A Magical Scheme

Chapter 9: An Awkward Dinner

Lukas

Before we left for the coven meeting, I pulled Morgan aside as she was packing some more items into her never-ending satchel. "Everything okay?" She asked concern lined her voice. I was always envious of her calm disposition, no matter the situation, she never lost her cool, or panicked, or at least if she did she never showed it. She took my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, "What are you worried about?" she asked. I looked at her face, but not just her face, her eyes. As grey as they were, they were not dull, they were bright and happy and full of excitement. "Nothing, uh, well, what if all of your coven, this Circe woman too, what if they're all in on it?" I asked, a hint of worry striking the last few words. Morgan let go of my hand to cup my face, "Worry not Lukas, we have a plan for a reason, everything will go according to it, and it all corresponds with the information Nora told us, we can trust her." I nodded, pressing my forehead against hers as I took a deep breath. We stayed there, frozen in time like that for a few long moments. Calm and isolated, like nothing could touch us before we decided we had to leave. It was time to enter the wolf's den, wearing a very little pair of sheep's clothing.

Morgan

The coven meeting didn't start for another few minutes, but Nora and I arrived early. Circe's house was as grand as usual, however, I failed to locate Felix as we made our way into the dining room and took our usual spots. Circe was twiddling with her hair as we sat down, and she spoke softly when leaned towards me to say, "Morgan, it's good to see you doing well, I'm sorry about what happened to your home, how unfortunate." I took a deep breath. How would she have heard about my cottage so fast? Does she know about the hunters? I released my worries with an exhale of a sharp breath, and continued to keep my eyes on the table around me. More members of the coven were beginning to appear and I recognized the familiar faces of the tiny Sister Lucy followed by Sister Samantha. I began to wonder how many of them were sided with Cassandra. Nora spared me a nervous glance as Cassandra walked into the room, the twins as matching guards by her side. Cassandra immediately shot Nora a hateful expression before flashing me a glorious smile. I nodded to her before turning back to Circe. "Welcome, my children. It's so wonderful to see you all doing well in these dark times. Unfortunately, there's been some dark developments lately, involving the witch hunters. It appears that they have begun attacking and imprisoning witches left and right." Before Circe could speak anymore, Cassandra stood up from her seat. "With all due respect, I believe it is time to stand up, to fight, to kill the witch hunters!" A few witches spoke in agreement and suddenly the table exploded in loud conversation. Statements of "Yes we must!" and "It's about time!" flew about the table in a frenzy. I decided it was time and stood up from my seat. "High Priestess, you must listen to reason. This is anarchy- the hunters haven't done anything wrong, in fact, it was a witch." Cassandra- still standing- spoke in a hurry, "That doesn't make any sense, who would dare-" She was cut off by Nora before she could finish, "Oh shut up Cassandra, you killed the human children, you killed the sisters who didn't share your views- you caused all of this chaos!" Cassandra was taken aback, shock covered her face. Circe stood, "Raven, is this true?" I nodded. "Sister Catalina told us the whole thing." "That-that's impossible, she's dead," Cassandra spoke, immediately realizing her mistake. Morgan heard Circe grit her teeth as she stood, "The only one who knew about Sister Catalina was Sister Morgan." Cassandra was shaking, but that didn't stop her, "Sisters, listen to reason, our "High Priestess" would rather we hide in cowardice while our sworn enemies seek to exterminate our entire race. She'd rather we abandon our homes and run away, like bugs. But I don't see bugs here, I see warriors, an army of the strongest witches, led by a coward." After she finished, I saw a few heads nod in agreement, a few sisters even stood up to join her. I spied Linda and Annabelle whispering about, I inhaled sharply, she was starting a coup. Circe spoke, "Cassandra! How DARE you speak about your coven, and your high priestess like that?! I hereby banish you-" Suddenly a shot of lightning hit Circe and she flew backward into the wall. I turned to see Sister Cassandra responsible, her eyes wild with power. "Cassandra stop, stop this at once! Don't you see, you're hurting your fellow witches!" I shouted, but Cassandra was reluctant to listen to my words. "If you shall not join me, you will be against me!" She yelled, and before she could strike at me she was hit with a gust of wind that I saw was from Sister Nora. Nora and a few others walked towards the wall Circe was currently slumped against, and suddenly, the room was divided in two, it was sister against sister, witch against witch, and me against Cassandra. As I readied my spells and faced the angry witches on the other side of the room, I just hoped Lukas's plan was working out better than mine was.

