for; survival.

"A fine speech," Leonitis sardonically praises you, "now what do we do?"

At this point, you have the manpower to charge the East Canal Bridge, should you decide to do it.