Chapter 12
The darkness was so disorientating that I couldn’t quite make out where I was, and I could no longer feel the ground beneath me. It was almost like I was floating in the midst of the premonition, but in order to work out what the vision was showing me, I had to focus on what was in front of me.
I heard a wide variety of screams that attacked me from both sides. Some were male, some were female, and some came from creatures I couldn’t place. Then flashes of light hit my vision. I saw shots of blue, red, white, and green, so the mix of the lights and the screams helped me see I was in the center of an attack, but the time and place of the battle were both unclear.
Then the premonition softly ended before I picked up on any new clues, and as I tried to piece the information together, the sky appeared above me, and I felt the mushy dampness of the ground beneath my feet.
“My lord,” Samara said. “What did you see?”
“Not much,” I replied. “I heard screams, and I saw bright lights, but that was it.”
“Is it the Elder Lord?” Revna asked.
“Unless we have another opponent against us.” I shrugged. “But I don’t know the time and place of the attack.”
It seemed collecting the artifacts hadn’t stopped the Elder Lord from continuing with his plan, and this was his attempt at ending my army, but I’d sensed something else while in that hazy premonition.
Rage. And desperation.
The Elder Lord was pissed I’d foiled his plans yet again, and now he was moving forward without the artifacts because it was his last move. In his mind, if he didn’t stop me soon, there would be no stopping me.
Too bad for him, the time to stop me had long come and gone.
“So it could be any day from now?” Winnie frowned.
“Um, we may want to think about this back at Scholomance…” Marina said with an uneasy tone in her voice.
“We need to get ready,” Samara said firmly. “We have to--”
“No, really, we don’t have time for this,” Marina interrupted.
I turned to look at the siren and noticed she was staring off into the distance. Marina had her back to us, but as I looked past her, I spotted what she was looking at.
A pack of creatures the size of rhinos had formed on the horizon, and they were headed straight toward us.
It looked like the creatures had caught onto the attack against the swamp wendigo, and they weren’t too pleased with our disruption.
The beasts were so far away that I couldn’t get a good look at them, but they ran with great speed, and I calculated we only had a few minutes before they arrived.
“Marina is right,” I said. “We can discuss this back at the academy. Everyone, hold hands.”
As my women obeyed my commands, I double-checked the vial was still safe in my pocket, and then I took one last look at the stampede before I closed my eyes and transported us back to Scholomance.
I was so incredibly proud of how my group worked together while in The Ebon Isles, and we’d managed to track down the specific creature we were after.
But we didn’t have a minute to spare, and we needed to focus on the approaching war before our time ran out.
We landed safely in the comfort of our common room, and I wasted no time in summoning the rest of my coven to join us, as well as Theodora and Lilith. My mother usually experienced the same premonitions I did, so I hoped that would come in handy when it came to breaking down the clues.
One by one, the women all arrived in the room. Morgana cradled a new book in her hands, Akira and Faye each held half-eaten sandwiches in theirs, and Astrid had been in the middle of pleating her blonde hair. None of them looked surprised that I’d suddenly pulled them away from whatever they were doing, and the coven simply took a seat without saying a word.
“We managed to get the blood from the wendigo,” I said as I held up the plastic vial for all to see. “So, next we need to work on the spell, but while we were there, I received a premonition.”
“I saw the same one,” Lilith said, as I’d hoped she would.
“Was it just screaming and flashing lights?” I asked.
“It was.” Lilith nodded. “I never saw anything else.”
“No, neither did I,” I sighed. “However, I hope we can work on the spell first, and then decode the premonition some more.”
“What does it involve?” Morgana asked as she opened her book. “I don’t know if this will help, but I searched the library while you were away.”
The brunette then wandered over to me with the book in her hands, and I spotted the charm she’d marked with a sheet of parchment. I briefly skimmed over the page and noticed it was a charm about controlling someone’s mind, which was exactly what we were after.
“Thank you,” I said as I placed the book on the table in front of me. “I’m not sure what the spell will involve right now, but I’ll definitely keep this in mind when it comes to creating it.”
“My lord, what shall we do with the students?” Theodora asked. “We need to prepare them for the battle, whenever it may occur.”
“Yes, we do.” I nodded. “I think we should split the students into groups, and we’ll each take a group to work with. We also need to send out messages to the other realms to prepare them for battle, too.”
“And the Hell creatures?” Circe asked.
“I’ll deal with them.” I smirked. “I’ll summon more legions when the time is right, but for now, I’ll focus on the ones at hand.”
