CHAPTER 20

As Lucas and queen Jezebel walked on through the journey, Lucas remained silent. He was lost in thought over what Her Holiness had said before they left the house. His thought reflected on whether or not the queen of the witches meant what she had said about making him impotent. Even though she had smiled after she said the words, Lucas couldn't put it past the witch to do such a thing.
I won't do such a thing. He heard a voice say into his mind and he blinked at the queen.
I thought we agreed that you won't snoop through my thoughts again. Lucas said through his brain.
I wasn't going to but you were so silent that I began to have a second thought if all of these were lies. She told him.
"I am not lying to you," Lucas said in assurance to her.
"It's not the first time I was lied to. I only managed to escape using my powers." She said with a shrug.
Lucas looked at her in a very serious tone. Young as she was, Lucas was sure that she had gone through a lot and he felt pity for her. He wouldn't blame her if she never went anywhere with anyone ever again. Securing her life from the people that wanted to kill her was paramount rather than having to risk her life over the pole that might not even care if she died because of them.
Now that she was going to be his wife, he would have to keep her safe at all times and protect her from every harm that might come her way. He would have to keep assuring her day in and day out for her to know and trust him that would never harm her no matter what. He shouldn't let her have to be looking behind her shoulders or trying to see if the report they brought to her was true or not. He stopped walking and looked at her.
"Queen Jezebel." He called her.
"I told you to only call me Jezebel." She told him.
"From now on, you won't ever suffer again or have to be afraid all the time," Lucas assured her.
"Thank you." She answered him.
"You're welcome, my wife." He told her.
"Let's get to those barbaric people then." Her Holiness said and hurried away in her footsteps. Lucas followed after her with a slight smile on his face.
For the rest of the journey, they walked in silence and Lucas was grateful for it. He didn't know to tell his men about the marriage pact he had made with the queen of the witches. Even if he found the course and told them about it, he didn't know if it would sit down well with the members of his Crescent moon tribe.
By the time they got to the land of the Crescent moon, he was already anxious. From the few minutes it took for him to walk the short distance from the door to the meeting hall, Lucas didn't fail to see how his maids and servants gawked at the woman he had with him. He was sure that most of them could already guess who she was and none of them knew what her true identity was.
"Leader." His assistant greeted him when he saw that Lucas had arrived.
"This is queen Jezebel, she is the queen of all the witches," Lucas said as a form of introduction to his assistant. The moment the assistant heard about who the woman was, he turned a dazed expression to queen Jezebel and bowed his head.
"You may please rise." Queen Jezebel told the man in her melodious voice.
"Thank you, Her Holiness." The assistant said in a cheerful voice.
"I need you to gather the leader of each tribe here in two hours. Tell them that I would like a word with them all." The queen told Lucas's assistant.
"I'm on it right away." The assistant said in response, he bled to bother the leader and the queen and Walked away.
Lucas watched as the queen closed her eyes and began to chant some incoherent words. She spread her hands in the air as she kept on recording whatever it was that she was reciting. Although the leader of the Crescent moon was interested in knowing the things and the words the queen was speaking, he restricted himself from distracting her.
At a point, her body began to shiver as beads of sweat ran down her face and neck. Tears flowed freely from her eyes and her two palms trembled as they connected with each other. Lucas became afraid of what was happening to the queen before his eyes. He didn't know if he should wipe the sweat away from her twice or he should just tap her to disconnect her from whatever spell she was casting.
After about five minutes, she separated her palms from each other and opened her eyes. She nearly slumped and Lucas rushed to her side. He held her for about ten minutes until she was fit to stand on her own and she pulled away.
"What did you do?" He asked her.
"I called the meeting for the leaders and the elders of the coven. I also tried to look for the trees but I found out that every one of the trees was destroyed except the one on your land." She told him.
"Why wasn't this one destroyed?" Lucas asked.
"Maybe because your kingdom is too far and the ability of the witch couldn't get to it." Queen Jezebel explained.
"But how did..." Lucas started.
"They are here, Her Holiness."
A voice said to interrupt him. Lucas and Her Holiness turned to see who the speaker was. When Lucas saw that it was his assistant that had spoken and that every leader from the six other tribes, excluding himself, was present, he smiled at every one of them.
"I'm glad that you are all here." Queen Jezebel addressed them all.
"Greetings to her Holiness!" They all chorused.
"Everyone please have your seat for now. Once the witches' leaders are here, I'll state the reason why I am here." Queen Jezebel said to them.
