Somewhere in the woods, in a secret hideout underground, a group of mysterious figures were standing around inside a stone hall that was lit up with oil lamps. All of them were wearing black hooded robes that were both large and long, hiding not only their appearances but their body shapes as well. A large fire was burning in the middle of a raised stone platform, causing the hooded figures to cast flickering shadows on the walls.
"It has been a month since we hatched the plan, and things have gone smoothly so far. With the King of Megaris leaving the palace as expected, we can start moving to get that new queen."
The voice of a woman came from the hooded figure whose hands held a long wooden staff which had a shining black orb at the top of it.
"Is it truly going smoothly? Did we fail to get an understanding of her strength? What if she is powerful like the previous queen? Are we by ourselves enough to deal with her?" a male voice asked this time.
The woman let out a chuckle. "Did you just compare that little girl in a veil with that witch, Evanthe? Surely, you must be joking."
The hooded man let out a cough. "I am merely being careful, though, of course, the possibility of that is none. It's good that Evanthe has gone missing, and her son has brought something useful to us. That witch's presence wouldn't have made this easy for us…"
"You're rambling," a gruff voice cut him off. Another man, who had the same kind of long staff as the woman, stepped forward as he stared at the others. The man and woman wielding long staffs were the leaders of this mysterious group. His gruff voice echoed within the underground hall.
"Our spies, the humans we have planted in the palace as servants, have observed that new queen, and from the various tests we performed with her hair and her other belongings, we can confirm she has powers but cannot use them at will. We have also verified the collected information from her homeland: that something powerful is residing inside her and that her father kept her hidden for the same reason. We need to make use of that power hiding inside her. The augury done by Zaria Lynx told us this queen will be pivotal for our cause to succeed."
The female leader bowed as if to acknowledge his statement, and then she looked at the particular hooded person who seemed to be shorter than the rest. "I believe the intelligence you have brought from the palace about the new queen is completely true."
"I guarantee it with my life," the short figure responded, and that person spoke with a muffled female voice, as if she was masking her real voice. "I have been observing her while working in the Queen's palace and I can assure you that what we have heard about her, all those rumours are true. You have performed the test yourself from her items and strands of hair I brought."
As there was no question as to the ability of the woman with staff, the male leader spoke up, "Then, we will launch the plan now. We will take her away and keep her with us. If she agrees to join our cause of her own volition, all the better. If not…then we have gained a weapon. With this, then there is no one to stop us from going to Agartha and getting rid of their king. Last time, he was able to defeat us, but this time we have prepared a lot of surprises for him."
The other leader gripped her staff. "Once that Draven Aramis falls, there will no longer be anyone to protect those brazen subjects of his."
"I have been waiting for this opportunity for so many centuries," someone among the group spoke.
"I've lost count of how many generations of human kings I've conspired with to take down Agartha. I've also lost count of how many failures we experienced. I hope this time that Devil King will like the surprises we have in store. We will be more prepared than ever."
"I do hope if we get any weakness of that Draven Aramis," said one of them with his gritted teeth.
"There will be. Everyone has a weakness and we will find it out. Our spies are there in Agartha and I do hope they will bring good news for us sooner or later."
Hearing that robed figure's words, the female leader remembered something. "Speaking of surprises, I remember there was one time you failed your mission. Were you able to find that hatchling we missed two decades back?"
"Are you talking about that Divine Eagle? After we returned from killing the mother, someone took away that child."
"How shameful," she sneered.
The robed man defended himself. "I sensed his powers but could not track its traces afterwards."
"That means someone had hidden him well using their powers."
"The fight happened in the forest near the capital city. Do you think Evanthe was involved?"
"We lack information, as you know we cannot go near Blackhelm back then, or else she would have discovered us. We do not know if she's involved, or if other beings interfered. But at least we know that the young Divine Eagle is alive."
"Yes, as long as he remains alive, surely he won't forget to find the people who killed his mother. Even if we don't look for him, he will look for us. That Divine Eagle has the purest blood of ancient divine beasts among all I've met, even purer than his mother's. If we get him on our side, those haughty Divine Eagles will bow down to him due to the supremacy of his bloodline. They are a big part of the strength of Agartha. That child is supposed to be the one to rule over that clan—we can either have him slaughter them, or have him command them to betray Agartha."
Someone commented as he clenched his fists. "I cannot wait to see that insolent Morpheus begging for his life."
Thud!
"Tonight is the only chance to conduct our plan," the woman said as she knocked her staff on the stone floor. "According to our sources, King of Megaris, Drayce Ivanov, won't be returning for two days at least. He is not here to protect his wife. In his absence, no one is there more powerful than us to protect that little witch. Do not make a mistake. Understood?"
"Yes," all of them said together.
In the darkness of the night, several hooded figures were seen leaving the underground hall, before they themselves blended and disappeared among the shadows.
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Important note about the plot-
Dear readers, from this point onward the links between both the novels of the 'Devil and Witch' series will start to join. Those who are reading the second book- "The Devil's Cursed Witch" are aware of who is Draven Aramis and Morpheus, mentioned in this chapter.
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