Chapter 4
They walked in silence and Ammara pondered on. Viria held a lot of maturity and intelligence that could prove useful when it came to leading operations. Something told Ammara that Viria knew more about manipulating people than she let on, and she wasn’t doing any of it now, unlike before when she managed to gather her squadron and get away with lies when caught after the short fight they had the nights before.
It all felt weird to them. How everything connected so smoothly to each other, and how the victims of it ended up all in one place. As if fate had destined for it to be this way. They were all definitely meant for something bigger.
But Ammara had her eyes on Viria. She was something else and knew the little girl had a bigger role to play than any of them. As a matter of fact, she could already see flashes of the future where she was involved. It wasn’t the prettiest sight, but it guaranteed a lot about her role in the mess.
She was a savior. A snarky foul-mouthed one. Nevertheless, Ammara knew Viria and Ivanna could be trusted. All she wanted was for them to understand that she herself did not take such large decisions like alliances lightly. She definitely wanted to see the other packs and make sure of their well-being. It was news, and a relief that those packs had not gone extinct. Internally, as surprised as she was, she was grateful to the witches, too. They had done more than what was expected of anybody at all. They’d done more than the Elders together combined could have. And it was a great feat.
“How long had you known Morrigan was involved in the activities she was?” Nina asked.
“About five years now,” Ivanna stated. “Around the same time as you found out, maybe a little later.”
“How do you know?”
“The tower she did it in was vacant and unclean, and it all seemed rushed,” Viria explained. “She later cleaned it up with the rest of the High Council to accommodate her rituals. She wouldn’t need to do that unless it was a frequent occurrence. She was well practiced in the arts and the High Council’s whispering gave away enough to deduct the rest.”
“What did you do when you found out?”
“Started reading up on it, obviously,” she stated. “What else could I do? I had to know what I was going up against and dismantle it from the roots. I trained myself under her well and observed her while she trained privately, then forming counters against her techniques. We turned her allies against her with credible evidence behind her back to diminish support systems. Started investigating everyone involved with her, friend or foe. Manipulated, observed, and planned. The only thing that went wrong and started a bigger fiasco was her execution. We wanted to wait until she had fulfilled her debts and promises before overthrowing her.”
“She was after me and I had to get rid of her,” Nina said defensively.
“You managed to keep yourself in hiding very well, and it could have gone on longer,” she retorted. “If you’d done our work, then it could’ve been twice as fast, since almost everyone under her influence knew you. You could’ve easily broken down her barriers and left her isolated. But what’s done is done and we won’t discuss this any longer.”
Nina sighed. “If I agree to help you, then what do I need to do?”
“You come back with us, enter the Inner Circle and claim to take Morrigan’s place she had rightfully and whole-heartedly intended for you. The High Council will be in support of it and you’ll have no trouble getting your hands on the Ritual of Vows. You’ll be put through an initiation in the coming month where you will hand the membership of the Inner Circle to Ivanna and claim to take over as the community head before taking on such a huge responsibility, but I’ll be doing that instead and you’ll be put under very intensive training with the High Council. Ammara, too.”
“I’m sure I can handle myself well just as I—”
“I haven’t lost a duel against Morrigan once, Ammara,” she stated, glancing over her shoulder. “And your witches could hardly take me down, even as part of their High Councils. Also, I let myself get captured for the sake of observation. Everyone needs training and there’s no shame in admitting it. I need treaties with as many communities as I can and straight training an army. It’s important for the rest of the shifter packs to come together with each other. The ones I’ve saved are ready to co-operate.”
Ammara couldn’t argue against her statement. It shouldn’t have been difficult to take Viria down if she was an average witch, but it took four of them and her letting them get her. They walked the rest of the way in silence and out of the territory. Soon past the border with Nina and Kevin left behind it, Ivanna looked at Viria. They’d stop walking.
“Shouldn’t we move a little further?” Ivanna asked. Viria looked around very carefully.
“Where are Yin and Yang?”
“You asked me to leave them at home.”
“Roy?”
“Keeping guard.”
“He’s let someone slip.”
“What?”
Viria’s hand shot up to her face, grabbing hold of a stone that wasn’t there a fraction of a second ago. Ivanna pushed Kalen and Ammara back within the border and they disappeared from the air.
“Don’t let anyone past,” Ivanna ordered and ran back out to Viria’s side.
Viria was on high alert. Marks snaking onto her skin and eyes glowing, she looked around for intruders. She could feel the energies past the trees and ground. There were three people within the foliage, and one was getting strangled by Roy.
A person lunged out of the trees, right at Viria. She easily sidestepped them and they went rolling onto the ground. Ivanna sent a curse flying at them, caging their within an invisible barrier and they wriggled and writhed on the ground struggling to get out. The person was masked, bald, and unnaturally pale.
The other person shot out to defend their comrade and Viria took them down easily by throwing a rock at their head, knocking them out effectively. She wondered why she even bothered using her powers when she usually didn’t use them to take people down. She was trained well in physical combat to need her powers unless she was in grave danger.
But she’d thought too soon. This would need her magic. The person stood up, and although they were masked she could see the charred and falling skin on the top half of their face.
“We have ghouls, Ivanna,” she called out. Viria couldn’t identify the source, but it was most probably the person still behind the trees being strangled by Roy. The snake was soon thrown off and into the clearing, and it slithered hurriedly to Ivanna.
“Their master isn’t too strong,” Ivanna called out. “Go after them. I’ll handle these two.”
Viria took off without another word. The person did not move very far away from the ghouls. They threw a jab at her when she came too close. Viria dodged it easily and moved closer. They took a step back with each punch they threw at her, and Viria only moved out of the way and closer. This was child’s play to her and it was amusing. But she soon grew bored and shot her hand out to grab their wrist and twist it under their arm, eliciting a cry from them.
