His thoughts were distracted by movement off to his left and he froze. They were seventy-five paces or so away and apparently hadn’t seen him. He watched for a few seconds and could see there were three people walking together and not dressed as patrol. This is what he had been looking for, he told himself He took a deep breath and began walking at a normal pace in their same general direction. He angled his approach so that he only grew slightly closer to them with each step.
Jason had closed the distance to less than fifty paces when one of them noticed him, and after a quick word to his companions they stopped and turned to face him.
He took another deep breath and keeping his hands out to be easily to seen, began slowly closing the distance. As the gap narrowed he could see they were in local traveling garb with small packs and no obvious weapons. At ten steps he stopped again. “Good day to you.”
“Good day to you, stranger, what is your business here in the forest?” Two men and a woman, Jason noted and the shorter of the men took the lead.
“Same as yours, I suspect,” he replied in as non-threatening and friendly a tone as he could.
“Just out for a stroll, then?” The shorter man asked.
“Forest is not the best place for a stroll,” Jason countered, “been watching you three for a while and thought it better to make myself known to you rather than you thinking I was following you and create a misunderstanding.”
They spoke in whispers to each other for a minute and then the short one called out, “Might as well join us as walk along side, then,” the man invited.
Jason closed the distance walking casually but watching for mischief. He stopped before the three and guessed that the shorter man was brother or relative to the woman as they had the same color hair and ruddy complexion. The taller man was just over six feet and though he had human ears, his eyes were a bit almond shaped.
“Adam,” Jason proclaimed his name and stuck out his hand in greeting. Jessie, her brother Tom, and her man Alex introduced themselves in turn. By unspoken agreement they began walking and talking in low tones. “So what is drawing you to our destination?” He asked.
“A lot of folks from around here are headed this way. Some say there is a new elf with magic like nothing before and are curious to see this man. He doesn’t hide out in the wood all reclusive like most elders.”
“He is an elder then?” Jason asked as casually as he could.
“What else could he be?” Jessie responded. “Has to be some real old magic out of the mountains to do what folks claim.”
“What folks claim? What has he done?” Again Jason tried to be casual but he was very interested in any information he could get.
That caused Jessie to narrow her eyes at him a bit. “Surely you heard of his thunder and the patrols dropping dead in fear?” She asked, skeptical that he might not have heard the common gossip.
Jason felt his credibility slip and tried to cover quickly. “Everyone has heard those tales,” he said as casually as he could. “I heard there are elves, human and halflings working together making an army to march with him.”
That started a lively discussion on the idea of such a thing and seemed to have smoothed over his lapse. They continued discussing possibilities till they hit the wood. The halflings and human brother and sister walked more quietly in the woods either from respect or that tiny bit of fear that creeps in when a mystery may be about to reveal itself.
Thirty minutes later they were met by a group of four, two humans, an elf and a halfling. There was no real challenge, just a sort of inspection, and Jason was surprised to see a halfling in charge with no apparent resentment. Following the directions, it took two more hours of walking before they reached the camp.
TWENTY-SEVEN
The camp was organized chaos. Jason saw what had to have been nearly three hundred men and women building, drilling and practicing for war. It was an army for sure. He was amazed to see all of them working and striving together. His companions were as awestruck as he was and while they babbled away at the sight, he was thinking.
The Baron’s fear, persecution, and murder, had united the people against him. This is happening so fast! The rebellion must have been brewing for some time, he thought, not even the Baron’s heavy handedness could have fomented such a riot of activity against him. No, there is more than meet my eyes here; they are working together as if they have a goal and purpose. He could certainly understand how all the halflings felt this way and could be so motivated, but the others had separate societies that functioned on their own. No, he corrected himself, the elves are fighting for their way of live, indeed, their lives as well.
But that left the humans. He knew them all too well to suppose they were motivated by good hearts and self-sacrifice. They were the people who, as children, bullied him and called him names.
Maybe not these, he supposed, maybe these were the ones who quietly watched never taking part but never intervening. His speculations ended there as a disturbance on the far side of the camp was drawing everyone’s attention. From the comments and whispers around him this was someone important to them.
“It’s him!” was said more than once. He began angling closer to get a better look at who ‘him’ was. His plan to blend into the crowd was working flawlessly. While many looked up and continued about their work others were closing the distance to see who was at the center of the ruckus.
Jason saw a group of men and a woman - NO! Lissette! Riding into camp. So this is where she disappeared to. He was not surprised that she had fled the Baron to hide amongst the elves. And, as he thought about it, it made sense that she would be involved in the uprising, if that was what it truly was.