“And don’t forget the three little beetles,” Akira snickered. “That is, if they haven’t been trampled on yet.”
“I guess we’ll have to wait and see,” I said.
But then, just as I was about to give my women some commandments, a sharp sensation pierced through my chest once again, and a second premonition took over my mind. I stumbled back against a window, but I was stronger than it was, so I fought against its power and focused solely on the vision.
Fortunately, the premonition was slightly more promising than the last one. As well as the darkness that shadowed my peripheral vision, I spotted landmarks, the height of the sun, and the ground we stood on. There was a stone statue of a person in the distance, but I couldn’t see their face, and the view around me was nothing but rolling, grassy hills. I spotted a vague figure on top of one mound, and although I couldn’t see the figure properly, the height and build helped me work out who it was. The Elder Lord sauntered toward me slowly, but as the angered cries came from my army, the premonition drifted away.
I found myself staring down at the wooden floorboards beneath my feet as the vision vanished, and I focused on nothing but the sights I’d witnessed. The premonition had given me the location of the battle, which was more than I’d had before, but it still didn’t give me a specific day.
“Did you see what I saw?” Lilith asked, which broke me away from my musing.
“The statue and the grassy hills?” I said as I peered up at my mother.
Lilith simply nodded, and then she stared down at her lap as if she was trying to decode the picture some more.
“The sun was high in the sky...” Lilith mumbled. “So that could be tomorrow afternoon, or even the day after…”
“We need to know exactly what day it’ll take place,” I said. “We need to be there before the Elder Lord arrives, and not a minute later.”
“Is there anything else about the vision that could give you the answer?” Vanessa asked.
“And what was the statue you mentioned?” Vesta joined in.
“It was a stone statue of a person,” I replied. “But apart from the position of the sun, I didn’t receive any other clues.”
The women continued to converse amongst themselves as I closed my eyes and envisioned the premonition once again. There had to be something I’d missed, a way to work out when the battle would take place. The last thing we needed was to turn up a day late and potentially give the Elder Lord the advantage of our tardiness.
I focused on the sun for a second, but then I directed my attention to the statue. The stone person was in a suit of armor, and it looked as though they held a shield in one hand. The statue stood on a stone block, and carved into the block was a word.
Dirotall.
At least this gave me the realm where the battle would take place, even though I wasn’t sure why the Elder Lord had picked this realm for our final showdown, but something about that name created a spark in my mind. Something about Dirotall was familiar to me, and something about the statue caused my mind to wander. It felt like the answer was on the tip of my tongue, and I racked my brain for any and all information I had on that particular place.
From what I could recall, Dirotall was known for that statue, but there was more to it than that. It wasn’t just in remembrance of someone, it possessed a hidden quality, but it was this hidden quality that held the final clue I was looking for.
Then it came to me.
I needed to know when the battle would take place, and the statue was offering me the answer.
“Lilith,” I said as I opened my eyes once again. “What position was the statue in when you saw it?”
“Um…” my mother hesitated. “It had its back to us, I’m certain of it.”
“Yes, but if we went to that realm right now, do you think it would be in the same position?” I asked.
Lilith simply frowned, and so did the other women in the room. None of them knew what I was on about, but I was certain someone would catch on sooner or later.
“Which realm is it in?” Theodora asked.
“Dirotall,” I said.
Then a loud gasp came from Lilith, and she looked at me with a smile.
“I get it,” Lilith said. “The statue turns a little bit every day.”
“Exactly.” I nodded. “It works somewhat like a calendar for the villagers, so they always know what day they’re on.”
“But how would you know what day the battle takes place?” Winnie asked. “If the statue has its back to us on the day of the battle, we’d need to know where it sits right now.”
“Yep.” I grinned. “All we have to do is work out the position it’s in now.”
“But…” Beatrix paused. “Do we know how much the statue moves as each day passes?”
“If my memories are correct, the stone makes a full rotation throughout a seven-day week, and the plaque at the front allows you to see which way the statue should be pointing, ” I replied. “I’m unsure if Dirotall shares the same time zone as us, but we’re currently at the beginning of the week, so the statue should have just passed a full rotation.”
“Which would mean it would be halfway through its axis in a couple of days?” Lilith frowned.
“Exactly,” I replied. “All we need to do is visit the statue, work out where it is now in relation to the days of the week, and then calculate which day we’d be on when the war begins.”
I was desperate to take a trip to Dirotall, and I was eager to work out the answer myself, but I knew I didn’t have the time to complete every task on my list. The vial of wendigo blood was burning a hole in my pocket, and I also had the Hell creatures to sort out. With the clock ticking, and with a limited number of minutes available, I knew I needed to send others to complete the task for me.
