Witches (The Order)Revised

Chapter 53

Merianna

I heaved a sigh as I closed my eyes and soaked up the rare beam of sunlight. It was a surprisingly clear day for the ever cloudy region, and the perfect time to be outside. The roof of the Order was definitely the most relaxing place to be in my opinion, especially on days like these. Frighteningly high and far away from everything going on yet still within the vicinity in case something happened, but most importantly nice and warm.

Yesterday's discussions were running through my head since we walked out of Noch's office. Almost everyone was there, Fog, Nana Ara, Raska, Jasnine and Councilor Ferina also dropped in for a visit. Luckily Junnie was absent for a change.

Thyrion had shared what he had learned first. He had followed the woman we spotted and slipped into a meeting that the coven held as soon as she got back. It seemed like she was acting as an emissary of sorts, and laid down conditions that she had been tasked to bring back to the coven. It seemed like the conditions were the same as for the previous covens that were also pressured by the Hunters. A child for protection.

The thought made my skin crawl with loathing.

Thyrion had shared that the coven unanimously turned down the offer and planned on getting the Council's help as soon as possible. He noted though that not all of the people in the coven seemed to share the same feelings. It made me relieved that we already had Councilor Ferina's support in this, and that she was taking an active role.

Next I told them about what I saw in the woods. I told them about the dark cloaked man and the Hunter that obviously seemed to be under his command. Talking about the demons I saw around him was a little harder since they were so extremely distorted, but every detail was important. I told them about the charm that the cloaked man placed in the ground, and what I thought it was for after examining it.

Everyone seemed agitated about the information shared and quickly started to throw theories and plans left and right. Plans from evacuating the coven to setting up an ambush for the Hunter horde that would emerge without a doubt. Just remembering the brainstorming chaos made my head throb.

"We have to get the Coven to safety as soon as possible. The Hunters will know about their refusal and will send an army to attack them soon." Councilor Ferina fretted.

"We can't just jump in there and evacuate everyone. The members in the Coven that don't agree with the unanimous vote will without a doubt alert the Hunters in some way. People have lost their confidence in the Council for a while now." Fog reasoned.

"Why don't we then set up a trap for when they come through that Gateway? We don't tell the Coven anything, share false information with them when they contact the Council so no one could alert the Hunters, and then ambush the crap out of the Hunters when they emerge?" Jasnine threw in. It wasn't a bad idea actually.

"But then the members of the Coven that could have sided with the Hunters can easily come out of the village and attack us from behind or give the Hunters new locations to open the Gateway in. Maybe the cloaked man can even open multiple Gateways in the same location." Raska piped up, which gave me an idea.

With everyone's voices flying over my head, I hesitantly raised my hand to be noticed. "Yes Demon Spawn?" Noch said as he pointed to me and everyone else went quiet.

"Why not catch them in a confined warded area then?" I asked like it was supposed to be the simplest thing ever.

"Please explain." Councilor Ferina ordered while looking at me intently.

"Well, if the charm is a marker, why not move it without them noticing and put it somewhere where we have control? We can put a dummy charm in the spot where the real charm is and move the real charm somewhere else. If they open the Gateway in a warded area, they won't be able to open another one outside of that space. Within that warded area, we place an illusion that looks exactly like the path to the village, that way they will run straight in without knowing that they are inside our domain. We can then catch the cloaked man or at least contain him which will make him close the Gateway because he can't fight and maintain one at the same time, no one can. So we can somewhat control the amount of Hunters that come out, and keep ourselves safe from any potential coven witches that would want to attack us from behind. At the same time, a small group can be sent to the Coven to keep an eye on them, and when the attack happens we will be able to pick up who could be possible traitors. They will obviously be in the loop and start getting antsy if they don't see the attack coming that they've waited for. On the other hand it might be possible that the cloaked man noticed me in the woods and might open another gateway in that area again anyway. If that is the case then the group of witches stationed in the village can then evacuate the coven members that are against the Hunters, and detain the untrustworthy ones within one of the buildings. We make our own marker by the village to then travel from the warded trap back to the village for battle. It will then only be a gamble to see how they decide to open a gateway." I said in the silence.