He kept his cloak’s hood low, the last thing he needed was to be spotted by Lissette, and moved ever closer making sure he was never standing alone. He watched the young man at the center of things. He was tall enough but didn’t look like an elf particularly. This must be the one from the castle, he thought, the name supplied by the crowd was Daniel, and it was certain all eyes had been on the mystery man.
Jason watched them go into the command tent, or at least that tent was about the right size for a meeting tent, and as the crowd began to thin he found a relatively obscure place to watch from. To his surprise, all but Daniel came out after only a few minutes. The others did not look well pleased, so they must have been sent out. His eyes captured another anomaly. According to the stories, the elf sent back would look human but was really an elf. Daniel looked human and the elves were placing him in the center of their attention, something rarely seen. That aligned with the one called Daniel, but was not, to Jason’s eyes, the real spectacle. The garb of the one senior elf in the group looked more like one of the mountain clans, and it was hard to imagine a mountain elf anywhere near this place.
Stranger and stranger, he thought, are they all uniting? After a few more minutes, Daniel and a big burly human emerged from the tent to talk to the others. Then Daniel and Lissette moved away, and while they spoke in low tones as if discussing business matters, the body language between them was quite clear. Could they be matched so quickly?
Jason’s head was nearly spinning with what he had learned in so short a time. He thought back over the last two weeks and marveled at the changes. Everything was different and his cynical self was laughing at him and chiding him for being so willing to believe what his eyes saw. Maybe that is the crux of it, he thought, they all want to believe there will be change.
He watched the pair chat till they walked back to the big tent, and then he went to find something to do that would allow him to blend in and think.
Calden looked up from the planning table as Daniel and Lissette walked in. “We have the basics of an army that is trained enough for one battle or a lot of small skirmishes. And when I say one battle it needs to be open ground and it needs to be decisive. The rifles will help by scaring the Baron’s men and we can at least prepare our own so the shock favors us
.
We cannot lay siege, we cannot fight a complex battle that relies on timing, and we need the Baron Below to show up as promised.”
“He will,” Henry replied.
No one said anything, but it was clear from their faces that there was more than a little skepticism being shared around.
“In an open battle a lot of people will die.” Daniel said flatly. “On both sides, but I see no way to avoid it.”
Barton agreed, “It is the truth that the Baron won’t come out unless he feels secure or fears that his men may not follow unless he is there to drive them. Either way we are still faced with the problem of how to draw him out.”
The ideas and concepts flew back and forth for hours, until shadows began to grow long and tempers began to grow short.
“We have been at this for hours,” Calden said, “and still we are no closer to an answer. I think we should all try and get some sleep and start fresh in the morning.”
Shortly thereafter they were all seen heading to their tents.
It was a long night for Jason. The ground was hard and the blankets could have been thicker but that was not what kept him awake. It could have been the rustling of so many people trying to get comfortable, sprinkled with a sporadic cough or moan from too livid a dream. In this case it was the fiercest kind of civil war, the kind that rages between the ears with two voices. The fight was over a simple question and threatened to undo the last twenty years of his life. Should he try and help the Baron or should he believe in something?
He was far from naïve and knew that choosing the losing side would be a personal disaster. Loss of status, loss of all he had worked for and put up with, loss of the protective wall he had built around himself, separating him from others of his kind and perhaps all others in general. So what did he have to gain, he asked himself? Why would they trust him? Why would he take such a chance with so little in it for him? Then the other voice would kick in. It didn’t have the harsh tone edged with fear. It was more of a longing for community, to be with others of his kind. It was a desire to just be himself and be accepted for it. He knew he thought of himself as an elf and wondered if he would have avoided all the confusion if he felt human.
All of his deepest fears told him to slink out and return to the Baron, but his needs as a person kept telling him it was time for a change and time to trust others. The rational part of his mind was astounded that these long buried feelings had chosen now to climb back to the surface of his mind. It was only mid-September, but for Jason it was the longest night of the year.
When Lissette and Daniel awoke it was to the sounds of a bustling camp. Alan was waiting outside to guide them to the mess area. Breakfast was plain but filling and no one was heard grumbling at the fare. Daniel could barely keep his eyes from skipping around the camp trying to take it all in. Even in the Scouts, on the big campouts, there hadn’t been so many people assembled in such a space. He was also awestruck that so many were gathering so fast.
The night had been long for him as well. Lissette and he had discussed the situation over and over and had no more ideas than when they had started. To be fair, he thought, we had no more good ideas. There were plenty of strategies and plans but all of them led to a pitched battle and none guaranteed an end to the Baron.
Approaching the meeting tent, they saw a small crowd gathered in front of it. Alan led the way making a break in the small crowd for Daniel and Lissette to pass through. At the center of the small circle was someone sitting on the ground. He or she was enveloped in a cloak with the hood pulled low enough that nothing could be seen.
