The Blood Witch (The Blood Reign Chronicles Book 1) (48 page)

Jak and the others had been forced to remain in the small cellar the entire time, not only because of the volatility of the city, but also the patrols searching for them. They had been making plans of how they were to get to the witch, and what they would do once they found her.

Luxarn would periodically bring food, along with news of what was happening outside and the progress that was being made. Makeshift cots had been setup to one side of the cellar so Jak and the others could sleep. The cots were not nearly as nice as the feather mattresses had been in the rooms the first night.

Nevertheless, Jak was having a hard time finding sleep as of late, and it wasn’t just the cots. Everything was starting to get on his nerves and he was getting restless and anxious to get out of this small room and find Brigette.

There were only two days remaining until the council meeting. It was still in question as to whether the council would vote in favor of Allysix or not. But if she was able to gain enough support among the heads of the guilds to obtain the seat as magistrate, then it would be much more difficult to reach her to bring her down.

In the past there had been similar disturbances and rioting when a new magistrate was being chosen. They had not been as extreme as it was now and rarely had involved bloodshed or death. But history showed that once the council voted and made their decision official, the majority of the people would abide by it and order would be restored to the city.

It was clear that Benjim and the others needed to act fast against the witch while there was still chaos in the streets. Time was running short and action needed to be taken before the council meeting.

At the moment, Benjim was seated at the small table discussing plans with Nicoldani. Jak was sitting off to one side on his cot, lost in his own thoughts when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Jak supposed it was just Luxarn coming down again with their midday meal.

Luxarn did emerge into the light but was not holding a tray of food. It was then Jak saw two men behind Luxarn. They were wearing the cloaks of the City Watch and when Jak saw them his heart leapt into his throat.
Had the innkeeper betrayed them to the Watch?

Nicoldani noticed the two men at the same time Jak did and the big man sprang to his feet with his sword in hand. Benjim remained sitting but wore a look of dismay on his wizened face.

Luxarn quickly jumped forward waving his hands, “No, No, they are friends. There is no need for swords. They have come to help.”

The innkeeper’s words did nothing to ease Nicoldani in his stance. The big man looked ready to pounce on the two men. But neither of the two newcomers had drawn their swords yet. They however, remained wary and ready to defend themselves, but made no move to attack. Luxarn spoke quickly to forestall any altercation.

“This is Captain Zerran,” the innkeeper said motioning to the shorter, but stockier of the two men.

Zerran had shoulder length black hair with some gray mixed in here and there, and it was tied behind his neck with a leather cord. He was a strong looking man, with the muscles in his forearm being corded and well defined as he cradled his crested helmet under one arm. His full beard was well trimmed and peppered with more gray than his hair. A long scare ran down the left side of his face, leaving his beard patchy around the scare tissue. His deep blue eyes burned with fervor, giving him a fierce and even more commanding appearance.

“Former Captain,” the man interjected with a hint of disdain in his deep voice, “I’m just Zerran now. I’m no longer captain of the Watch.”

“Ahh….….yes, sorry,” Luxarn said with a downcast glance. “This is Zerran; he
was
the captain of the watch until the witch removed him to have her lapdog put in his place. Zerran is a friend and wishes to aid us in bringing down the witch.”

“Aid you?” Zerran said with a raised eyebrow, “we came here with the intent of enlisting your aid. You can help
us
bring down this usurper and murderer.”

“Umm……ahh……yes but……I….” Luxarn stammered.

“Sit, let us talk,” Benjim said, coming to the aid his old friend. “We have much to discuss. I believe we all seek the same goal, and I think we can help each other in bringing this woman to justice.”

The two men cautiously took seats at the small table, leaving Jak to stand. Gin was sitting in the far corner on one of the cots practicing her meditation exercises that Benjim had been teaching her. She seemed unaware that any one else was even in the room.

“We know Brigette is looking for you,” Zerran said curtly. “She has given your descriptions to everyone in the watch with strict orders to bring you in by whatever means necessary.

Well, at the least bring in the boy that is,” Zerran said motioning to Jak, “Brigette seems to want him very badly for some reason. The rest of you she said could be killed if necessary.”

“Brigette?” Jak exclaimed with surprise, “How do you know Brigette?”

Benjim cast a long-suffering look in Jak’s direction, which Jak ignored. Zerran gave Jak a puzzled look before answering, “She is the acting magistrate, the one who is almost in charge of the city now. She is the one Luxarn has been trying to convince us is the Blood Witch,” he finished with a raucous laugh.

No one else was laughing except the other guard who accompanied Zerran, but the man’s laugh was forced and he wore a look of unease. When no one else found amusement in his statement, Zerran cut off abruptly.

“All I know is she is a wench and a usurper. I think she killed Magistrate Jaren, although I can’t prove it yet. But I do want her brought to justice.

Whether she is the Blood Witch or not I seriously doubt. I’ve seen nothing to indicate that she could be the dreaded Blood Witch from the legends,” he chuckled again.

“Rest assured that she is the witch,” Benjim said somberly. “The one you know as Brigette is without a doubt the Blood Witch.”

Jak wanted to protest that Brigette was not the witch, but he thought better of it. He had tried several times and no one would listen to him. Perhaps the witch was somehow controlling Brigette. But that made no sense to Jak either. Brigette had seemed fine when he saw and talked with her in the street that day. It was more likely that the witch had just disguised herself as Brigette. Jak didn’t know any longer and was tired of trying to convince the others, so he kept his peace.

Zerran looked suspiciously at the old man. “And just how do you know she’s the witch?”

