Chapter 9

With Veda

Veda swam through the castle halls, trying to find her way to the throne room.

She went down a hall and heard some guards turning while chatting from the other end. She quickly ran into a room to hide. She ended up running into the library.. It was huge.. any book worm would easily get distracted in this room.. "Too bad Darius isn't able to see this.. he'd probably go crazy at these books." Veda said to herself. She started to walk around, getting slightly distracted. She walked up to a dusty bookshelf and looked at the books... The books were all rare spell books.. She was starting to get distracted herself..

Veda was starting to feel out of breath.. She grabbed her Akros flower from her pocket, plucked off a petal, and ate it.

She took a look at the bookshelf and noticed something was wrong.. there was an odd magic aura coming from the bookshelf. Not the regular spell book aura.. it was different.. She started to examine the books by running her fingers along the spines..

She soon found the book that was off.. a black book with the title "How to pull the strings of royalty". She thought for a moment... Then it clicked. She pulled the book until it made a click noise.

The book shelf started to rumble, so Veda took a step back. The book shelf slowly slid to the side and revealed a secret passageway..

Veda stepped into the passageway before the book shelf closed behind her. She took a light from the wall and started making her way down the stairs...

The passageway was dimly lit was was made entirely of bricks.. the steps were rough and webbed. It was obvious no one had been here for a long time.. The sounds of her steps were the only noise in there.. it was eerie..

As she continued, a room came into view. She entered the room and saw all sorts of witchery.. cauldrons, glass bottles full of liquids, both animals dead and alive, plants, and lots of books.. She started to look at everything in the room.. "Rabbits feet... Frog's tongue.. Nail clippings.. all sorts of herbs.. Either this is a disturbing kitchen or the king is a wizard." Veda said to herself.

There were barrels of mysterious objects everywhere. It smelled absolutely vial...

Just then, there were the sounds of footsteps in another entrance.. Veda quickly hid under a desk and behind some barrels after taking out her light...

"Just a little more time.. Then Ellemond will be mine to control! No one can stop me!!" A voice said before cackling loudly. Veda kept quiet and listened carefully to any information she can use.. the voice suddenly stopped cackling.. "Wait... what was the password for the hatch?... Vulmon!!" The voice yelled, followed by stomping out of the room..

Veda stepped out of here hiding spot and started looking around again. This time, she found a hatch in the corner of the room behind some barrels. She went down to open the hatch, but was hit by a magic forcefield instead.

Veda looked around the room to see if there was anything she could use to counter the forcefield. She walked over and started inspecting the table... There were a few spell books and herbs on the table.. She started to flip through the pages and found a counter spell. It seemed simple enough to do..

Veda gathered the necessary herbs and bones in the room before placing them near the forcefield. "Cum hoc magico offero, hoc valefacio." Veda chanted before the forcefield disintegrated. She used an old brick to smash the lock on the hatch open before opening the hatch and stepping in.

To her surprise, the stairs started to go up after a while of going down.

After a while, there was an air patch.. odd.. She followed the stairs up to the air patch and.. She was stunned.. there were cages occupied with different hybrids.. most of the prisoners were Cullodranian and Ellemondian..

"What is this?.." Veda asked the prisoners in disbelief.. "Oh- Please help us!.. The king kidnapped us from out homes and kept us here.. He often experiments on us.." One of the prisoners said. Veda was in shock and disbelief.. was the king that cruel?..

Veda went around and started counting the amount of prisoners in each cell.. the numbers became higher and that stunned Veda.. She started to walk around, searching for Novius' parents.. but no hope.. She then started running around, trying to see if there was anything to release the prisoners..

After a while of searching, someone entered the prison... It was the king.. "I knew I heard something come from here.. You're quite the smart witch. why don't you work with me?" The king asked, stretching his hand out to Veda. "In your dreams. Look what yo have done to these poor people! do you not have a heart?" Veda asked, enraged. The realization hit her.. "Oh lord.." Veda muttered. "What? What is it?" The king asked, curious. "I'm turning into Aine.." Veda said, stunned at the realization. The king just sighed. "You're much more annoying than those brats in the control room.. and that brat on the streets" The king mocked.

Veda was stunned.. did the others get caught?.. are they hurt?.. are they alive?.. A million questions were running through her mind "What?.." Veda asked, looking down with wide eyes.. "What? Did i strike a nerve? were those brats important to you?" The king laughed but was immediately interrupted by a rock thrown to his head. The king fell to the floor unconscious. "If I find out my friends are dead because of your guards.. I will behead you in front of your own family and watch them weep at my feet for mercy." Veda threatened coldly..

Veda walked to his unconscious body and took the keys from his pockets before going to unlock the cells. "Now everybody! leave the room through the the underwater stairs! To the Aexetans in the room, please make bubbles for those who can't breath underwater!" Veda yelled before grabbing the kings hair and dragging him out.