Revealing the Truth

Matthias clutched harder around the axe still in his hands. It was like every awful emotion he had ever felt in his life came crashing together making his stomach churn almost painfully. There was the initial shock, then a tinge of fright and bubbling anger. But strongest was the sharp stab of betrayal. He had no idea of how to react to the news. He wanted to speak, but the words seemed to be stuck in his throat.

He had wondered who Lukas was from the very first moment they had met and had become even more curious when Lukas seemed to know everything about the soldier's movements. But the information had given the rebels victory so it had never crossed Matthias' mind that he could be a high ranking officer serving the other side.

"You work for the king" he finally managed to choke out. "Is this why you never wanted to tell me who you were? Because you are responsible for leading attacks against innocent people, burning down their homes, taking their supplies and murdering them as you please." The words seemed to come easier as his anger managed to take over and fuel them. "All this time you were on side with the enemy!"

Lukas was about to take a few steps forward, but stopped dead in his tracks when Matthias lifted the axe threateningly and hissed a sharp "Stay back!"

He sighed tiredly. "If you knew I was in the king's service, would you have trusted any information I had given to you at all?"

They both already knew the answer to that question without having to say a word. "Why would you give me all that information at all?" Matthias asked. "What do you gain from having the rebel force slaughtering your soldiers? Is this some sort of sick game?"

I have already told you I carry no love for the king." Lukas' eyes flashed dangerously as he spoke, but he kept the distance between them. "For a very long time I have hoped to find a way to put an end to both the king and his rule, especially after he demanded to take the villagers supplies by force in order to stock up the capitol for some imaginary war. The first few villages gave up everything they had without much struggle. But then there was Griven. You stood up against the soldiers and even defeated them. That's when I finally saw an opportunity."

"If you really want the king dead, then why haven't you just slit his throat already?" Matthias asked angrily. "If you are as you said his most trusted general, then you should have been able to get close enough to end him yourself and not arrange for a rebellion to march against him. It would have been much quicker and wouldn't have required the death of thousands of innocent people. It's not even certain we will ever make it as far as the capitol."

"I hate the king more than you can imagine" Lukas snapped back, clearly getting frustrated. "If it was possible I would have killed him in an instant without a thought of regret for it. But I would never be able to do so. The reason people call me Trollbunden or spellbound is because I'm bound by magic to do his bidding and I have no choice but to obey his every order until he chooses to release me." He took a couple of deep breaths before he continued. "The king was wise enough to know that when he forces someone to be in his service he has to make sure they can't just kill him to get out of the deal. I can pick up a knife, hold it to his throat, but never actually make the cut."

Matthias snorted and pointed the axe accusingly in Lukas' direction. "If it is really true that some spell is keeping you from killing the king and he ordered you not to harm him, then how are you even capable of giving up vital information to bring him down at all?"

"The spell is very carefully formulated" Lukas replied. "I have to follow his orders word by word exactly. In the beginning the king was very careful with the orders he gave, making sure that was no loopholes to exploit and I was completely trapped. But now, after so many years of 'loyal' service, he has become more careless, probably thinking I had given up. But I am sick of being used and I want my freedom back."

"You can't have been working for him that long" Matthias commented dryly. "You don't look like you can be a day more than 18."

To Matthias' surprise, Lukas began laughing. It was quiet, humorless and sent a shiver down his spine.

"I am a lot older than you think" Lukas said "and so is the king. There is a reason why he rarely shows himself in public. I can't tell you for sure how old he is, only that is a lot older than me and I have served him for 143 years now and in that time he hasn't physically aged a single day."

"143" Mathias muttered to himself, mouth wide open in utter disbelief. "How old are you?" His voice was on the verge of cracking as he spoke.

Lukas shook his head dismissingly. "I don't remember" he confessed and crossed his arms over his chest. "My life before doesn't matter anymore. Too much have happened since then and I'm not the same person I used to be. You can live for a very long time when there is magic in your blood."

Matthias combed a hand through his hair, struggling to wrap his mind around everything; the grip he kept around the axe was getting weaker. "What kind of magic can keep a person alive for that long?"

Again Lukas let out a short, dark chuckle. "In the king's case it would be a very powerful spell keeping him from aging. My life on the other hand is long because I'm not human, but Vette or a forest creature if that is more understandable."

Matthias felt like the entire word was spinning around him, making his vision blur. Standing upright was almost difficult and his stomach churned in complaint. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"I told you ignorance is bliss" Lukas said. "There is a lot of information to accept in a short amount of time and I'm sorry it had to be like this."

"Why did you choose me?" Matthias choked out, His voice finally cracked completely. He could barely stand to look at the Lukas, the stranger, the general and a Vette, whatever that was. Every time he did, it would make his head spin even worse and now the sounds from the camp seemed deafening and he couldn't help to feel like reality came crashing down.

Lukas's expression softened just a bit, he took a few steps forwards. When Matthias didn't show any signs that he would swing the axe at him with deadly intentions, he took a few more. With careful motions he took a hold of the axe with one hand and used the other to loosed Matthias' grip around the handle.

Lukas put the weapon on the ground before he straightened up again. "I chose you because you are young enough to have played any part in the last war. I was a commander back then too and fought side by side with Torleif and many of the others you know. It would have been interesting to explain to any of them how I can still look the same after 15 years. That is if they would have even let me speak if they remembered me. And I saw you fight back in Griven, you risked your life to save that old man. I knew you would do anything to bring justice to the king, maybe even risk trusting a stranger."

"How did you even get stuck in this mess to begin with" Matthias asked carefully. He started fumbling with the sleeves on his shirt now that the axe was out of reach. "Being bound in service to the king for 143 years, that's a very long time."