“Theodora,” I said as I came to my decision. “You need to pick three other women to join you, and then you four will travel to Dirotall.”
“Of course, master,” the headmistress replied.
“Return to me as soon as you have the answer, but you cannot delay,” I added. “You’ll have other jobs to complete when you get back, so be sure to complete your mission as quickly as possible.”
“We’ll do everything we can, my lord.” Theodora bowed her head.
Theodora chose Astrid, Cleo, and Penelope, and then the four women created a circle before they traveled off to their chosen destination. Next, I had to decide who would stay with me to create the spell, and who would assist the students in preparing for the war.
“Lilith, Morgana, and Winnie, you three stay with me,” I said as I pointed to each witch in turn. “The rest of you, you must gather up the school. Vanessa, I need you to get all the professors together and teach the students everything they’ll need to know.”
“You have my word, master,” Vanessa said.
“What do you need us to teach them?” Freyja asked.
“Everything.” I shrugged. “Whether they need to be reminded of certain spells, or even the Elder Lord’s abilities, they need to know everything.”
“Don’t worry, my lord,” Akira said. “We’ll have the army together by the time the sun sets.”
I watched as the women stood from their seats, gathered various items to take with them, and then Vanessa led them out the door. The common room suddenly felt incredibly large and open with just four of us remaining, and I could have heard a pin drop with the silence that took over.
“You three will assist me with the spell,” I said as I took a seat on the couch. “Winnie, I didn’t pick you to join the others because you don’t know the students as well as they do.”
“I understand.” The timid witch smiled. “I took no offence to it.”
“Good,” I replied. “Morgana, I want you to look through that book and see what other incantations you can discover. And Lilith, it could be that I need someone as powerful as myself to channel the spell, hence why I asked you to stay behind.”
“You don’t need to explain your decisions to us, my lord,” she said softly. “We’ll always agree to your terms, regardless of what they may be.”
“Yes, but it’s important you know the reason why I chose you,” I replied. “This won’t work if one of us is confused. Now, follow me, and bring the artifacts with you.”
I slipped Morgana’s book under one arm, and then we each collected the delicate objects as we left the room. I held the Urn of Annihilation carefully against my chest, and I noticed how Lilith had both the Cylinder and the Tiara in hand. I didn’t want to think about what would happen if one of the artifacts broke, so I put that thought behind me and continued walking in the direction of Vanessa’s classroom. Her room held more ingredients than the others, so I knew I’d find everything I needed in one of the vast cupboards.
I heard the footsteps of students running throughout the academy, and the bellowing voice of Vanessa as she brought everyone together. The noise became louder the closer we got to the classroom, but by the time I closed the door behind us, I heard nothing but a muffled wall of noise somewhere in the distance. It gave us the peace and quiet we needed to focus, and I was thankful for that.
“Okay, let’s put the artifacts up here,” I said as I placed the Urn on a table.
Once the objects were safe, I opened up the book to the page Morgana had marked with paper.
“I found another spell on the page before that,” Morgana said as she reached across the table and flipped the page over. “I don’t know if that’s what you were looking for, but it might help.”
I spent a few minutes looking through each spell, and I flicked the page back and forth as I went from one charm to another. Each of the spells had something to do with mind-control, but neither of them included all the elements I was after. I wanted to take the outcome of one spell, as well as the outcome of the other, so the only reasonable way around it was to combine the two spells together.
However, I also had to think about including the artifacts in with that combination, but if I couldn’t do it, then it obviously wasn’t possible.
“Right, here’s what we’ll do,” I said as I stood away from the table. “We’ll position the cauldron in the center of the room, like we did with the portal, and we’ll place the artifacts around the sides. Once that’s done, I’ll combine the two spells together, and the magic from the objects will assist in powering the charm.”
“Okay.” Lilith nodded. “Morgana and Winnie, you can help me move the cauldron.”
“Of course, miss,” Winnie said.
I cleared a space in the center of the room as the three witches carried the cauldron over, and then we moved the artifacts so they created a curved line around the front of the black pot. I set the opened book in front of the objects, and then I placed the vial of wendigo blood beside it. Once those things were in position, the four of us spent a few minutes gathering the rest of the ingredients together.
We required magnolia petals, the saliva of a bat, nightshade, pink sea salt, cinnamon, and the wendigo blood. Then I lit the cauldron with a flick of my wrist, and white smoke drifted gently in the air.
