AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She disappears into the cavern, and the circle of light with Isala’s image disappears as though a bubble has popped in the night. Overmaster turns to us. His eyes are burning red, and when he speaks his voice cracks. “That right there was the work of the witches. We separate, we attack from all angles. We do it now because Isala is not going to give us a chance to get Lucianna back; you and everyone here knows that.”
We all know he speaks the truth after listening to Isala, and there’s not one of us wouldn’t lay down our life to get our future queen and master Trentino back safely to their home.
Chapter
Twenty
Itake hold of Angel’s arm as she transports us close to the Campania region border, where our fierce masters set out four days ago. One day I will learn from the others how to transport and to do many things, but today, it is enough to get to where we are going without delay.
We hover behind an old tree that looks like it’s been there for centuries itself, it’s trunk massive and round, providing the perfect cover for the two of us as we investigate our surroundings. A bird swoops from the tree, annoyed with our presence, causing a flock of other animal activity around the crown of the tree. Animals who were probably settled into the tree for the night and disrupted from a sound sleep.
I touch Angel’s shoulder as a flicker of light catches my attention through the dense foliage of the dark dead trees that have not yet shed their leaves. “Look. You were right; Isala is using the witch’s magic.”
She nods, and a pixy-like woman walks from behind the cover of another tree. Angel greets her with a long hug. “Thanks for coming, Raven. This is Tansia, the one I told you about.”
Raven smiles at me but doesn’t dawdle with any cordialities. “I’ve been watching Isala. The witches set her up with aprojected image; they’re doing it from the top of the mountain cavern. The others aren’t far off. Master Romano came with me and went to join them while we deal with this.”
Angel gives her a look. “Okay, witchy girl. What have you got up your sleeve? Whatever it is, Tansia and I are in.”
Raven pulls out a long wand from her black skirt. “You can’t beat the witches at their own game, without the power of magic. Not with the number of shifters in force that I felt as we were transporting into the woods. “Isala took Lucianna with her. We watched it as we first got here. Here’s what we need to do,” she says, laying out her plan step by step.
Angel smiles salaciously and I nod in hopeful agreement, willing to do anything in my power to help Lucianna. If this works, it will not only help her but also all the witches or shifters who may be under Isala’s spell.
We make our way closer through the denseness of the forest. “I just want to get a good physical look at the lay of the land. So we know what we’ll be dealing with as we come back out,” Angel says, slowing us to survey the land. We’ve not moved more than a few feet when Raven holds out her arms, gesturing us to halt.
She looks up in the tree at a bird whose wingspan is open, prepared to take flight. “Rupius! What are you doing here?”
She doesn’t give the large grey bird with keen narrowed eyes and a pointy beak time to answer without firing another question. “Does Devora know?”
He swoops to a lower branch, leveling his eyes with ours. “We’re here at Devora’s request. Matilda reached out to her and told her Isala and the rogues snatched a bunch of her witches. She thinks against their will.”
Raven nods. “Good, then you can help us, Rupius? Do you think you and your flock can get close enough to the patrol shifters at the base of the hill, cause a distraction and keep them busy?”
His eyes narrow as he looks at Raven, Angel, and me. “Witches and vampires in a quest together. My lord, what comes next?” he huffs, suddenly pecking at a wing. “Go feast on some other host; you’re not welcome here, understand?” he squawks.
“Rupius! Focus.” Raven exclaims.
He turns his grey head, giving another flap of his wings, perhaps a warning for anyone else who had a mind to land on his wings and bed down for the night. “Of course, we’ll help,” he says, causing a ruckus of wing flapping high into our tree and from the surrounding ones too.
Raven looks up.
Rupius sighs. “I’ll settle the troops. They would do anything for Devora and the witches; you know that. They’re just a little up in arms with all the shifters and vampires around.”
Angel rolls her eyes.
Rupius flaps his wings. “Don’t you do that eye roll at me, miss thing. Do you know how many times we’ve been the snack of the night for your kind. Blood is blood, and they swoop in and take whatever they want when they’re thirsty. We can’t be too careful,” he says.
The vampire community doesn’t drink the blood of living people, animals, birds, or any living thing. They haven’t for a very long time. It’s the rogues.”
His eyes widen. “There’s more than one kind of you?”
Raven shakes her head at me. “We’ll fill you in later, Rupius. Right now, if you and your flocks can create a diversion, we’ll catch them off guard and try to get to Lucianna. We can’t waste any more time can you do it?”
He doesn’t even answer, just flies to the top of the tree’s crown, his wings flapping every once in a while, and squawking here and there. All of a sudden a flood of birds begin rustling every crackly old leaf on the tree as they band together, fly outof the large trees, and toward the forest by the basin of the mountain.
Angel turns to me and holds my hand. She breathes in deeply. “Do you feel that sensation, see any visions? Concentrate,” she instructs.
My mind swirls with black depth, small flecks of light infiltrating the pathways in front of me, unsure what I’m supposed to be seeing until it appears.
