Chapter 9

Manol sat in his chambers at the palace. He was rather chilled for someone who had wronged the witches for the longest time. He had outlived many generations of the witches and no one knew which line to trace him back to. He held a silver box in his arms as if he held a child of his. His face had a grin of someone who had everything he needed there. He looked out the window and he smiled. A purplish light came from behind him. He quicklystood up from his chair and bowed down with the box in his hand. "My queen greeting to you." He addressed the purplish light. "Manol, I can't be here any longer. How far long have you prepared?" The voice asked. It was seductive yet commanding. "The reincarnation has been found my queen, after all these years I have finally found her. The witches will come together and when they do I will get all the twelve pieces assembled for you." He reassured the voice. The voice laughed sarcastically. "Finally everything seems to be coming together. Two thousand years of being locked away will finally come to an end." The voice said lauging. Manol smiled at the purplish light with his head bowed down and it disappeared. He stood up and took the box back into one of the drawers. "I have waited for a thousand years to see you come back to life. My father died leaving me with this task and as the witches gather together my queen shall rise." He said laughing as he looked out of the window.

Tarnia went up the stairs to Manol's chambers. She heard him laughing as she approached his chambers. She knocked on his door faintly and she opened his door. Tarnia was beautiful, she didn't really like getting involved in any of the politics between humans and the supernatural. Manol had a dislike for her and so did she for him too. She looked at him and she went on to sit in one of his chairs. "You know Manol for one who should be afraid of the witches rebelling and coming for you mostly, you don't quite seem to be fazed. One would think you actually are loving the turn out of events." The queen asked him suspiciously. Manol went to pour himself some wine as he shook his head in disbelief. He poured wine in the gold goblet and as he was about to drink it the queen took it from his hand into hers. "I see right through you Manol. Oh and I know you are up to something always have been. I will find out and I will crush you with my bare hands." The queen warned Manol who in turn scoffed at her. "You are no friend to the king my queen. You have been in bed with the witches so if I were you I'd watch what I say or do." He threatened her back. Tarnia smiled and took a deep breath. "Very well then, I will be watching my back but so should you." She said as she handed him his cup and left the room. Manol called his eagle bird servant Dionalese. "Dionalese come in here." He called her and the eagle flew into the room transforming in to a young girl. She bowed her head down and said. "You called for me master?" He gave her an order. "Watch the queen closely for me will you. Anything she does I need to know." He ordered her. The girl bowed down and turned back into a bird flying out. The queen was walking down the stairs and she said to one of her servants. "Tell the boys to prepare the horses I need to get to Mirabu Valley." The young servant nodded her head and went out to let the boys know.

The queen got back into her chambers and she began to change her clothes. She took off her royal robes and wore men's clothes underneath servant's clothes. She undid her hair and one of her servants wore her royal clothes. She and the other girls walked out with girl posing as the queen to the garden whilst the queen took a secret passage out of the palace. The queen ran out of the secret passages and she met up with Ron one of her men who had a horse with him. "Your highness, are you alright?" Ron asked his queen. She nodded her head as he helped her up the horse. They rode off to meet the other men who had left the city before them. As they rode off the Manol's spy eagle spotted the imposter in the garden so it hovered way above in the sky over the garden. The queen and her men safely left the city heading towards the valley. The king had dispatched as many men as he could to guard the valley trying to stop witches from going to the valley from the main city as he feared their revolution. Tarnia had befriended many men from the depths of the main city who knew every deep passage in the forest very well. They headed towards the main gate and met up with some of the men who had gathered provisions to give to the witches in the valley. "Is everything set boys?" The queen asked the men around her. "Everything is set your highness." They told her. She put a cloak on and covered her face. "We have to be careful, the king has set his men all through the way to the valley." She told them as she rode off followed by the men. They rode into the forest away from the city together.

It was nightfall when the queen and her men stopped to make camp in the forest. The queen knew potions to keep vampires and werewolves away from them so set up a boundary of it right round the camp. She came back to sit with the guys close to the fire. They were drinking wine and eating meat. The queen looked up to the sky and she smiled. "I used to look up the sky with my mother when I was a young girl you know. It feels like yesterday Ron." She told her about her childhood. Ron had been found half dead by the queen. The werewolves had left him for dead in the woods and the queen had nursed him back to life. He was a lone wolf who had sworn to serve the queen for the rest of his life. He cared for her like his sister. "The night scares me sometimes, I dread the full moon every damn time. To think of the torture I will go through scares me." He told the queen as he looked you the sky too. One of the men came and got hold of the queen's and ran with her in the middle of the circle. "Johnny here will play the flute and my queen will dance with her fellow man." He said laughing and Tarnia laughed as she curtsied to him whilst he bowed to her. He took her by his arm and Johnny began playing the flute. They danced round and round and the other men began singing and clapping hands. The queen ran and grabbed Ron and he joined in the dance. They danced and sang songs together in the circle. The queen's hair was loose and she was laughing and happy. Her eyes lit and she was in a good mood. Ron watched her and he never saw her this peaceful and happy. In the palace she was the queen married to a ruthless and greedy man. Out here she was just Tarnia. Free from any duties. They all laughed as the music stopped and clapped their hands laughing together. This was a bunch who had all suffered at the king and his friends' hand. If it wasn't the king it was either a werewolf or a vampire who had taken something or someone precious from them, the queen was their hope and she treated each one of them like family.

They slept surrounding the fire together and Tarnia watched the men sleep. She could still sense Ron was awake. "I was five years old when my mother was killed right before my eyes Ron. I have never told anyone this but the previous king had led a march in our village. He wanted one to show he was the ultimate power and my mother was there." She said quietly. She woke up and sat up with her knees up and her hands clasping around her knees. "I remember hiding behind a pile of clutter. Watching as the king dragged five witches on the street and with his sword he slew them like they were nothing. My mother fell to the ground and I watched life drain out of her body Ron." She said in tears. Ron didn't move, he could only clutch his fists with anger. She let out a laugh. " I couldn't move then I sat there watching her body on the streets with no one taking them off the streets. It was morning, then day, then night and again morning and I still hid behind that pile. It was only when the governor found me and he took me home that I came back to my senses." She went on to tell him everything in pain. "I remember asking him if he had buried my mother and he told me the vampire Reeva had buried her and the other witches close to the river. He didn't like the sight I was told." She said it as if she felt some sense of gratitude towards Reeva. She let her tears stream down her cheeks as she looked up the sky and Ron didn't say a word to her because he didn't know what to say.