Sinister Secrets

The Caverns Along the Seaboard and The Witch Inside

I shivered against the cold as a brisk wind whipped around me. My gloved hands dug into the snow along the mountain as I pulled myself up. I grunted as I scaled the side of it, moving toward the top. I rolled onto the lip of the cliff, sighing in relief that I'd made it. I stared at the night sky, the stars sparkling above and seeming close enough to touch. It was beautiful. The drums were loud in my ears, but I didn't care, all I cared about were those beautiful stars. I watched the stars bleed into the black background as the drums thumped louder and louder. The tip of the mountain beckoned me onward. I rolled over and pushed to my feet. I was halfway up the mountain when the whisper of male voices carried through the whipping wind close to my ear. I paused, leaning my ear toward that sound, the thumping of the drum taking a backseat. The voices were drowned out like they were too far to hear what they were saying, but close enough to know they were talking. As if they were just a room or so over and being muffled by the walls. I pushed further up the mountain, that harsh wind swiping roughly along my cheeks. I winced at the pain, dropping to the snow as exhaustion filled my body. I stared up at those stars again. The voices, carrying in and out until they took over all together. The image of two men in a room filled with books, a crackling warm fire, and dim lighting beat in and out of view as if I was forcing myself to stay awake, but failing- in and out of consciousness. 

"What are you doing, Eres?" An unfamiliar voice asked.

I whimpered as I focused on the echo that followed the voice. The cold slowly ebbing away, the feeling of the snow beneath me disappearing until it was just those voices. Slowly the image of a dark haired man leaning lazily on a doorframe of that book filled room came to view.

There was no response so I pushed forward.

"What are you doing with this girl? She's not only looking for the Ouroboros and she's not only entertaining the bond, you get that right? There's more to this?"

"I know the legends, Ezra, I don't need you to also reiterate the tales to me.  The witch is enough, trust me."

"I'm just making sure you know that this is different from Reginald and Fredrick. You're not just walking into this with a bond. You're walking into this with something different entirely. You realize what you stand to lose if this goes South, correct?"

"Enough, Ezra. I know what it is."

"That kind of a bond coupled with the fact that she's a Protector is kind of a big deal. Very rare."

The Dark Lord stopped short of his dark haired friend. "Enough, okay?"

Ezra held up his hands in surrender. "Sure, Cousin. Sure."

"I know what you're doing here. I need the Ouroboros. If the Elders use it against the Lands we're all screwed. The Dark can't go through a second takeover like what Reginald had planned and the Light isn't prepared for it at all. What do we do then? Especially since we know we have a chance to stop it. 

"Right, but what happens if it consumes her?"

"Stop."

The cold warning hung in the air between the two men. They simply stared at one another.

"We're not discussing this."

Ezra rolled his eyes as the Dark Lord passed him, searching for something on a bookshelf. Ezra glanced around the vast library, reaching for a glass globe set on the coffee table. He tossed it in the air as he collapsed onto the couch and then caught it as he settled. He peered into the glass and then shook it, displeased with the scene inside. He kicked up a boot on the coffee table while he vigorously shook the globe over and over again.