Chapter 8 - ESCAPE (1)

One underling ran in. "We have a situation. A lone wolf was caught spying on us in the perimeters."

"So what? You all let him run off to call the whole pack??" The witch who was in charge retorted. Her eyes bulged as veins popped up on her face. At the vengeful sound of numerous howls resounding through the forest, she had left the shocked little girl beside the headless corpse, climbing up a nearby tree in a zigzag manner

"Absolutely not! Although he managed to kill a few of our top apprentices, he was eventually captured, thoroughly dealt with and killed. But now, it seems like the rest of his pack are on their way. The worse part is..." The underling reported, slowing down at the end of his statement.

"Speak! This is not the time to hold back any information unless you want me to send you to the underworld!" The witch in charge threatened.

"The.. the.. the kids meant to be used for the ritual have all escaped!" The underling replied frantically in a rush.

"What did you say?" The head witch froze dangerously on the tree.

A thud resounded as the underling threw himself on the ground, beating himself up. "Forgive me! Forgive me! It was that boy that was just added. He told me you had ordered for my presence. At first I didn't believe him but he was just...," The underling shivered as he recounted what had happened. How he had been on his way to meet the head witch but had been ordered by the senior witches hidden along the way to draw out the wolf hiding behind a huge rock. He had refused, claiming he needed to get somewhere first but the witches took his response for defiance, tying him up to a tree before they proceeded to have fun with the lone wolf. After breaking loose, he met two worried witches who worked together with him. These witches broke the news to him and he had to run back to the den to confirm.

And now, he was here, breaking the news to the head witch. The news that would definitely cost his head.

"So you're saying you were outsmarted by a boy." The head witch said, with some of her words slithering. She descended down the tree in a snake-like manner, her body almost fully transformed to that of an ugly snake.

"You and your assistants, find the kids and obtain their blood. If this ritual fails because of your stupidity, - the head witch continued, carving a sign on their foreheads with her nails. - then you'll have to explain yourselves to queen mother." She finished, as she carved the sign on the last witch, flicking the blood on her nails off when she was done. "I carved these signs to prevent you from committing suicides or killing yourselves in case you fail. Or you think I'll let you kill yourselves while the queen mother holds me responsible? Ha! No. You will receive your death sentences from the queen mother and I'll let others know how stupidity led to your demise. What are you still waiting for? Bring their bloods back and finish the ritual!"

At her words, the underling ran off together with his assistants. Some of the captive dragonkins sermed to regain their colors on hearing this conversation. These people were the ones who had almost lost awareness of what was going on around them. They've been on a descent to the depths of despair since their children had been taken from them, but now they started harboring hope. Hope that their children escaped the stairs of death. Hope that they're children meets helpers. Hope that their children comes up with a way to get that place before them.

Oh, how fortunate that they didn't reveal this to the witches. Now, they could only pray and hope.

"The rest of you, I believe you all know we aren't supposed to have any opposition or hindrance whatsoever. But war calls, so we must respond. We must kill every wolf we encounter. The news of black witches being very much around must not be made known. It isn't time for the world to receive that news, so we kill tonight!"

The expression of the witches changed, their blood supposedly heating up as they left what they were doing and gathered, transforming into their ugly snake-like forms. On the word of the first witch, they all mounted their broomsticks, flying into the forest where a fierce battle had started between the werewolves and the witches.

"What about these ones?" One witch asked, reluctant to leave the dragonkins. "Shouldn't we get rid of them to ensure they don't escape?" He snarled evily, hovering in the air. The look on his face depicted how he wished he could kill them all with just a thought.

"Just leave them! We'll come back for them. It's not like they're free. You think the head witch is as stupid as you are? The monsters will definitely reach here soon due to the battle, idiot! " Another witch answered, flying close and smacking the head of the former witch. "Oh! I get it now. Since they're chained up, and we can't waste time killing them, why not leave the job to the monsters." The former witch said in devilish delight, laughing as he rubbed his head that had just been smacked.

"I wonder how you're gonna fight Natalie's wolves with that brain of yours. I doubt if you can kill just one successfully."

"Is that a challenge?"

"It is. I heard anyone who is able to present a substantial amount of the heads of Natalie's wolves will be rewarded with a promotion in rank. Watch how I become your senior overnight." The other witch said with contempt, before zooming into the distance to catch up with others, not waiting for a response.

"Hey! Wait! How come I'm just hearing of this?!" The former witch turned in the air on his broomstick, chasing after her.

Back on the settlement, the little girl whose surprisingly smart brain had figured out why her maid was with her in place of her mother, wiped her face with the hem of her dress. But she was still almost blank from having to witness that scene upclose.

Staring at her blood-stained dress, she reached into it, bringing out what her late palace maid had asked her to keep. It was a little bottle made of golden jade. The bottle seemed to contain something and it had a little sealed scroll attached to it. She broke the deep-red wax seal and proceeded to open the scroll, immediately recognizing the ancient draconic words written in it. 'Was this why the emperor wanted her to learn the ancient language?' Was it for this moment? Had they predicted this moment? What was going on?' These questions kept popping up in her mind.

'ANCIENT HIGHLY FORBIDDEN DRAGON PORTAL..'- was written in draconic at the top of the scroll.

As soon as the girl started reading the scroll, a slight change in her aura occurred, as she equally seemed to become possessed by a strange entity. The chains binding her to that spot broke into pieces and she started walking deeper into the forest, never taking her eyes off the scroll. Of course, this drew the attention of the others still in captivity as they called her to help them but she didn't seem to hear.

"That person...seems to be the princess." A captive who had been quiet all this while, noted.

"What?" A middle aged woman returned, taking a break from figuring out how her chains can break after seeing how the girl's chains broke effortlessly.

"Look at her anklets." The observant captive pointed out.

Just when the girl totally disappeared from view, the second captive who had been squinting her eyes to see what was special about the anklets finally saw the royal sign on it before exclaiming, "She's the princess!"