Council

Cora was left feeling furious and helpless. She knew that she needed her son to seek vengeance, so sometimes, she would deal with his temper tantrums. However, these days, he was becoming like this a lot more often. She wanted to find out the real reason.

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When night fell, Ed had slumbered off into a deep sleep. He didn't realize it, but he had kept the window open. Late during the night, Ed woke up with a startle. Loud swishing sounds were coming from outside as though the wind was blowing at a high velocity. He got up from the grass bed and went to close the window when he saw that it wasn't the wind that was making all the noise. Instead, it was the witches and wizards that were flying on their brooms in the direction of the forest that were making the noise. His mouth fell. It was the first time he had seen so many of them flying together.

He watched them with wonder and awe. A knock at the door broke his gaze. "If I were you, I would have closed that window by now."

The old werewolf's statement frightened Ed and he closed the window. He opened the door to see that the old werewolf was standing in front of his room scratching his chin.

"Why are there so many witches flying together? I have never seen this in my entire life!" he inquired with excitement.

"It's a long story Ed…" he said, turning back to his bedroom after having warned him.

"Please, I want to hear it," said Ed. He was so curious. He was all the more curious as to how Grant came to know about it.

Grant began, "The queen of the witches and wizards had gone to the west of the forest to suppress a revolt that had occurred between the wolf clans. Over there, after the rebels were suppressed and brought to justice, the queen found herself falling in love with a wolf. However, the wolf was driven with lust and instead of marrying her, he made her pregnant. The queen was ashamed of her act and never returned to her kingdom. The problem is that the witches and wizards will never get another king or queen unless they find the one that had left them. So they keep looking for her every now and then.

"Last time, a few years back, they had heard that their queen had given birth to a baby. No one knows whether the baby was a boy or a girl. A few days back, a wizard reported that strange magic that only a few amongst them could use was seen from the west side of the forest where there's a large lake that waters the forest soil. Since then, every night, large numbers of witches and wizards fly there to find the evidence of whether this is true or not."

Ed was wide eyed by the time Grant ended his story. His fear about Adrianna's safety increased ten times over. He longed to see her and decided to run as fast as possible back to his cottage once he had met the council members. Grant noticed his anxiety and said, "If you are hiding something, tell them now. Otherwise, they won't spare you."

Ed nodded and without another word, he went back to his room. "Adri, stay safe child…" he said slowly as he fell asleep again, weariness catching up with him.

The next morning, he left to go further north and up the steep snowy slopes.

It took him another day before he reached the gates of the council.

The council was located on a small plateau and was surrounded by huge stone walls from all sides. The gate, which was made of gold, was guarded by witches that were flying high above in the sky. As he walked towards the gate, he could feel that he was being watched. Slowly, without making a fuss, Ed walked up to the gate. There was a huge golden bell hung on the side that had to be pulled to alert the guards about any arrivals.

The guards opened the gate for him. One of them presented him a book, in which he was supposed to sign with his blood. His index finger was taken by the guard and poked by a sharp needle. Ed signed his name using that finger.

He was given entry only after the guard was satisfied with his signature.

Ed entered the large open space that was surrounded by various rooms. There was an eerie silence and no one could be seen. Ed walked to the main hall where the meeting was supposed to take place. As soon as he reached the door of the hall, the doors automatically opened, and he could see that the table in the center was already full of people. He was late and they were waiting for him. He went and sat down on the chair designated for him. At the head on the table was a human, a doctor.