The trio unites

Zain wondered why Zelta would be crying now. She had already quit crying about her late mother, why would she continue again, thought Zain, maybe she had been thinking about her mother.

"Zelta please stop crying, you're making me want to join too. And perhaps, crying can't bring her back, it just cages you in pain, remember?" said Zain, but Zelta cried the more.

"It's okay, I'm here, Alec and Tobin are here too, we've got you," said Zain.

"That... That's not it, Gideon's dead. Gideon is dead, and there's nothing I can do to bring him back. And it's all...all my fault," said Zelta with a raspy voice, sniffing her watery nose continuously.

Zain was short of words now, totally shocked to hear this from Zelta.

"How? I mean, how come, how come you know it, how sure are you?" asked Zain.

There was no further response from Zelta, who continued crying.

Zain went back up, to inform Tobin and Alec, about the current tragedy.

"How is she, can we go in now?" asked Tobin, looking forward to entering the block chamber.

Zain didn't know how to put the words. She was speechless.

"Tobin, I think now isn't the time," she managed.

"Now isn't the time to do what?" asked Tobin, looking confused.

"You look worried Zain, wanna tell what went on in there?" asked Alec.

Tobin was getting impatient, he stepped towards the door, about to enter the block chamber.

"Wait!" called Zain, as he was already on the first step.

Tobin came out to hear why Zain told him to wait.

"What?" he asked.

"It's just... Gideon's dead" announced Zain, her voice turning into a cry.

"She's on the ground there, crying out herself," said Zain.

"Gideon's dead?" asked Tobin.

"I heard that too, that he was beheaded by De voe, but I don't know he was close to Zelta," said Alec.

"He's like a brother to her," said Zain.

As they were still talking, Tobin rushed into the block chamber, jogging down the stairs.

"Zelta it's me, Tobin," said Tobin looking around for her.

As Zelta heard Tobin's voice, she stood up from where she was and came close to the door to see him. As they both set eyes on each other, they couldn't look away. It had been so long since they last saw each other.

"Tobin?" said Zelta, baffled by the sight of him.

"Zelta," replied Tobin, as he gazed at her.

"I never knew I'd see you again," said Zelta, "I never believed you'd come back," she added.

She sniffed.

"Zelta I'm so so sorry, for everything. I'm sorry for cheating on you, I'm sorry for not coming since to say I'm sorry, I'm sorry for your mother's death, I'm sorry for not even coming to comfort you during those hard times, and I'm sorry..." said Tobin, but he was cut short by Zelta.

"But what took you so long?" she asked, still shedding tears.

"When I heard about the priestesses' death, I knew how much pain you would be facing, so I couldn't come because I thought my coming would only open past wounds, reminding you of how I hurt you, thereby causing you more pain. I didn't want you to be broken Zelta, that was why I took it to myself to be isolated from you," explained Tobin.

"But you know very well that I don't keep malice, you should have at least showed up earlier," said Zelta.

"I know I made a terrible mistake avoiding you all this while. I'm sorry," said Tobin.

"Say no more Tobin. I shouldn't be doing this, but I promised someone special that I would, and I don't want to fail my promise. I forgive you, Tobin, I forgive you for everything," said Zelta.

"But I don't think things are still going to be the way they were, I don't think we're going to continue in that path we walked in the past. Right now I'm confused about which path to follow. I'm not ready for that life we lived, I'm broken," said Zelta.

Zain came back down with Alec and saw Zelta standing there.

"Zelta we're all here for you now, there's nothing to be broken for. De voe has my parents, I forgot to say that. I'm going on a mission to rescue my parents from him, that's why I want to unite this unit once more because I'm not certain if I'll be able to do that again. Trust me, I'm going to make De voe pay for everything he's done to us," said Tobin.

"Why does he have your parents, what have they done to him that warrants that?" muttered Zelta.

"Nothing, he just took over the brewery, keeping them locked up there since then," explained Tobin.

Zelta seemed not to be paying attention to what Tobin said. She went back to the dark side of the room and squatted down on the floor, lost in an endless loop of agony and pain.

Zain, Tobin, and Alec came out of the block chamber and headed back to Zain's place.

"I feel so bad for Zelta, she's passed through a lot," said Alec, "First the priestess, and now this Gideon, who you said was like a brother to her," he said to Zain.

"Speaking of losses, how do you guys intend to take on De voe all by yourselves, wouldn't that be genocide?" asked Zain.

"Actually we're not alone, we have a few men," said Tobin.

"A few men? not helping," she said, "De voe's men have more chances over you guys, I think it's time you rethink your strategy".

"I wish I can join in this mission, but I have my father and brother to tend to," she said.

"There's no need to bother yourself Zain," said Tobin.

"Wait a minute, since I can't come with you guys, I think I can still contribute to the mission. To the lab guys, I've thought of a perfect plan," said Zain.

They came to the lab, all waiting for Zain to present her genius idea.

"As I said before, going out against De voe's men like that, would be genocidal. In a situation like this one, when you're out-numbered, you've got to apply more of the brains than the brawns," explained Zain.

Tobin and Alec listened attentively to her.

"Told you she was a genius," whispered Tobin to Alec.

Alec shrugged.

"First, we have to weaken them from the inside. Any idea how we can do that, anything in mind?" she asked.

Alec raised his hand.

"We shoot arrows inside at them from somewhere hidden," suggested Alec.

"Nah that's silly, they'll easily catch you, and when they do, you sure won't like what they'll do to you," said Zain to Alec.

"How about you Tobin, what do you suggest we do to weaken them from the Inside?" she asked him.

"No idea, how about you tell us," said Tobin.

"Come on, just say something helpful," said Zain.

"Alright, I'll try. I don't know, since we're to weaken them from the inside, we might have to actually weaken their body system with some kind of supplement," said Tobin.

"You're making some sense there Tobin. Since they drink from the whine produced at the brewery, we can smuggle in a chemical content, and add it to the whine. A chemical content that would reduce the metabolic activity of the body, and would stop the production of adrenaline, making them unable to apprehend us. They probably would be in a very deep sleep," explained Zain.

"But how do we smuggle it in? The brewery is heavily guarded at all times, with a search team at the gates," asked Alec.

"I do see some men get in with baskets of grapes and vines from the storehouse every day at noon. If we can hijack one of the baskets, maybe we can smuggle it in," said Zain.

"We can also have some comrades, disguised as workers. As many as we succeed in bringing in, we'll distribute the sleep potion, then they'll add them to the whine. Some other comrades would join in transporting the whine to the palace and remain there till they are sure that everyone is down. And once they're all down, we disarm them and clean up," said Zain.

"Sounds easy," said Tobin.

"Yeah it does, but if something goes wrong during the mission, we'll have to switch to plan B, the escape plan," said Alec.

"I better start preparing the potion," said Zain.

She started mixing chemicals and heating them. She added a white power to the liquid in the flask, and shook it vigorously, till it foamed. She took out a white mouse from the mouse cage and put a drop of the liquid in its mouth. She kept it in a separate cage and dropped an hourglass. Before the sand at the top of the glass was halfway through, the mouse fell asleep. Zain recommend the time, did some calculations, added a few pinches of a powdered chemical, and shook. She shared the liquid contents in about a dozen test tubes.

"And it's done," she said, "The collipson sleep potion, works like a charm", presenting them to Alec and Tobin, who had been watching her throughout, without a clue about how she was preparing it.

"Are you sure it's gonna work?" asked Tobin.

"One hundred percent," she answered, "Wanna try it out and see for yourself?" she asked, smiling jokingly.

"No I'm good, I believe it does," answered Tobin, laughing too.