Chapter 5: The council.


  Jake had asked for a 'Swords of freedom' council and he had gotten what he wanted. There was no real leader of the camp, they all lived free and all contributed, there was no one who could force the people to attend the council, it was there own choice. Jake hoped that enough people would show up, but more importantly he hoped that there would indeed be people who would join them.
Jake was known and loved by most of the camp members, he hoped that they would trust him enough to join him. Last night Ilumis had tolled him of the horrors the war had brought to the land, he could not let this happen.
Woman and children had been slaughtered because they refused to convert to the Dragon Master religion, Orcs had been killed because the kings found them to be lesser creatures and Elves had to flee to the east to escape death.
All over the land the same thing happened, all kingdoms conducted the same acts. Unaware that this was all put in motion by one single Lord, they thought it had been the Orcs and the 'heretics' that had started the wars, they believed all they where doing was protecting themselves. In secret it had been a Lord seeking to extent his power, he had put all of it in motion. It had been the Lord who had started the wars, it would be the Lord who would 'end' the wars when it seemed fit to him. When all Orcs, Elves and 'heretics', whom he despised more then anything else, where killed he would take the throne and become High-Lord of Agnar.
He knew that if they could explain this to the 'Swords of Freedom' there would certainly be members who would join them, this was why they had fled from the public world in the first place, they felt that the rulers where unjust and cruel, they would not let this happen.
The problem was to convince them that it was true, all they had was the word of Ilumis, even Jake had his doubts.

There where about 15 people at the council, about have of the entire 'Swords of Freedom' camp.
“Do you think there will be people who join us?” Ilumis asked nervous.
“I hope so, from what you have tolled you need more men if you want to even stand a chance to survive, let alone stop the wars.” Jake replied.
“I hope so too, I hope so too.”
They had all assembled round the ashes of the fire, which was no longer lit since the sun had risen two hours ago. Jake saw Conrad and Hay'Arla, who looked healthier then ever before, which was a surprise since she had just exited the world of the dead.
As Jake looked across the circle he saw a few faces he was hoping to see, people of whom he was almost completely curtain they would join them in this battle.
He saw Michael, one of the greatest musicians Jake had ever seen, holding his guitar, he saw Garnas, a ex-knight who had never forgotten his training and was always ready for battle, he saw William a bard who had to run when he written and song a tale about an evil king who enslaved the innocent, the song had many references to the real Lord of his homeland, when the song reached the ears of the Lord he was infuriated and demanded the bard dead.
He looked across the circle some more when he saw Chloe, she must have been the only woman Jake expected to actually join, she was one of the fiercest woman Jake had ever met.
“Greetings, 'Swords of Freedom'! I call upon you help to ...” Ilumis started.
“Hey, man, no need to be so formal.” a guy Jake thought was called Thomas interrupted him.
“Yeah, what do you need?” Chloe asked.
“I... there is a war and ...”
“There is always war, but never a reason for war, if you want us to go to war, you'll need a damn good reason.” Garnas said.
Ilumis continued to tell them what he had told Jake, as he had suspected many of them condemned the wars.
“Now what I ask of you might seem tough, but if you do not act eventually you too will be affected by these wars.” Ilumis tried convincing them.
Seven people stood up, almost simultaneous, Jake saw Conrad and Hay'Arla, Michael the musician, Garnas the knight, William the bard, Thomas and Chloe.
Jake knew that they would fight, These seven had always been the core of the camp, they where the ones who truly believed in the 'Swords of Freedom', they weren't just criminals hiding for the law.

A ship would set sail the next morning to take them across the lake, in the mean time Ilumis spread the news of the wars in hope to get more people to join him, but Jake doubted he would find any. He knew that the seven who had joined them where the ones they needed, the ones that would believe in stopping the wars.
Hay'Arla sat down besides Jake and looked at him “Is it really true what Ilumis said?” she asked.
“I believe so, I don't know him that long, but I don't think he would lie. Thank you for joining us, Arla.” Jake answered.
“I don't really have any other choice, dad says I need to get help from other Wizards, Wizards who will know more of the whole 'Death Knight' thing.”
“But still, ... thank you.”
“Do you think I will become one of those ... cruel 'Death Knights' with no conscious?” Hay'Arla asked.
'I... I don't know, I hardly understand anything of what happened. Ilumis said that in 'normal' cases when a death knight enters the underworld for the first time they exit it, but a soul of the underworld attaches itself to him. It's that evil soul that alters his personality and makes him ... the way he is.
You have come out without an evil soul attached, but Ilumis doesn't know what the effects of entering and exiting the underworld are when you don't have an evil soul attached to establish a connection between the two worlds.” Jake tried explaining not fully understanding the matter himself.
“But Ilumis has entered the underworld with me, he has even done it before, I don't see why it would be any different with me.” Hay'Arla asked scared and confused.
“Yes, but you see he used his own magic to enter it, you where send in by the helmet of the death knights, it's that helmet that allows the two souls to be one and lets the death knights travel trough the worlds of the living and the death, that magic is still in you, but the evil soul is not, he doesn't know what the effect of the magic will be on you.” Jake said finally understanding it himself.

