The Ouiums Journey: Hell Broke Loose (book 1)

Chapter 20

"As I said, I am the coven's war planner. I'm glad to have you here with us, Esa, and your friends as well. Welcome back to the coven," said the man, who only just met me, with a weak grin.

Blond curly hair in a neat ponytail, bright amber eyes that shone brightly in the light of the fire next to us, and a tattoo of a small star on the right side of his neck.

You came out of nowhere. I will be watching you very closely.

All the witches in the coven surrounded us, cheering and celebrating the fact that they had ridden themselves from Akin's witches, having me back with them and having the truth laid open before them. I feel their joy, but something inside me still felt uneasy. The wind still carried a silent, deadly omen that I sensed coming closer with each moment.

I looked at Kaspar, Estelle, and Skylar, who stood side by side with me. They were overjoyed the plan worked as it should have. A light chill passed through me when one side of me became heated from the fire, and the other cooled from the night wind.

Together, we are strong. One step at a time, we will overcome this evil.

"It's not the time to celebrate, not yet at least. We have more pressing matters to deal with right now. We need counsel; we need to unite the covens to work with us against Akin. War is at our doorstep now that we took this coven out of Akin's reach."

The smiling faces turned stern in the blink of an eye. They all understood how severe the matter was, and I knew that they would be more than willing to help.

"I agree," Raguel said while being the only one to show any sign of a smile still. "I already have a few selected witches waiting for us in the conference room, but remember, Esa, that what you did here today, as small as it is, is still a victory on its own."

"Maybe, but the fact remains that we're running out of time. We need to go to the conference room," I said more urgently than before.

Leaving things at that for the time being, we headed for the conference room. Being here for the first time was awe-inspiring, but we didn't have the time to admire it. We got straight to business.

"Esa, we need to go visit the other covens. We need to convince them to join us," Skylar spoke up, and I nodded in agreement as he continued. "We need to defeat the dark witches at their covens too."

"You're right, but how can we visit all the covens when we don't have enough time on our hands?" My voice weakened at the thought, and as much as I tried to hold onto the bravery, I had only a moment ago, I could feel the despair from the enormous task before me.

Raguel sighed deeply and smiled a bit more, trying to relieve the tension in the air and said in a deep voice, "Let me remind you you're not alone any longer. You have hundreds of witches now at your command." He gestures with his hand spreading it widely, letting me know that the coven was with me, and now we were all together.

"That may be true, but I will not command. I'm no leader, and witches are not meant to be a tool for war."

Raguel chuckled, nodding in agreement and measured me from head to toe a few times. When he was done, he scratched his head and continued talking as if I had said nothing. "We need someone to call the shots around here; by blood and power, it has to be you, Esa."

I started laughing uncontrollably, and after I calmed down a bit, I said to Raguel in the sincerest way I could muster, "Being a leader to a coven is hell. I think you should lead the coven instead of me."

My reply made him laugh, as well as his companions. Estelle and Kaspar joined in with the laughter and left Skylar and me confused, but we shook it off swiftly.

It would make sense, but am I ready for it?

"How do we reach out to the other covens?" I asked Raguel, leaving all jokes aside. "How can we get there in such a short time before Akin makes his move?"

"It's easy," Skylar replied rapidly. "We get the witches to handle the dark magic spotting. I can train normal witches to use the shield much like I do and spot magic flares with them. We send Ouiums to siphon so they can detect the dark witches hidden in every coven."

"That's all good, but I'm worried about their safety. What if there are too many dark witches?"

Estelle nodded in agreement. "I assume you already thought about that?" She looked at Raguel who grinned in approval.

"We send a delegate of fifty witches, both to protect and go on with negotiations on our behalf. That way, our detection party stays safe, and we can help make new leaders to the covens by signing the treaty. It's the best way to help unite all the covens against Akin, in my opinion."

He looked between Estelle and I, waiting for consent; finally, Estelle responded while still hesitating. "Isn't a treaty something you sign with the enemy, and not your ally?"

Raguel took a moment to sigh and continued with his explanation. "Yes, that's correct," he said and looked directly at me. "But sometimes you need to treat your allies as you do your enemies, to give them what they want, and at the end stand together as under a common goal."

The meeting over, we all moved outside, and the unease grew larger inside me. The more I fought it, the bigger it got and held me back in a painful way that reminded me of what I was fighting for. I lifted my head toward the sky, and the darkness resonated with what I felt within me.

"Can you feel the evil too?" I asked them.

Skylar replied softly, "Yes, a little bit, but it's nothing too serious."

Nothing too serious. Maybe it's not something they can sense the way I do?

It pesters me to think like that, but the thought of it being a possibility feels too real.

Is he suffering like me but being brave? I will not know. Maybe, in time, I would.

I left it behind me. We didn't have the time to think about unnecessary things like that with the war coming, and after a talk with everyone, we chose the parties to visit the other covens. One of the groups included Estelle, and another included Kaspar so that it wouldn't be a picnic. We already knew that, but we sent elder witches with them for guidance to smooth things out a little bit.

After sending them off, I went back to my room, opened the door, and found Skylar sitting in the corner of the room, sobbing uncontrollably. He looked as if he was suffering from excruciating pain.

What's wrong? I hope everything is ok. You do not deserve this.

I freeze while watching him suffering, feeling confused and horrified at the same time from the screams of pain until the only reaction I had was screaming out his name.