This was something new to Viria. Ghouls were not yet discovered by the Morbus from what she had gathered, and neither had Ivanna come into contact with any. They were usually hidden underground because they were – obviously – dead. Creating ghouls required recruiting where certain dead were selected from the masses. It was a careful process but Viria couldn’t find books on them anywhere and was close to thinking they were myths if it wasn’t for news of Lucille Cleawer’s acquaintance with Morrigan. She hardly knew anything about them.
“Wait, wait,” they choked out. “This wasn’t an intended ambush.”
Viria let go of their neck and let them fall. They rolled onto their back and she placed a foot on their chest to make sure they made no sudden moves to attack.
“Take your mask off,” she ordered with no emotions to spare. The person reached for their black mask and pulled it down. Viria did not flinch away, but observed with curiosity. She did not want to ask questions to make sure she did not unintentionally offend them.
The person was definitely male. Skinny and bony, it seemed like he would shatter under his foot. Half their jaw was blackened and charred, their skull peeking through the flesh and meat, half a set of yellowish teeth on display. The rest of their face was all right, but their skin was extremely pale. Grey eyes sat sunken into their sockets, staring back at her sullenly. Dead. No blinking. She could smell the death off of him clearly and knew there was no trace of life except an alternative source that allowed them consciousness and intelligence.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Mitch,” he said.
“You’re a ghoul.”
“Certainly am, Ms. Viria.”
“How do you know me?”
Ivanna came through the trees, dragging two lifeless bodies with her as they groaned dumbly and moved their limbs about sluggishly with no context.
“They just fell,” she explained and Viria nodded, asking her to let go of them.
“They’re ghouls.”
“No way.”
“I’m still here,” the guy said meekly.
“Shh,” came a harsh reply from Viria who turned to Ivanna. “Change of plans? I could go figure everything out from here while you take the two and head on.”
“Are you sure you’ll be okay alone? We won’t know anything about you from here on.”
“I’ll be okay.” Viria smiled. “Put a locator spell on me. From the way he smells, they shouldn’t be far off. The mud on his shoes comes from the South. Plenty of rivers and lakes there. Pine trees, too.”
“How did you know that?” the ghoul under her foot demanded.
“Can it, you corpse,” Viria hissed as she pressed her foot onto his chest. He grunted in pain but held his composure.
“They were not in the Morbus files,” Viria said. “I need to make sure they haven’t been discovered. The next thing you know those guys are forcing them create immortal armies.”
“All right, then.” Ivanna nodded. “I’ll be off. Take care of yourself.”
“Definitely.”
Ivanna gave the three ghouls a wary onceover before leaving. Viria waited until the sound of her footsteps had disappeared. She looked down at the ghoul, Mitch, and sighed.
“What was the purpose of this ambush?”
“I – I mean, we – need your help. This was just a test to see if it really was you that we’d come across,” he explained carefully. “My pack. Our cemeteries are being invaded.”
“I take it you must’ve known about me to come to me like this,” she observed. “Take me back to your people and we can have a discussion?”
“You won’t hurt or expose us?”
“I have packs of other kinds under my protection,” she revealed, “so if you’re in trouble then you’ll have to come with me to a safer territory. We have bigger troubles to deal with than harming others and something tells me you’re going to fall into the same problems I’m trying to tackle.”
“The Morbus, you said,” he recalled, “I’ve heard their name at the cemeteries.”
“Well, fuck.” Viria sighed looking up at the canopies. “It was a shot in the dark, dammit. Get up and take me to your pack. Now.”
Ivanna led Kalen and Ammara away from the boundary as she explained what had happened. The couple weren’t sure if it had been a good idea letting a child go off alone.
“She’s been alone for most part of her life with only animals to keep her company,” she explained, “and she’s been more than okay with it. She learned how to make use of her powers simply through dreams. She’s a firm believer of Jung’s collective unconscious theory more than of magic.” Ivanna chuckled lightly. She looked back to see a confused Ammara and Kalen.
“I…” Ivanna trailed off. “I suppose you don’t know what I’m talking about. Anyway, she’s seen more blood and battles than most of us and been in plenty of torture chambers for the sake of information. Carried out plenty of assassinations and has been in way more dangerous and precarious positions just to make sure she found out whatever she could to protect whatever packs and communities she could. She’ll be okay.”
“What kind of positions?”
Ivanna wasn’t sure if she could tell them anything without enticing alarm or a possible trigger.
“Well, let’s just say she’s broken enough on the inside to not fear any form of abuse anymore,” she explained, “She has absolutely nothing to lose.”
The expression look on Ammara’s face alarmed Ivanna. “But you guys treated her better than anyone, I swear! I’ve never seen Viria in a better mood until now.”
“That’s her better mood?” Kalen grumbled. “Sarcasm and bitchy attitude?”
Ammara slapped him on the chest and Ivanna laughed. “Yes, that’s her, all right. All she had been was cranky and constantly on alert, leading operations and whatnot and hardly getting a good night’s sleep. It’s safe to say she hasn’t slept well for about…three days now?”
They arrived at a clearing. Ivanna immediately moved to the center, asking the couple to stay back. She moved her hands, and her the tips of her fingers glowed. Marks snaked down her hands and disappeared under her sleeves, reappearing as they climbed over her face. She spun and dropped as she extended a leg and got back up just as smoothly, and a circle had been traced around her glowing green.
“Step inside the circle,” Ivanna instructed. This was not the magic Ammara was familiar with, but she knew it wasn’t dark magic, either. She pulled a suspicious Kalen into the circle. Ivanna turned away from them and continued moving her hands and fingers in precise formation, and light traced itself into the air and symbols came together with each movement. And as soon as they had all blinked, they found themselves in a completely different place.