CHAPTER 13

After the elder had left, Esther had begun to pace around the little room she was in, lost in thought over the things that could be or not. Her mind whirled around the new information she had just gotten from elder Victoria and no matter how much she tried to process it, Esther still wasn't sure what she should believe. She didn't know if the elder had said the truth of the matter or if she had spewed nothing but lies.
For all she knew, Esther had even guessed if the idea of the elder telling her such things wasn't the coven leader's idea. The woman could have thought about testing her and she might have decided that lying to Esther and seeing her reaction would let her know if she was loyal or not. Or the elder could be saying the truth to Esther about the leader's intention.
Hadn't she believed that the leader was acting suspiciously also? She had and that was the thought that had left her feeling lost until she had slept off. When elder Victoria had told her about the evil deed the leader had in mind, some part of her had accepted it instantly. Maybe it was because she already knew that their leader never cared about her.
She had turned and packed around the room until it was morning again and she was still packing about. If she assumed that the elder that had given her the hint was right and she was truly in danger, that meant that she would have to start looking for ways to disappear. If she disappeared from the coven, she would be at the peak of the season she feared the most in her life; the season of being alone and unwanted.
But she knew that she couldn't stay either if she wanted a chance to survive. She couldn't just wait around to see if the leader was after her power like the elder had implied or if it was nothing but a pack of lies. Doing that would be at the risk of losing her powers to the greedy leader or even her life in the process. Perhaps, the woman has even stolen some of the powers from her already and she just didn't know it, Esther thought.
No, she couldn't have, Esther reasoned with herself. If she had stolen even a little of the powers, Esther would have felt the loss. As it was already, anytime she used her power and she exhausted herself, she always felt weak for some minutes before she felt better again. So, it was impossible that the leader had done anything to her while she was unconscious.
This means that the elder had lied to her. But why would the woman do that in the first place? Esther had done nothing to her other than protect her during the war. Before that day, she and the woman had never had any clash or even spoken a word to each other before. So, why would she lie? What would be the elder's gain? Esther stopped pacing as a thought came to her mind about how the elder could profit from the lies.
The separation between Esther and the coven leader. Perhaps elder Victoria had noticed that the leader was beginning to show care and affection for Esther and the woman wasn't pleased with the new occurrence, so she had thought about putting asunder between them by poisoning Esther's mind against the woman. If Esther rejected the leader's love, then she would remain isolated again and that would be the gain and joy of elder Victoria.
But what about the genuine concern she had seen the elder showed towards her? Esther thought. Or had it been faked by the woman to deceive Esther? She thought again. She tapped her right foot lightly on the bare floor of the room in impatience. She was lost and didn't know what else to think about the whole thing. She didn't know which was the truth and which was the lie.
One thing she did know was that there was both the truth and the lie entangled in the story but she just didn't know how to fish any of the two out. She punched the air with her fist in agony and she screamed and that was the moment the door clicked open and the leader walked in with perfect grace. Esther focused on the woman while she tried to decide in her mind if she should ask the leader about what she heard or not.
"Is it true you covet my power?" Esther blurted out.
She could see how much the question shocked the leader because of the expression the woman spotted. Esther began to think if she hadn't made the mistake of asking the woman about what she had asked. She thought that perhaps she should have escaped during the night when she had the chance.
"Who told you that?" The leader asked, her eyes narrowed at Esther.
"No...no...no one...did," Esther stuttered out and took a step back.
Alicia took three menacing steps toward Esther. When she got to her, she held Esther by the arm and shook her vigorously.
"I said who have you been talking to?!" She shouted at Esther.
Esther felt pain hit her from the arm and she realized that the arm the woman held was the same arm that a werewolf had bitten her four days ago. The place had barely healed itself and she was sure that with the way the leader held her tightly, the wounds at the arm would open up again. Esther would have held herself but she didn't think her dark power could help in the situation and she had wanted to avoid adding more damage than the wolf had.
"I haven't been talking to anyone!" Esther shouted back and freed her arm from the woman's hold.
While she had doubted that elder Victoria had lied to her before, with the attitude the leader was spotting, she knew that the elder had said nothing but the truth. Esther would have to get out of her claws but for now, she needed to act like she knew nothing.
"Good." The leader told her. "Remember what I told you yesterday about today being an important day?" She asked and Esther nodded her head in the affirmative. "I discovered that the tree that was destroyed yesterday in the Night Bliss tribe also grew on the land of the other six tribes. Since the Red blood tribe is closer to us, I checked the story out to see if it was true and it was. So, we are moving out now to go and secure the tree before anyone else finds out about it." The coven leader explained.
"Shouldn't we just forget about the tree? We already lost five elders," Esther advised.
"That's why the whole of the witches clan would be going over to the Red blood tribe. Even if we encounter any difficulties, we won't be outnumbered," Alicia said to her.
"I don't want to go with you," Esther protested.
"What did you just say?" The leader asked.
"I said that I don't want to..." Esther started but before she could finish, the leader slapped her hard across the face. She held the cheek immediately and she didn't fail to notice the burning sting she felt from it.