Coven leader, Alicia, was still fuming in anger at what Esther had done when the voice of the queen mother came to her that every coven leader and their elders are needed at the Crescent moon tribe. At first, Alicia ignored the voice and continued to pace about. But when the voice came the second time, this time a lot stronger than it was before, Alicia stopped pacing.
She began to wonder what her Holiness was doing at the tribe and why she wanted to see everything witches. When she remembered that the only magical tree left was at the place where the queen was, she thought that perhaps the queen was there to help the witches secure the tree.
As soon as the elders arrived, they left for the Crescent moon tribe. All through their journey, Alicia prayed to the moon goddess that nothing would change the mind of the queen concerning the decision she had made on securing the tree. It came to her as a shock when she got into the hall of Crescent moon and saw every leader of the seven werewolves tribes already seated. Every witches leader from the other coven was also there.
"Her Holiness," Alicia greeted with a bow.
"Her Holiness." The elders with her also greeted the queen.
"You may all rise and move to the seat." Her Holiness told them.
"Thank you, Her Holiness." They all chorused and went to the vacant chairs.
Her Holiness waited until everyone necessary to be in the hall had seated. When she was sure of that, she stood up from her seat and looked at everyone in the hall.
"First, I would like to thank you all for coming over the minute I called." She told them all.
"It is our duty, Her Holiness." They always chorused at her words.
"As it should be." She told them with a curt to drive home her point.
"I'm sure that many of you can already guess why I called you over despite your limited free time. First, I would like to apologize to the werewolves on behalf of the witches." Queen Jezebel said.
"But, her Holiness. The trees grew on the land where both the werewolves and the witches have the right to it," Alicia said.
"Then, why did the witches attack the werewolves over something that belonged to both?" The queen retorted at her.
Alicia bowed in apology to the queen.
"It saddened my heart that so many people lost their lives over a tree that could have been shared by both parties. So, from this day onward, witcheeheds would never interfere in the affairs of the werewolves." The queen said as a promise.
"Her Holiness. But why aren't you punishing the witches than just asking them to stay away from the affairs of the werewolves?" One of the werewolves leaders said.
"Never interrupt me again if you want to see the next sunrise." The queen warned the man who cowered.
"I'm sorry, her Holiness." The man said in apology.
"As I was saying earlier," the queen continued, "the witches are never to interfere in the affairs of the werewolves and none of them are allowed to trespass on the werewolves' soil from this moment on. Is that clear to you all, coven leaders?"
"Yes, her Holiness." The witches answered.
"The only reason why this rule can be broken is if a werewolf and a witch got mated together, then they can trespass so that nothing would hinder their love. Is that instruction clear to everyone?" She explained to them.
"Yes, her Holiness." Everyone chorused.
"Now, for every witch that participated in the wars, I would be stripping away half of your powers to set you as an example for the rest of the witches." The queen of the witches told her people.
Shouts of her Holiness filled the room from the guilty parties. Queen Jezebel didn't listen to them or their pleas. She closed her eyes and began to chant audibly. Screams of pain and agony erupted from the room. Some spawned on the floor unable to get up, others held the chairs they sat upon while screaming for forgiveness. By the time her Holiness would finish her chants, more than half of the witches in the room were all in pain, including Alicia and Victoria.
"Now that that is done, I expect that the supreme commander for the werewolves would also punish his people. And from this point onward, let peace alone reign between the two parties." The queen said after she was done punishing her people.
"Thank you for fair justice, her Holiness." Everyone chorused.
"To further ensure peace among the two tribes, the Crescent leader and I have decided that we are getting married." She continued.
Gasps and murmurs filled the room but Lucas didn't bother to say anything to the people. He was however glad that the queen had helped him say what he had been afraid of letting out.
"Also, I would be sealing the last Khoyata tree to ensure that no greed ever arrived over it again. And so, dear witches and werewolves, that's the end of this meeting. Everyone is dismissed.'' She finished when the murmurs settled down.
"Thank you for your just ways, her Holiness." Everyone in the room chanted.
Queen Jezebel turned to Lucas. "Let's go." She told him.
"Alright." He answered her. "Take care of the tribe, it is yours now," Lucas told his assistant.
Together, they went to the Khoyata tree and queen Jezebel used her dark powers to cast an invisibility spell on it. When she was done, she turned to Lucas and smiled. Hand in hand, they walked away from the tree and the conflicts of the tribe to live a peaceful life together.