Chapter 20 - The Free Council

The slaves walked outside of the subway system, and gathered around Krynn, Relik, Tyra, and Kysandra. They gathered in a cleared-out area of street, free of most glass and concrete.

They were there to discuss what to do now. No one really had thought about what they would actually do once they escaped the Order of Vengeance.

Kysandra was the first to speak at the meeting. “Ladies and gentleman,” she announced, her voice cool and collected over the silent crowd, “we’re free.”

The slaves erupted in cheers and applause. Kysandra motioned for a silence again.
“We need to have some sort of organizational structure if we are going to escape a fate like that one again. First we need a leader, since Pulse was killed in our rebellion.”

Someone called out from the crowd, “Kysandra shall be our leader!” Affirmative cheers and whistles were clearly audible. It was obvious that she was the only leader that they wanted.

She raised her hands into the air, and the crowd got silent. Although Krynn, Relik, and Tyra had never seen anyone perform an action such as this, it was obvious that it was used before they were captured to gain the attention of the group.

“What, then, shall we do? Shall we stay here and use the subway system as our own homes? Shall we find homes and rebuild them here on this island? Or should we cross the river, in the hopes of finding out what else lies in this dead land?”

Everyone looked at everyone else, but not a word was spoken. Tyra walked to the center of the circle, and stood next to Kysandra.

She called out to the slaves. “I hereby propose that we cross the river to the mainland. We may be able to find others to join our group, and we can search out exactly what happened when the kryons came.”

People pondered this, but slowly they came to agree with her. Only one person was opposed to the idea: Hylik.

“I don’t believe that this is a good idea. We have no reason to leave this island, that we all know. We have no proof that this place is still dangerous.”
The others rejected this idea, if nothing else because they were curious as to what the mainland had.

Kysandra had one other order of business with the group. She decided that they needed a name. Nothing with the word “Order” would do, as it would stir up too many horrible memories of the Order of Vengeance.

And so a debate raged for about half an hour or so. It was decided that they would be called the Free Council, as they were a group of free people who worked together as one unit.

The Council began the journey towards the river. They arrived there later that day, and looked for a way to cross it. Boats were lined up across the side of the river, long neglected after their owner’s deaths. Looking up and down the river, they saw no signs of pirates or savages.

They climbed into the largest boat, and Kysandra, Tyra, Krynn, and Relik all went into the cabin to see if they could figure out the controls. After a few hours of messing around with the controls, they successfully turned the boat on.

It didn’t take long after that to learn how to move the boat forward. Krynn took the wheel, and Relik served as lookout for pirates and such. In just a few short minutes, they had crossed the river uneventfully.

They disembarked from the boat and looked around at the region that was on the other side of the river. It looked just like the region that they had lived before, on the island of the Old City.

They began their journey in the direction that the sun sets, simply because it was the direction away from the island on which they were. They knew not what would lie beyond the horizon, only that they must expect the unexpected.