Chapter 7

Narn awoke with a thirst and ache that he found entirely too familiar. His muttered, “The good news is that I live. The bad news is I required Erimbril’s healing spells.” Was heard by others and the conversation that had awoken him ended abruptly as the enterance to the tent was pulled aside.

“Narn! You’ve awoken. How are you feeling?” Galdacil’s first words held all good nature and little actual concern. His huge smile was reassuring to Narn though for only when as was right with the world was Galdacil quite so cheerful. Erimbril entered with the other Fae.

“I will survive. I presume we won from your own cheerful disposition.”

Erimbril nodded, “In a manner of speaking though I do not think it will be more than a momentary respite. Come, we have a council of war planned and you should be there.”

The three Fae sat next to each other at the front of the great Hall, the people of the keep sitting on benches before them, a soft murmur of questioning running through everybody until Erimbril stood and began to speak. “Our respite will be brief. Even now Lord Terimak will have learned of his armies defeat, assuming he didn’t realize it immediately. We can hope that he doesn’t realize the threat that we pose to him.” Erimbril’s words easily filled the room, though he seemed to have not raised his voice at all as he spoke with an easy authority. “From what I can gather he is not one of the original Seven and may not recognize us for what we are. I doubt your former master, or his companions, will have educated their students on an enemy they thought would never be able to threaten them. Regardless if he knows what threat we are, or not, we have no choice but to fight. And neither do any of you.”

Erimbril had immediately taken charge of matters once it had become clear that the besieging army had been defeated. He had quickly gathered all of the former apprentices and had told 3 that they should leave with that army, or by nightfall they would be killed. The others he had told they were now his apprentices and he would instruct them properly later.

Galdacil, recognizing Erimbril’s intent had gathered up all of the warriors and posted sentries. With Weldan’s support he quickly gathered what information he could on their forces and supplies. He also had the wounded, except Narn, moved into the castle and all the prisoners he had freed and fed. Both Fae realized that few here would be able to see right away what was necessary, and the people followed their directions without question.



All of this happened while Narn still slept, and by the time he had awoken the castle had pretty much settled back down. Erimbril had by this time a general idea of the state of affairs and already had his new apprentices gathering all of the former Sorcerer’s books of power. These he locked away until such time as they could be examined. He knew that many dark and dangerous secrets lay within those tomes but he also knew he did not have the time necessary to read them thoroughly enough to find the dangers now.

“What we must do now is determine a plan of action and a chain of command.” Erimbril looked out over the faces before him before continuing, “And we must also explain some things to you.” He turned to Galdacil who nodded in unspoken agreement before rising and taking Erimbril’s place.

“We are warriors of the Fae. We realize that name means nothing to you now. But I can assure you it means a lot to your foes. Our people are ancient enemies of the Sorcerer’s and if we had known of this holding of them we would have come long ago to wipe them from the face of the earth. Unfortunately we did not know of them and only your former Lord’s arrogance has brought us here. We are trapped here though and unable to summon others of our kind. So that leaves us to fight them, and we will do so with or without your help. Understand this, we will not force you. We have not come to replace your masters, but we will aid you and lead you should you wish us to. And we have no intention of losing to them. At the very least though you will be free of their wishes until then. Free to be your own people, and to make your own decisions. But you must decide now whether you will fight with us, or not.” Galdacil stood still as the whispers grew louder. They had started early on in his comments and now it seemed as though everyone spoke at once.

Finally one voice cut through the chatter, “How can we defeat an army of demons? The rest of your words mean little to us for one of the Lords has always held dominion over our people. Only the dimmest of our legends even suggest we have ever been anything but their slaves, and as soon as another of the Lords realize we have none they will move to claim us for their own. How can we hope to defeat them?”

“Demons can die, and they are not proof against magics. Magics I can teach the gifted amongst you.” Erimbril said, ”Others of our magics can provide you with protection and allow your weapons to injure your demonic foes. And many of you live today because of my spells. Those too I can teach you. And if we can defeat this Lord Terimak, then we can gather his slaves into our army and defend each other. Your legends hold a great deal of truth and we can show you how to make those legends real again.”

The same voice replied,“Yes, magics which require our blood. We know plenty about magic and the price of it.”

Angry mutters and calls accompanied these words until Riulan’s voice surprised everyone. “Their magics do not require blood to operate. At least not the ones of healing. For I have seen them myself.”

The mutters stopped immediately and whispers began again amongst the assembled people. Weldan’s movement brought silence to the room as quickly as Riulan’s words had halted the anger before. “We have no real choice in the matter since we will either be killed or forced to fight if we don’t aid you. What will you have us do?”

“We must organize our forces then. Weldan, I am told you are well respected, so I will put you in charge of gathering togethor what troops still survive from the army here. And identifying those who are capable of fighting. Erimbril will organize the apprentices he has kept, ones he believes will not betray us to the Sorcerer. And Narn, his skills in stealth and the woods are probably the equal of any of your hunters. We will give him those of the fighters who we know to be good with bows and stealth. And he will begin locating our enemy and providing us with the information we need to really begin planning.” Galdacil’s eyes looked out, “We can and will win this fight. And when this one is done we will continue on to the next. My people have never rested while a single of the Sorcerers still lived and I don’t plan to change that now. You are fighting for more than your lives. So let’s get started.”

The room erupted with buzzing converation as well as questions at that. Galdacil turned to the other two and smiled grimly, “Let’s hope we can deliver as promised.” The other two stood with him, all three joining hands between them as Erimbril spoke, “As in we’ve fought side by side, so shall we stand.”

Riulan’s voice carried to the three at that point,“And we shall stand with you, if you will let us.”
As the three turned they saw that Riulan stood there, Weldan at her side, along with several other of the humans. “We never expected to survive the battle let alone find ourselves free of the Sorcerers. We don’t want to go back to that if we can help it.”

The Fae looked at them for a moment before Erimbril’s smile broke the silence, “You won’t if you stand with us. Come, we have much to do. And you lady Healer, have much to learn as the first of my new students.”