One by one, I threw the correct amounts of each ingredient into the cauldron, apart from the blood, and I heard the satisfied sizzle as the pot held each component. Then I sliced open my palm, and I added a few drops of my own blood into the mix.
“I need you to keep an eye on the artifacts,” I said as I squeezed my bloody palm shut. “I don’t know what they’ll do when I channel their powers, and we have to make sure nothing happens to them.”
As the women nodded their heads, I flicked to the first spell and repeated the incantation printed in the middle of the page.
“Sanguis meus controls,” I said with a firm voice.
Then I returned to the original spell and opened up the vial of wendigo blood as it instructed me to do so.
“Non des potestatem in me, et imperium,” I said as I poured the liquid into the cauldron.
A flash of red light exploded from the middle of the pot, and the wendigo’s rancid stench of onions filled the room. But then the light settled, and I noticed the white smoke had been stained pink as the blood was absorbed. All I had to do now was combine the artifacts into the mix, but I knew I needed to hold the spell steady as every last drop of power left the objects.
I held out my recently cut hand and aimed it over the cauldron. “Interrogabo vos et ego componere obiecti!”
A white light shot from my palm, and as it hit the mixture below, I felt the force that ran through my body. I was connected with the cauldron, but I couldn’t pull away before the time was up.
“Cole,” Morgana gasped. “The artifacts!”
“What are they doing?” I asked as I fought against the pressure in my palm.
“They’re losing their colors,” Winnie replied. “The Tiara is practically white.”
“Good, that means they’re losing their powers, too,” I said.
The pink smoke of the cauldron grew stronger, and it began to seep over the sides like a wave of water. The muscles in my arm tingled, and I felt a dull thump against my palm like the skin was pulsating.
“Keep holding it, my lord,” Lilith said. “The artifacts have almost fully lost their colors.”
I knew the feeling in my hand wasn’t going to leave until I ended the spell, but I also knew the charm wouldn’t have the same effect unless we’d used all of the artifacts’ powers. The only issue came with not knowing when I’d stolen everything the objects had to offer. I hadn’t seen the artifacts in action before, so I didn’t know what to look out for, but I hoped it would have been obvious for us to see.
I must have been in that position for at least ten minutes, and as every second ticked by, the pressure in my hand continued. It felt like a flame had been held up against my palm, but I wasn’t going to let go any time soon. The witches around me continued to give me updates whenever something new happened to the artifacts, and I heard the excitement in their voices as the objects began to break and crumble into dust.
“The Tiara is almost gone,” Winnie said.
“And there’s only half the Cylinder left!” Morgana added excitedly.
The Urn was the final object to break, because it was the most powerful, but it felt like a snowball-effect as soon as one disintegrated. A few more minutes passed before the Urn fully disappeared, but soon there was nothing left apart from a pile of dust and sand on the floor.
I instantly noticed the difference in my body as the new power and the added effects from the artifacts flowed through my bloodstream. It was like a faint vibration buzzed underneath my skin, and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt an aftermath like that. It was incredible, and there was no way to fully describe what was going on inside of me, but I was suddenly eager for the war to begin, and for me to put my new powers to the test.
“Have you done it?” Winnie asked with wide eyes.
“I believe so, but there’s only one way to find out for sure,” I said as I broke the connection between myself and the cauldron. “Once the Elder Lord arrives, I’ll use the spell against a member of his army, and we’ll see what happens.”
“There’s no other way to test it?” the witch asked.
“The spell is far too powerful to test it on anyone who matters,” I replied. “Also, we don’t have the artifacts anymore, so there’s not a lot we can do if the spell doesn’t work.”
“I can’t believe the artifacts are gone,” Morgana said. “And I mean really gone, not just hidden in a realm somewhere.”
“There’s still remains of them on the floor,” I said as I pointed toward the ground. “So that’ll need to be cleared up, but apart from that, yes, they’re really gone.”
The women cleared away the cauldron as I handled the dusty remains, but as we went to leave Vanessa’s classroom, Theodora barged through the door. It seemed to take her a second to recognize who was in the room, and then a bright smile appeared on her beautiful face.
“My lord, I had a feeling you’d be in here,” she said as she walked over to me.
“Did you get what you needed in Dirotall?” I asked.
“We did.” Theodora nodded. “It appears as if the realm runs on the same time zone as us, so the statue will face away from us the day after tomorrow.”
“Excellent,” I said as I crouched down to pick up Morgana’s spell book. “In that case, we must make sure everyone is ready to leave by tomorrow evening. I want us to travel there before the sun rises on the day of the war, and I won’t allow us to be a second later than planned.”