Daniel looked at Calden who was standing with his arms crossed in front of his broad chest. His face bore a noncommittal expression but his body language was not relaxed. Argon stood just behind the seated figure with sword drawn and at the ready. Barton was standing to the figure’s left, looking reserved but his was also a state of wariness.
“Glad you two are finally here,” Calden said with a hint of impatience, “it seems our visitor will only speak in your presence.”
“Who are you and what do you want?” Daniel asked.
The sitting figure spoke without looking up. “I have come to help if I can, though that was not my original intention.”
Daniel heard a quick gasp from Lissette and felt her grip tighten on his arm to the point of discomfort. Looking at her he could see she was rigid, with eyes wide in surprise or maybe fear. “Jason,” she barely whispered.
“You recognize him, Lissette?” Calden asked.
“I know that voice too well. He is Jason, the halfling advisor to the Baron.”
At those softly spoken words, murmurs spread through the crowd almost as quickly as the point of Argon’s sword dropped to the center of Jason’s back, where the neck meets the shoulders.
Throughout this Jason sat still as a stone. He decided that to be heard he would need the attention of all of Daniel’s advisors, but he also needed to be seen as completely vulnerable and unthreatening and that lack of control was terrifying. He decided that sitting in the open, outside the big meeting tent was the least threatening way to do things and also might peak their curiosity enough to buy him the time to speak. He decided that that time was now.
Without looking up he said, “Lady Lissette, I could think of no other way to introduce myself to your friends and also provide them with reliable witness to my identity. My apologies for the surprise but as you can imagine this is a bit uncomfortable for me as well.”
He slowly moved his hands to his hood and removed it so his face could be seen for the first time. Lissette’s head nodded slowly as if convincing her it was really him - here.
“Why are you here?” Daniel asked.
“I first came to scout. I suggested to the Baron that he should not act in any way till he knew all the facts. There are more rumors floating about you, Daniel and all of this,” he gestured slowly to make sure the sword tip at his back did not overreact, “than I think you realize.
Is it safe to assume you are the one who bored the hole through the Baron’s castle wall?”
“Before you answer him, Daniel, I suggest we move this conversation into the tent where we have a bit more control over our surroundings and spying eyes.” Calden suggested.
Daniel nodded and walked toward the tent. The others followed, including Henry now. They placed Jason in a chair in the middle of the tent and the others gathered in a semi-circle facing him. All except Argon who remained behind him with sword poised and ready to strike.
Daniel turned to Henry and asked, “What do you know about him, Henry?”
Henry organized his thoughts before he spoke, causing the others to have to wait patiently a bit longer than they liked. “I know he is a halfling, I know he has some magical abilities, and I know he has been friend and advisor to the Baron for several years. Some think he was party to the death of the old Baron using his magic to lead to the old man’s death. Some say he is the evil voice in the Baron’s head and behind the terrible things he has done. Some say he hates his elven self and works hard to try to be human but uses his magics to gain power maybe even over the Baron.
This is all what people say and speculate. What I know is that he has been at the Baron’s side since before the old baron died.”
Daniel looked around at the other faces and they were all hard to read. If the elves knew him it was only by gossip and rumor. The humans had spent too much time avoiding the Baron’s grasp as they operated outside his laws. Their opinions were hearsay and reputation. As Daniel looked at Lissette, what he saw was different.
“Lissette, how well do you know him?” Daniel asked?
Throughout all of the talk so far, Jason had been blank faced trying his best to look impassive. But now his fears were more evident. Lissette’s opinion held a lot of sway here and probably his fate. That life-long voice of self-preservation in his head was screaming his stupidity and the other newer voice was mumbling a barely
audible hope.
“I have seen Jason with the Baron for years,” she began very slowly. “He spends more time with the Baron than anyone else. I know of all the rumors and speculations spoken here. He was never abusive to me, but that means nothing. When my father was alive he wouldn’t have dared, after he was killed, and the king gave me to Kleinhurst he was still restrained. What he said to the Baron in their private meetings I was not privy to.”
She had to choose every word carefully. She knew she could condemn him and no one would question her but she was trying to be fair and stick to the facts she knew. Hearing herself she realized how little she actually knew about him.
“Barton?” Daniel asked.
“He’s the Baron’s man for sure,” Barton started. “I know he grew up in the city and probably had it rough as a halfling, but I also know you can’t spend that much time around a man like the Baron and not have some of it rub off onto what was already there. What of him rubbed off on the Baron is also a question.”
Elves- the Book of Daniel Page 25