Lukas

Of course, I had faith in her. And her plan. But I will admit, I did have a few worries when I first heard the fighting, but I maintained my duty. Catalina and I headed toward the house, and to make sure no other witches or creatures of any kind found them Catalina went about setting up magical wards. Catalina was spreading a powder-like substance on the house perimeter, while I stood guard out front. Most of the coven was already inside, a few had left when the fighting broke out, so they had only just decided to put the wards up. l put my bag down and took out the crossbow- I needed to be prepared for anything. As I clipped the crossbow on my back I heard a familiar voice. "Don't pretend like you know how to use that thing, boy." I looked up to face the nasty grin of one Julia Starheart, behind her stood her brother, as well as Wendell Smith and Charlie Stilken. They stood just inside the property, right in front of the tiny little gate. "Quite a place them witches got here," spoke Wendell, "It's a shame we'll have to burn it all down." I flinched. Burn it down. A hot ball of anger grew within me, "You might want to leave now- while you still have all your limbs." I retorted, stalling in hopes of Catalina's return to the front of the house, she must be halfway through the backyard by now. Before I had time to grab my crossbow Julia came running towards me, she twisted her arms, daggers in each hand, and managed to slice both of my shoulders. I delivered a powerful kick to the chest and clutched my shoulders, too much blood. I ripped the crossbow off my back and shot an arrow in her leg, but I failed to notice Jonathan behind me and he kicked my legs out from under me, as he snatched the crossbow out of my hands and put a knife to my throat. "Twins, take care of this traitor. Wendell, let's handle the witches." Charlie said, however, before they could advance forward a wall of fire stopped them, and Catalina revealed herself, now standing where her line of magical powder had stopped. "Looks like there are some party crashers." She said, a hint of excitement in her voice, giving me the opportunity to kick Jonathan off of me and grab my bow. Julia was still on the ground clutching her impaled leg, "Catalina, the line-" She shook her head, "I'll finish this, I just need you to hold them off." I nodded, and shot an arrow at Wendell, he simply raised his sword and deflected it- but I figured it was worth a try. I threw the crossbow on my back and reached for the daggers at my sides. Wendell charged while Charlie stayed back, shooting off arrows here and there, and the battle began. "Wow, looks like newbie might actually have some skill, I should complement Ed, oh wait, he's dead." Wendell mocked me as I swiped left and right, slashing here or there, however, Wendell was very precise with his blade. Within a few minutes, I discovered that where I lacked in skill, he lacked in endurance. He was beginning to slip up. It gave me the perfect opportunity, and when he hesitated for just a moment I slashed his hand that held the knife and brought mine right to his heart, "You'll be able to tell him now." I quietly whispered as I sank the knife deep into his chest. I released the knife from my grip and watched as his body fell. Charlie released a shout of anger and I felt someone pin my arms behind me. "How dare you, you filthy traitor," Jonathan spoke into my ear, I could taste the anger in his hot breath, and I struggled to free myself, Charlie approached me, Julia was able and standing now, I spotted her out of my peripheral vision. Charlie raised his sword and opened his mouth, "I am going to gut you like-" But he couldn't finish. A rod of ice pierced through his chest, and I felt Jonathan's grip around me slip, giving me the chance to deliver a hard elbow to the throat and spin around to face the twins. Catalina joined me and faced Jonathan. "I'll get the witch bitch, you take the traitor." Julia nodded to his words and pulled a whip from her back belt. Catalina gave me a look of courage as she went about facing Jonathan.

Julia let the whip go and I jumped up to avoid losing my legs. I reached for my daggers and felt only one, the other remained in Wendell, whose body lay behind Julia. I cursed myself under my breath as I dodged another one of her blows, I then rolled to the side and threw a crossbow arrow to her left side- causing her to jump far enough to the side that it gave me the opportunity to run over to Wendell's corpse and grab the dagger from his still heart. Before Julia could think to move I threw both of the daggers- a double chance- at her, and when she moved to the right again she avoided the dagger on the left, yet moved right into the direction of the second dagger that sliced her throat. Julia dropped her whip and clasped her throat, she stared back at her crimson hands and fell to the ground the sight of them. "Julia! No!" Screamed Jonathan, his hesitation giving Catalina the opportunity to use the force of the wind to slam him into the ground- silencing him indefinitely.