“Of course, my lord,” Theodora replied. “I see the other witches are doing a wonderful job with the students.”
“Good, as they should be,” I said. “But now we need to get the message out to the other realms and academies who offered their assistance. Theodora, I’ll leave it up to you to decide how we get that information out there, but they need to be at the stone statue by the time we get there.”
“Absolutely, I’ll do everything I can,” she replied.
Then I turned to look at the other three women as I decided on their new tasks.
“Lilith and Morgana, I need you to help the others in training the students,” I said. “And Winnie, you need to stay with Lilith and watch everything she does.”
“I will, master,” Winnie replied.
“And what about you, my lord?” Lilith asked.
“I have some other creatures to prepare.” I smirked. “And like Akira said earlier, I need to make sure a few of them haven’t been trampled on.”
Then we all left the classroom and headed in different directions. I let out a deep sigh as I walked through the main doors of the school, and the chilled breeze gave me some added comfort. I was pleased to know the specific day of the attack and to know we had a bit more time to prepare, but there was still a lot to do.
And one of the things on my mental list was to speak to Dolroth and the other Hell creatures.
I wandered around the side of the academy in the direction of the creatures’ assigned building, and then I knocked on the door with a fist, but I didn’t give them the chance to answer before I opened it and walked inside.
“Dark One,” Dolroth said as he stood from his seat.
The rest of the creatures were lounging on their beds, and the giant, Japner, was slumped against the back wall. His enormous body took up the entire space, and he sat with his head bowed so it didn’t smash against the ceiling.
“How have you been finding your accommodations?” I asked as I took the only spare seat available.
“We’ve been fine, master,” the demon replied. “At first, I thought one of us would have started our own war, but that hasn’t been the case.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed three tiny beetles scurrying along the floor, so at least Eldrin, the second elf, and the gremlin had all survived.
“Well, it’s because of the war that I came to see you today,” I said as I relaxed back against the seat. “I received a premonition. The Elder Lord has planned his attack, and I know the time and day it will begin.”
This caught the attention of the other creatures in the room, and Jinx, a demon, and an elf all came closer to hear more.
“Please tell me it’s soon,” the witch said with a hungry look in her dead eyes. “I’ve been itching to get started this entire time, and I don’t think I can last another night!”
“Yeah, we know,” a demon snorted. “It’s all you’ve gone on about.”
“Hey, I have not!” Jinx sneered. “But there’s only so much we can do in this place, so forgive me for starting up a fucking conversation.”
“Nothing wrong with a conversation,” an elf squeaked. “But you were stating facts and nothing else.”
A loud grunt came from Japner, like that was his way of agreeing with the elf, but Dolroth rolled his eyes and stood up to face the room.
“What have I told you about fighting?” the demon demanded. “Sit down, shut up, and let the Dark Lord speak.”
Jinx and the elf let out a few mumbled words, but they were too quiet for me to work them out. Instead, I focused on the real reason for my visit, and I waited for the room to quiet down before I announced my plan.
“The war will take place in a realm called Dirotall,” I announced. “It’ll happen the day after tomorrow when the sun is at its highest, and I need you all to pay attention to everything I say.”
“Of course, we will, my lord,” Dolroth replied. “Everyone in this room will obey your commands, and we’re all aware of the consequences should we step a claw out of line.”
“Good.” I grinned. “Then I need you all to stand up. Apart from you, Japner, because I think that’s literally impossible right now.”
The giant grunted again, but the rest of the creatures all stood from their seats, and even the beetles ran to stand on top of a bed. I would have kept them in their insect forms until the war began, but I needed them to understand everything I said, so it was probably time to change the beings back again.
With a flick of my wrist, a gold mist surrounded the tiny bugs, and the mist grew in size as the creatures returned. Eldrin stood in the middle with the other elf and the gremlin on either side, and all three of them ran a hand over their bodies as if to count every limb and body part.
“Oh, thank you, Satan!” Eldrin shouted as he dropped down to the bed. “My lord, I promise never to disobey you ever again!”
“Good, because we don’t have the time for a food fight right now,” I laughed. “As soon as we arrive in Dirotall, I’ll open a portal to allow the other legions to arrive, and you’ll be in command of them as the war continues.”
I hesitated for a second to allow my words to sink in.
“You’ll aim for the Elder Lord and his army, and no one else,” I said with a stern look. “Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, master,” they all replied.
“Good.” I smirked. “In that case, let’s get started.”