"A foolish mistake on my part," Lukas sighed again. "The spell was put on me as thanks for my life. The payment turned out to be my humanity and not just a guarantee of loyalty. The work wasn't all that bad in the beginning, when I was still grateful for being alive. It seemed honorable to be a soldier and a lifeguard, but over time it changed. The king become paranoid; his last actions are a good example of that and I have ended up taking the life of many innocent people following his orders. That is something I never wished to do."

"And still you have to keep on doing the job" Matthias commented absentmindedly.

"I have no choice, remember" Lukas replied calmly. "I tried giving myself one last choice once..." He pulled up the sleeve on one of his arms and held it forward so Matthias could see the horrible, white lines going up his arm. "Some guard found me in time and now I have orders not to do anything like that again. Those scars will forever be a reminder of that particular order. I carry another reminder that I will always be under his control as long as he's alive."

He pulled down the sleeve again a reached up to unbutton the first few buttons on his doubled and loosened the string of the shirt he wore underneath so he could pull the garment to the side. Where Matthias expected to see bare skin there was a glowing blue symbol snaking over Lukas' chest. "That symbol is an ever present reminder of the deal I made" Lukas explained, "a signature of sorts."

Matthias kept staring at the mark until Lukas buttoned up the doublet again at it was hidden again. "What am I supposed to do now" he asked weakly.

"You will go back and inform Torleif and the others of the camp you have discovered. There is not really any other option unless you consider running away."

"No way!" Matthias snapped back, finally feeling a bit more like his old self. He had so many thoughts spinning around in his mind, but running would never be an alternative. The rebel group didn't have enough supplies to make it back south either.

Lukas smiled sadly at the statement and smile was gone almost as soon as it appeared. "That's good. You're going to need that determination to survive. I imagine our forces will meet out on the battlefield very soon. Remember that I am the commanding officer for the king's soldiers and I have orders not to show the rebel forces any mercy. Out there you will one of the rebels and I will have no choice but to treat you as one."

He took a couple of moments to let Matthias come to terms with the cold truth. When he didn't say anything, Lukas reached into a pocket and brought out a chain with a small, black crystal attached and held it up between them. "This is a Garnet crystal" he said. "It is said to contain powers of protection and it would set my mind to ease if I knew you would carry it with you."

Matthias snorted and stared skeptically at the crystal. "You are just impossible, you know that. One moment you more or less tell me you might kill me on the battlefield and in the other you try giving me a gift to protect me." When Lukas didn't reply he sighed and accepted the chain.

Lukas stepped back towards his cloak still remaining in a heap on the ground. "Good luck" He said calmly. The emotionless facade was back in place on his face as he donned the cloak over his shoulders and strode to the cliff's edge.

Matthias wasn't sure how to react to what happened next. He had suspected that the other male had an ability to change form after he had seen him vanish, but he had never actually seen the transformation. But now, right before his eyes, Lukas' clothes almost appeared to melt together with his body and his arms morphed into a set of wings. His hair turned into feathers and more continued to appear down his neck, back and what had been his arms. The light color in of his hair and his cloak changed to blue.

Then without warning, Lukas threw himself over the edge and Matthias had to suppress a yell of surprise and horror. He realized he shouldn't have worried when a blue bird flew up and past in direction of the encampment.

Matthias remained still for a few more moments, just watching as the bird become smaller as the distance increased. He realized the chain with the garnet pendant was still clenched in his fist and brought it up before his face to look at again. The light from the sun caught the crystal and it glowed with a deep red color, revealing it was not black like it had appeared to be in the beginning. He considered hurling it off over the edge so he could pretend that this meeting had never happened. But a moment later he was pulling the thin chain over his head and hiding the crystal under his shirt.

He figured it was about time he headed back to the others and shared the news with Torleif. Above him, the sun decided to hide behind a cloud and make the temperature drop even further so his breath came out in white puffs. The axe was still on the ground and he picked it up before heading back in the direction of their group.

Torleif looked relieved to see him and rode faster to meet him. Then he got a real look at Matthias and he frowned in worry. "Are you alright, boy? Did something happen out there? You look as if you've seen a ghost."

Matthias realized he had been deep in thought, probably looking a little distance and had to mentally slap himself to regain focus. "No ghost" he said, trying to sound more confident than he felt. "But I did find out where the soldiers are holding camp. We have to ride back a bit so we can find a way to get lower in the terrain, but we can be able to reach them already by tomorrow if we want to."

Torleif's eyes shone in excitement. "Of course we want to! All we need is a good night's sleep and we're ready to meet them face to face. Finally we can repay the soldiers."

Some of the other commanders seemed to have realized something important was happening and came to join them.

"We have to think carefully about this" Matthias said quickly, before Torleif would let his enthusiasm about taking revenge in battle take control. "From what I can tell the soldiers are expecting to be attacked. Their camp was completely surrounded by sharpened poles to make sure we can't rush them and have our horses trample their camp. And also it is out in the open, they would see us coming from a long distance. We have to be smart about this."

Torleif seemed thoughtful for a moment until his face brightened up again. "I used to be a soldier, remember. In know the importance of proper planning. Tell me, did you happen to see if they had a separate enclosure for their horses?"

Matthias had to think back. "It's hard to say for sure. I spotted them from a cliff and they were pretty far away. But I think there might have been one yes."

"That's how they used to set up camp back in my time too." Torleif smirked fiercely as he looked to his commanders. "Spread the word to the rest of the group" he roared. "We found the enemy and tomorrow we will bring them justice!" Then Torleif turned back to Matthias. "I have a plan that just might work. Ride back to the carts and get Tino, I have a job for the two of you."