Into the Woods (Book 1 of the Nu Arkvine Guild)

Chapter 10: The Nu Arkvene Guild

"I thought you knew where the Hero's Staff was," Moqur growled. His henchmen visibly backed away in fear.

"I-I don't understand," Lyra explained, "Those books told me that it was here. I'm sure of it, sir! Here, let me show them to you-"

"You've already proven me your uselessness," Moqur interrupted, "So, it looks like I don't need you anymore. Now, hand it over."

Lyra looked at him wide-eyed, then her gaze settled on her sister. She nodded and Lyra knew what to do,

"Since you don't need my service," Lyra said, "Then why should I give it to you? Besides, my Lord needs it more than you do."

As if on cue, Lyra's sister attacked Sassassul. Joratis shouted something and soon enough all of his comrades engaged in battle. One, however, was ordered to take the hostages back to the cage,

"In ya go, you little rats," he growled as he shoved Miranda inside. "Rude," she said once he locked the cage and charged

"Alright," Victoria said, "Commence operation get-out-of-cage-and-save-the-day."

("How about we do operation sacrifice-Victoria-instead-of-Max?" "How about no.")

Max went to the edge of the cage and said the release spell, word by word. The cage unlocked and slowly they stepped out of it.

"Ok," Victoria said, "Now all we need to do is distract Moqur long enough for Elizabeta to take the staff and destroy him."

"By the way," she continued, "Nice acting skills, Eric."

"Thanks but you should really give it to Eliza. It was her idea, after all."

"That's true."

Eric thought of the plan that Elizabeta told them while they were still being held in that cage.

"Here's the plan," Elizabeta explained, "When you see the chance I want you to use the release spell to get out of this cage. And after that, you must obtain the Hero's Staff at all cost."

"Easy said than done," Eric said, "I mean, we're surrounded by dozens of guards that can use magic while we just learned about it!"

"I'll protect you when something serious is about to happen. In the meantime,you just need to believe in yourself," Elizabeta smiled, "That's the key to everything."

"Guys," Amber said, "I think that I know something that can help us. You know how Lyra is Moqur's right hand, right? Well, just earlier Lyra and her sister mentioned another person that they're working for. That means that they're not loyal to Moqur whatsoever!"

"And they'll use this time to steal the Hero's Staff," Elizabeta concluded, "Brilliant. Once Moqur has the staff he won't see any use of Lyra so she'll most likely try to escape with it. All right, listen up; when whatever we said happens I want you to use the release spell and get as close as possible to the staff. Then use it to destroy Moqur before he destroys the world."

"Got it," Grace said, "But what about you? What will you do?"

"Oh, don't worry," Elizabeta winked, "I got some friends that'll help us."

"He's just over there," Amber whispered. Currently, everybody was hiding behind several bushes. Moqur was fighting Lyra, the staff still in her hand.

"This is getting heated," Daniel, said, "How are we going to take the staff?"

"Easy," Victoria replied, "Like this!"