“I have lived a very long time and know a great many things. Although there are still a great many things that I do not know. But this thing I can tell you for certain. She
is
the Blood Witch. We have been following her for over a month from where she was released from her prison. There is no doubt who she is. You should be able to see for yourself the amount of unrest and dissension she has brought to your city in such a short amount of time. Most certainly, she is the one responsible for the dead bodies that have been turning up since that is how she feeds her evil.”

Zerran’s face went a little pale as comprehension began to dawn, but he held his composure well. “Then
if….
she is the witch, then all the more reason to pull her down. But if she is really the witch how can we hope to oppose her? Won’t she destroy us like those in the stories that tried to stop her?”

“Not all those that opposed her were destroyed, and eventually they captured and imprisoned her. Now the witch is much weaker than she was at that time, in addition, she does not possess her Staff of Power. The many years of imprisonment have weakened her considerably,” Benjim explained.

“How many of the City Watch do you think you can get to follow you?” The old man asked Zerran after a brief pause.

After a moment of contemplation Zerran answered, “I would say almost a third possibly, if not more. There are many good men in the Watch, and in the city that want to see Brigette taken down as things stand now. If they were to find out she is the witch……..well then I think there could be more. Maybe many more, it’s just too hard to tell who will come when duty calls, and who will run. But I believe we will have sufficient numbers for the task.”

“Good,” Benjim said, “we will need as many men as we can get to restore order once we take her. The witch’s followers will surely rise up against us so we need to be ready when they discover what we have done.

Many of them will most likely flee or hide if we have already captured her. But there are always those that will fight to try and free her. However, we cannot just barge in and take her with a large force. The witch will see us coming and have time to prepare, or possibly flee.

We need to be stealthy, and enter with only a few. I do not believe with the riots in the streets that she has any sizable force inside the manor. We three,” Benjim said motioning to Nicoldani and Jak, “will slip inside the manor, find her, and capture her.

You, along with whatever force you can gather need to be ready once we do, to secure the manor and stave off any attack her followers might attempt.”

Zerran laughed again loudly. “YOU? You three will take the witch? How can an old man, one fighting man, and a boy, overpower the Blood Witch? Here I was worried about not having enough men to face her, not even knowing it was the witch. But now you propose to take her with just the three of you?”

“Looks can be deceiving,” Benjim said with a smile. “It is not sheer numbers or brute force that will prevail against the witch. We have what we need to accomplish the job,” the old man said as he glanced knowingly at Jak. “Rest assured that we will do our part, you just make sure you do yours. But on the off chance we do fail, you need to ensure that the witch does not escape, no matter what the cost.”

Jak was uncomfortable with the whole plan. This old man seemed to think that Jak could somehow defeat this witch. How he was supposed to accomplish that was beyond him.

The planning continued for some time, but Jak stopped listening after a while. He still didn’t know what he was going to do. These men were talking of capturing and possibly hurting or even killing Brigette. They would not listen to him, that Brigette was not the witch.
How could he protect her? What would he do if they tried to hurt her?
He loved Brigette, and he felt the thirst rising in him at the thought of harm coming to her.

He struggled fiercely to control the terrible thirst but it was nearly overwhelming. It took all of his energy to keep from killing these men who where planning on doing harm to his love. He wanted to kill them right now.
How dare they think of hurting Brigette?
The battle with the thirst and the desire to kill these men was so ferocious inside him that he was certain it would overcome him. He couldn’t resist it any longer.

But thankfully, after what seemed an eternity, Zerran and the other man rose to leave with a few last words to Benjim and Luxarn. With the two strangers departure, Jak’s thirst began to subside a bit and he was finally able to bring it under control.

“Are you feeling alright lad?” Benjim asked after the other men had left. “You look pale, and almost as if you are going to sick up.”

Jak swallowed hard, and tried to compose himself before answering, “I’m okay, I think I just need to lie down for a little while.”

That night, Jak’s dreams were haunted once again by visions of Brigette with blood streaming down her face and chest. Sometimes he was killing her, other times it was Benjim or Nicoldani, or even Gin doing the killing. His mother was in his dreams once again, holding her severed head in one hand and chasing him down endless dark corridors. He awoke in a cold sweat, trying desperately to chase the terrible images out of his head. However, dread gripped the pit of his stomach when he realized that tonight was the night they would carry out their plan.

The rest of that day was spent making final preparations. The closer to nightfall it became, the more restless and sick to his stomach Jak felt. He felt lightheaded and out of sorts. All too quickly for Jak, the time came for them to be about their ominous task.

As they were preparing to leave, Nicoldani hesitated a moment at the foot of the stairs before returning to his saddlebags. The big man reached in and pulled out a rolled-up black bundle. It was the one that Jak had found for him at the Vashi camp. When Nicoldani unrolled it, Jak noticed it was actually a tabard and cloak. They were black with some sort of insignia embroidered on the left breast in silver and gold thread.

The big man said nothing as he somberly, almost ceremonially donned them. But when he did, a spark seemed to ignite in the man’s eyes as the garments surrounded him. Jak didn’t know what it meant, but Nicoldani looked even more dignified and dangerous than Jak ever remembered him being.

Nicoldani gave Benjim a questioning glance. The old man smiled warmly as he nodded his head in approval. With the old man’s blessing, Nicoldani’s eyes seemed to turn to blue steel. Pride and confidence appeared to emanate from the giant of a man as he turned and led the way up the stairs and out into the night.

Jak and the two older men made their way stealthily down the dark street. There was still rioting in many sections of town even at this late hour and the City Watch was patrolling the streets. The small party had to be careful to avoid both as they made their way towards the magistrate’s manor where the witch was supposed to be staying. It was late and the streets were dark, except for an occasional light shining through a window here or there. Sometimes torches could be seen far down a street, carried by mobbing people or the City Watch.