Witches (The Order)Revised

Chapter 71

Merianna

The meeting had gone a lot more smoothly than I had thought it would. Noch had spearheaded the explanation of the infiltration as everyone listened. Jernok only gave his opinion every here and there when he saw a hole in Noch's plans or when he had other concerns.

Seeing the two of them worked so seamlessly together on the plans made me wonder why people were petty enough to let past circumstances get in the way of amazing teamwork. I wondered if it was just a quirk of human nature.

After the meeting was concluded and we were divided up in our respective grounds that consisted of two infiltration and one backup group, we set off through the gateway. Fog had explained that their base was inside a cave system in the face of a mountain. Noch had shipped me into one of the infiltration groups since I was so good and undoing barrier spells. He said that my lockpicking skill could come in handy, even though Councilor Jernok was highly against sending a "child" into the enemy's territory. He shut up once Noch commented that I had once almost completely dismantled all the barriers on his staff though. Apparently accomplishing that was something worth praising, since then he had nothing more to say against my going.

The plan was simple, but it was the best they could come up with considering the location of the base. Since it was inside a vast cave system that we didn't have knowledge about, it would be hard to try and infiltrate from a "back door" since we didn't know if there was one. Not to mention it would be extremely easy to get lost while running if someone caught sight of you.

The plan was to use stealth and speed. The smaller infiltration teams would go first and knock out as many guards and members as possible while locating the area where our main targets would be. Killing the Dark Warlocks was out of the question since they haven't done anything wrong yet and hadn't done anything against us witches either. If we were to be overwhelmed, only Noch, Jernok or Fog was allowed to send a message to the backup teams to charge in and assist. Ela and Zerial would stay close by in the ether and would only act as soon as the demons reared their ugly heads.

Very simple and straightforward. We weren't fighting a war after all, not yet anyway. It was probably also going to be hard for them to fight in the cave system as well since there was a lack of space for their magic circles. We also didn't know how much energy could be inside of the cave system for them to be able to use with precision.

It all made sense to me and everyone else at the meeting, but I couldn't help but have a nagging feeling at the back of my mind. I couldn't see them possibly trapping themselves inside their own base in such a way. Not that Noch and Jernok didn't also have the same concern. All I had to do was knock out as many Warlocks as possible, as quickly as possible.

Actually seeing the mountain base of the Warlocks with your own eyes was much different from only hearing about it. As I was sneaking in the shadows behind Raska, I could appreciate the beauty of the area. I could hear a waterfall on the other side of the mountain, and almost gaped at the scenery of sheer rock faces, small canyons and extending cliff faces that served as nesting areas for local birds. Not to mention that the mountain was surrounded by a dense pine tree forest on all sides. It made me sour to know that the Dark Warlocks had taken over this area, they clearly didn't even appreciate what was around them.

"Entrance up ahead." Raska's voice floated towards us as she came to a steady stop ahead in the shadows.

The rest of the group behind me also came to a stop. I missed having Jasnine with me, sadly she was with Noch, Nana Ara and Councilor Jernok that was heading to the second entrance. The four other members with us consisted of two older Order members and two Council members. It was the Council members that kept making me feel uncomfortable. Sure I was young, but that didn't mean I was going to voluntarily bow out just because they kept giving me "get out of here" glares.