Witches (The Order)Revised

Chapter 23

Merianna

The next morning I got up out of bed before Doris could get the chance to chase me out again. Nelia on the other hand slept like the dead. After we had another few hours of dancing, singing and drinking - where Nelia challenged me to a drinking contest – I decided to call it a night when she fell out of her chair and onto the floor with the last goblet of wine flying out of her hands.

I had dragged her blubbering butt all the way back up to our room which was an impressive feat, since she could barely stand on her own and our room was on the very top floor which meant that I had to drag her up at least four flights of stairs.

Once we reached our room I helped her strip off her dress and wash off some of the sticky wine that she had spilled over her arms and face. Then I just dumped her in her bed and crawled into my own covers myself.

And this morning, I was on a mission.

I freshened up, dressed for the day, and then flew out of my room towards Noch's office.

I strode with purpose.

My back was straight.

My feet were firm.

My eyes were locked onto Noch's office door the moment it came into view.

My hand landed on the door handle.

I threw the door open with a whoosh.

And nothing...

I frowned.

Noch was known to be in his office during ungodly hours of the day or night. Well, it would usually be him or his doppelganger that might as well just have been him in the first place anyway.

But, it was completely empty.

I looked up towards the top of the bookshelves and saw that no tuft of fur peeked over any of the shelves either.

Frowning some more I strode off towards the entrance of the Order. I marched outside through the double doors and made my way swiftly towards Noch's smithy which was right behind the stables.

I knocked on the heavy wooden door and waited. I didn't hear the clattering of tools being used or the clang that usually came from him beating a block of steel or iron into the shape of something magnificent. I didn't even hear the sound of a cricket chirping inside.

I made a derisive sound in the back of my throat and stormed off back into the building.

I marched towards the kitchen where I heard some people gathering already. It was by no means really early in the morning, in fact it was close to noon now, and if Noch had to be somewhere else, then he had to be stuffing his face.

Or that's what I hoped at least.

I sneaked across the kitchen's hall, dodging feet, elbows and plates. When I finally managed to pop my head into the main kitchen's archway I was disappointed to notice that his annoying frame was nowhere to be found.

Next I checked the pantry. No, not there either.

With a frustrated grunt I whirled around and smacked into something soft and warm. With a yelp I jumped back a step only to realize that I had bumped into Raska's bosom.

"Excuse you too." Raska said with a smirk on her beautiful face.

"What are you doing back here?" I asked her as I closed the pantry door again.

"Me? I came sneaking after you. Clearly you are up to something. You have been doing your own kind of sneaking around this morning and I want to join in on the fun." Raska ended her sentence with an evil leering grin.