Chapter 73

**Noch**

“Who would’ve thought that infiltrating a Warlock hideout would be so easy?” I commented while dragging the latest paralysis victim to the makeshift pile.

“Truthfully, I thought it would’ve been a lot harder than this.” Jernok answered as he made sure all the members of our team were still accounted for.

“I wonder how Raska’s team is doing on the other end?” Arasule asked with a smile as she tied the victims up with a new rope she was testing out.

“Probably as well as we can expect under these conditions.” Jasnine commented while helping her.

“I’m also worried about the second group. Are you sure it was wise to have the both of us in this one group?” Jernok worried.

“Ag stop worrying would you? Arasule and Jasnine aren’t worried, she’s actually wondering how many Warlocks they could’ve taken out by now.” I answered while rolling my eyes. Jernok never did understand the way we did things at the Order.

“I won’t lose to them!” Arasule piped up in excitement while Jasnine giggled along. Clearly showing Jernok that my guess was the right one.

Jernok rubbed the bridge of his nose in irritation. All I could do was smirk at his obvious worries. “And this is the reason why you are a better Councilor than I could have been.” I commented as I turned to head deeper into the caves again.

I heard Jernok’s sudden gasp of disbelief at what I said. If he didn’t want to believe me then that was his loss. I could only help mend a relationship in so many ways. He was bound to get frustrated with me again soon anyway.

“I guess we can count our lucky stars with the fact that this isn’t the main branch of the Dark Warlocks.” One of the council members in the team commented with a sigh.

“That is no excuse to let down your guard. We need to stay vigilant, especially since Dermon is hiding somewhere in here as well.” Jernok clipped as he followed behind me.

“Looks like your people tend to get lax easily Jernok!” I grinned as I looked over my shoulder at his irritated expression.

“You know what, maybe I should send them over to the Order for a course of training after all this is done.” He replied seriously.

“Now there is something I didn’t expect to hear coming from you!” I was truly surprised actually.

“You’ll need to talk to Fog about that though. You know that he won’t accept them for free!” Arasule called out from behind. “Torture doesn’t come cheap after all!”

The other Council members that were in our team didn’t seem to understand what kind of hell their leader had signed them up for. They were just following along with confused expressions covering their faces.

“I’ll give him whatever he asks for. At least the one thing I can’t fault the Order for is the quality of the people that come out from there. Just be sure to return them alive and in one piece afterwards.” Jernok admitted half-heartedly.

“Great to hear that!” I laughed. “I’m looking forward to seeing some fresh meat! And don’t worry, the Ga’s and their little apprentice will make sure that any severed limbs are back before any permanent damage is done.”

The only reply that came from that was Jernok’s groan. He was a hardass most of the time, but it seemed that we were on the right track to becoming good acquaintances again. Becoming friends would be a long hurdle for the both of us.

A sudden flash of light in front of me nearly sent me careening into the tunnel walls. My body reacted instinctively and I brought my blades down upon the source of the light in front of me. I was surprised when a pair of hands firmly gripped mine before I could do any harm.

I blinked away the dots in my vision and squinted up at what I finally made out to be Hezerial. “For heaven’s sake Angelic! A bit of a warning would have been nice before you zapped yourself right in front of me!” I complained as I retracted my arms and rubbed my eyes with my wrists.

Glancing behind me I was glad to see that I wasn't the only one that was blinded by the Angelic. Jernok had his hands over his eyes, as well as the other two Council members. Arasule on the other hand looked like a startled fish, her eyes were stretched comically wide as she blinked furiously, Jasnine was in the same boat as we were generally trained to keep our hands free for possible attacks that come with a loss of vision.

“My Lady has disappeared and I cannot feel her presence in these caves anymore! In fact I do not sense her anywhere outside either. I just spoke with Raska-” I quickly raised my hands to stop the rambling Angelic.

“Woah woah, one thing at a time and speak slower, I can barely understand you. You are saying Merianna is gone?” I asked just to make sure I understood that part.

“Yes.” Hezerial answered with a stressed huff. “I just spoke with Raska and she said that a Demon had grabbed her from the shadows and pulled her through areas where they couldn’t follow.”

Now, that was slightly worrisome. Merianna was strong, sure, but she still didn’t stand a chance against a demon. Especially not a Demon General which is the only type of demon I could think of that would have the power to be able to do that without a Demon Gate being open. Her battle experience was still low compared to her strength, and that was worrisome.

“Where was the last place you were able to sense her?” Ela asked as she appeared from the shadows.

“The last place I could feel her presence was close to the middle of this mountain. Not too far from here in fact.” He answered without hesitation.

“I suspect Dermon already knows that we’re here then.” I muttered and shook my head. So much for taking the enemy by surprise.

“I do not like the fact that My Lady could be in the same area as that man. The last time he saw her, he seemed more interested in her than a stranger would normally be. He also mentioned something along the lines of coveting her talents.” He said in a stressed rush.

“Now that really doesn’t sound good.” Jernok commented from next to me.

“I guess we give up on sneaking up on the enemy and just barge through now?” Arasule asked from behind.

“That would be the fastest way to get to where we want to be after all. Anyone have any complaints?” I asked. Not that I would actually listen if anyone said no.

“The main chamber should be a few more turns up ahead.” Hezerial turned and was about to start leading us when a sudden rush of small sparks rushed past either side of the dark walls of the tunnels. Not long after the flashes, a cacophony of sound exploded through the tunnels and made the ground shudder beneath our feet. I quickly looked up to the ceiling, and breathed a sigh of relief when it didn’t crack.

“What on earth was that?!” Jernok asked in shock. He couldn’t make heads nor tails of the event that just happened.

“I bet on the Order’s Treasury that that was our little Demon Spawn just now.” I said with a grimace. I told her many times before that big spells in confined spaces were never a good idea.

“What?! You mean to say you think it was Merianna that let loose something of that magnitude?!” Jernok yelled in panic.

“There is almost no doubt about that.” Arasule answered with a proud smile. “We told you before that she is capable enough. It’s not our fault that you didn’t want to believe us.”

“She always did have a short fuse, not that Noch really helped her to learn restraint.” Jasnine sighed.

“No time to waste chatting. Let's go! Something must have pissed her off more than me, and I don’t stand for anyone other than me pissing her off!” I exclaimed and started running in full sprint after Hezerial who didn’t even hesitate to comment.

“You go ahead of us! We’ll clean up the Warlocks you fly past!” Arasule called after me and Jernok as he soon quickly caught up to me.

“Just what have you all been feeding that child?” Jernok asked with worry.

“Daily doses of exercise and sarcasm sprinkled with some crazy here and there.” I offered up with a shrug.

Jernok’s eye started twitching. I knew he wanted to rub the bridge of his nose but obviously couldn’t. “Would it harm you to speak honestly for once?”

I smirked. “Now where is the fun in that?!” I lost my smirk quickly though as I felt another shudder rock through the tunnels. “That child is a natural born talent, and also has a natural alignment with lightning. If she decides to really get serious, I sometimes wonder if even I would be able to stop her.”

“I suppose we have no time to waste then…” Jernok commented solemnly as the information sunk in. He at least knew how dangerous a tempermental lightning storm could be.

“Indeed. No time for chatting.”