A total of fifty sever sorcerers were gathered in Raphael’s house. They were all locked in heated arguments and Raphael was watching them all in quiet contemplation. He briefly wondered why this always happened whenever all the followers of light convened.
He was able to hear fragments of the conversations the sorcerers were having. None of them suspected a thing. Everyone thought he had called them to take out Kalen and Andreas again. If only they knew.
Eric stepped in next to Raphael. “They are so ignorant.”
“I was too until Elisa put the dragon on display.” Raphael sighed.
“How long are you going to wait to tell them?”
“I don’t know… it’s not something you just blurt out.”
The arguments were getting hotter, some sorcerers looking severely pissed off. “You might want to do something soon before they start killing each other.”
Raphael waved his hand over the crowd, blowing a wind that got all of their attentions. “Enough,” he commanded, all his authority carried in that single syllable. “You are all probably wondering why I call you here today, and I can assure you it has nothing to do with the two dark sorcerers that continue to plague us. Something far direr that requires our immediate attention has arisen.”
All eyes in the room were trained on him. He continued without skipping a beat. “The new queen, Elisa, announced that she will stop persecuting sorcerers.”
There was a cheer in the crowd, but it died down quickly as they took in Raphael’s somber expression. “Why is this a bad thing?” a voice from the crowd yelled.
“It’s bad because she has decided to hunt them. She has elicited help from dragon lords. And before anyone tries to claim dragons aren’t real, I saw one with my own eyes. They are very much real, and a dire threat,” Raphael’s voice boomed over the crowd.
“If it’s such a huge threat, what are we supposed to do about it?” a woman from the other side of the room asked. Raphael looked at her as he replied.
“Elisa has given me a proposition: we can join her and the dragon lords in hunting our own kind, and be safe, or we can decline and also be hunted. We don’t have much time to decide, or the offer is withdrawn.”
Random yells came from the group. Some were saying to take the offer, while other declined on moral grounds.
Raphael and Eric shared a look before he silenced them again. “You have to understand, if we agree to join the queen, we’d be hunting and killing other sorcerers, or at the very least be leading the dragons lords to them. We’d be going against our morals to save our own asses. And while that is where I stand on this issue, I cannot make this decision for you. If you want to take the easy, selfish way out, then so be it. But the majority must agree.”
The group of sorcerers started discussing the vote under themselves, and Raphael allowed them minutes of chaos so that they could all make a sound decision. He hope they’d make the right choice, but most of them were there because they had taken the easy way out instead of facing the stake. Only twenty five percent of the group would do the right thing. He hoped they were able to convince the rest.
Raphael and Eric shared another look after several minutes had passed, both filled with dread that the outcome might go against their wishes. “Do you think they’ll make the right choice?”
“I hope so, I really do.”
Raphael turned back to the crowd. “It’s time to vote,” he announced. The crowd stilled, tension thick in the air. “All those in favor—“
YOU ARE READING
Haunting Shadows (Book 2)
Fantasy"What if my sins are all I've become? Will you still love me if the Andreas you once knew is too far gone to ever get back?" Lana had survived burning on the stake, but at what cost? Every time she closes her eyes, she revisits the horror of burning...