"No one and I means no one disregard my authority," Alicia said and dragged Esther by the arm to the door.
When the leader dragged her outside, Esther was astonished to see the number of witnesses that had assembled. Like the coven leader had proclaimed, Esther said so sure that every witch from the coven was there. How dare that woman who had called herself a leader manipulates everyone because of a tree?
"Everyone, move out!" Alicia commanded.
Without releasing her hold on Esther, she walked on. As they kept to the travel, Esther kept wondering about how she could put an end to everything while could still preserve her life and her power from the manipulative leader. Elder Victoria kept looking at her at intervals with a worried expression on her face and Esther realized that the woman was afraid for her life since she had barely escaped death during the last battle. Esther knew at that moment that she had to put an end to the matter since she was the root of the problem.
When they got to the location of the next tree, they met the werewolves of the Night Bliss and the Red blood tribe having heated arguments with each other. The subordinates of each leader stood protectively behind them, their whole demeanor showed that they were ready for the battle that Esther knew was bound to occur given how loud the voices of the men were.
"Let's turn back, coven leader. The werewolves are more than we can fight off." One of the elders advise.
"No one leaves for anywhere!" The coven leader said harshly.
"But..." Esther started but the leader held her arm even tighter and she winced in pain. "Ouch!" She screamed a little when the leader tightened her hold even more than she did before.
"No one leaves for anywhere," Alicia began. "Whatever would work is wait until those stupid species if people got engrossed in the war that is sure to break forth." She finished and turned to Esther next. "Once I give the order, go to the tree and cast a spell on it." She ordered.
What? Why was it her again? Esther thought to herself.
"The elders of the coven and I would do our best to protect you," Alicia said to her.
"But why is it me? Let one of the elders for it," Esther protested.
The leader opened her mouth to say something to Esther but the loud growling sound stopped her. They all turned around and saw that the two tribes had broken into the long-awaited war. Alicia chuckled loudly and raised her right hand in the air to signal for them to wait for a little.
Esther watched in horror as the two tribes tore into each other's flesh. Those who have not shifted before began to shift into their wolf shapes. Clothes were shredded into pieces and muscles expanded. She saw the flesh of men change into the skins of a wolf and fur-covered those skin. Shouts of terror rang loudly everywhere and wolves began to run all around the place, trying to ensure their safety. Twice, Esther saw a wolf rush into the forest close to the other side where the fight was going on. Wise men, she thought and grinned.
"Is there something funny about the whole situation?" The leader asked Esther when she saw the grin on her face.
"No, coven leader." She answered the woman and wiped the grin away from her face immediately.
The woman eyed her for a few seconds and she raised a warning finger to her.
"Make no mistake about your mission. Understand?" She squeaked at him.
"Yes, coven leader," Esther answered in a solemn voice.
"Good." The leader said before she turned away from Esther and returned her gaze to the war, effectively dismissing Esther from her sight.
Esther didn't mind the attitude. She shrugged before she also turned back to look at the battle going on. She nearly lost her intestines when she saw a wolf trapped another wolf with its four legs before biting into the neck. When the wolf raised its head, the remains of the flesh of the wolf it had bitten into remained in its mouth. Esther looked away and gulped. Did the coven leader truly want them to be in the middle of such a war?
"Now." The coven leader shouted.
Everybody including Esther rushed into the fighting squared midst. Esther rushed to the tree and ate one from its fruit. As soon as the energy circulated through her body, she placed her hands on the tree and began to imagine some sealing on the tree. Power vibrated through her hands and she could feel something happening to the tree.
Destroy the tree, Esther. The coven leader wants to eat enough of the fruits from it to boost her powers so that she would be able to cast the spell that would enable her to transfer your powers to herself.
A voice sounded in Esther's head and she recognized it as elder Victoria's voice. She stopped what she was doing and looked at the woman who nodded her head to confirm her words.
She doesn't have the power to seal the tree, otherwise, she would have killed you since you first discovered the tree. Like I told you earlier, only the witches with the dark power can become her Holiness and that is why she is coveting your powers. I'm only telling you all these because you saved my life, it's left to you whether to believe it or not.
The voice sounded in her brain again. Esther got angry at the words she heard. It wasn't enough that the coven leader wanted to steal her powers, the woman was even asking her to seal the tree that would be used for her destruction? Esther would like to see how the woman would get the tree, she thought with an evil smile.
She closed her eyes and imagined where the locations of the remaining trees were. She was surprised when she saw that she could see the locations of six of the trees, except for one, like they were in front of her. Even though she wondered where the remaining tree was, she didn't dwell on it for long.
Instead, she began to imagine the destruction of all the remaining five trees since one was dead already. When she felt like she would be able to destroy them all at once, she placed her palm on the root of the tree and kept on with her imagination until the tree in front of her was dead. Hoping that the mind connection she used had also destroyed the other four trees, she got up from the floor where she was and ran into the forest nearby.
"Esther!!!" She heard the coven leader shout her name but she didn't stop. Afraid that the woman would cast a spell upon her to root her in place, she willed herself to disappear from the location she was to another place and like she was being carried by air, she disappeared from the place.