Ilumis had been going through the houses at the lake trying to convince more people for an hour when he sat down at the lake and thought to himself 'what will those seven more do in this war against thousands? Then again I could have gotten nothing out of this journey, maybe these people are special, maybe they are just what we need to win. Maybe that's why the dragons left me here, maybe ...
He was interrupted by Chloe who took a seat next to him and said “ Hey, Ilumis, right?”
“Yes.”
“So you're a Wizard?” She asked.
“Yes.”
“So what you tolled us about much of these wars is true?” she asked.
“Yes”
“Not much of a talker, hey? Well don't worry about it, I'll do the talking then, I'm Chloe by the way.” she said and shook his hand.
“I'm sorry, I'm not really in a good mood, the wars had cost the lives of thousands when I left, I don't dare to think how many more it has cost when I was gone.” he sad sad.
“So this is pretty serious huh? We haven't really have to deal with the outside world much, we've been outlaws and been living on our own, but it what you say is true this will affect us whether we want it or not.” Chloe replied.
“Yeah, I wish it was different, but sometimes you just can't control these things.”
“Well, you have my support, until the final stand, this situation is just the reason  why most of us left our homelands to travel around and join the 'Swords of Freedom' in the first place, I can guarantee that the ones who join you will fight for what they believe as well.” she comforted him.
Ilumis didn't really understand much about what the 'Swords of Freedom' where and why they did it, but it was starting to enfold. From what he understood they where outlaws, either because they where chased from their homelands or because they choose to leave common society themselves, they had formed some sort of independent, self supporting society in these far off woods.

He had been talking with Chloe for a while when Jake came running towards him. “Ilumis, Ilumis! Some people have come for you.”
“What do you mean? Who? Could someone have followed us?” he asked surprised.
“I think there on your side, I saw Orks with them and one of them claimed to be a Wizard.” Jake answered.
“It must be the rebellion.” he said.
“The rebellion?”
“Yes, the ones who escaped the wars and persecution, they joined 'Taranat's Flame'.”
They went to the unsuspected visitors, when they arrived Ilumis immediately recognized them and ran towards the group.
“Eli! What are you doing here? How did you find me? How are things at home? Is the war over yet?” a spur of questions flew out of his mouth.
“Relax, relax. One question at a time.” Eli said.
“What ... Why are you here?” Ilumis asked.
“To look for you.” Eli said.
“How did you find me?”
“I traced your magic to find you.” he answered.
“You can do that?” Ilumis asked surprised.
“You can sense magic being used too can't you?” Eli replied.
“Yes, I can feel it when I'm in a place where magic has been used and I can sense when magic is being used close to me, but sense and trace someone when he is more then five days away is out of my league.” Ilumis said.
“You underestimate your own Magic Ilumis, you always have. Taranat has always said that himself.” Eli said sceptical. “Besides, there is hardly any magic being cast these days, Magic wielders fear to be descovered by the enemy, it is easy to sense when a spell is cast these days.”
“Still not many would be able to sense it from such a distance, it's a gift limited to very few Wizards.” Ilumis said.
“Just you and me, Ilumis, just you and me.” Eli said to him.
“I believe you're mistaken, there are more powerful Wizards then me.” Ilumis denied.
“We shall see, we shall see.” Eli replied leaving the matter for an other occasion. “Things are not well, Ilumis, not well at all.”
“They have gotten worse since I left haven't they?” Ilumis asked.
“It has begun, the wars are no longer the problem, far from. There has been a 'union' formed, a union to kill all Orcs, Magic wielders and 'heretics'.
As suspected, the future High Lord is behind this.” Eli said.
“Do you know who it is?” Ilulmis asked excited.
“No, but what we do know is that time is running out on us.” Eli answered.