CHAPTER 78: CHAPTER 78

Urgent murmuring echoed across the meeting room amongst the elder, concerns etched on their faces.

"What enemy could the queen be talking about?" An elder mumbled to another. "There haven’t been a war for thousands of years now."

"What could be this urgent that frightened the queen?" Another asked, why the other shrugged.

The queen stride past the elders, glide towards the single seat at the far end of the enormous long table, everyone of them stood up and gave their reverence. After she sat down the murmuring still echoed.

"Silence." She said and every words on their lips died in their throats.

"There has been an unprecedented crisis," she began, her tone firm yet flat, earning another ripple of murmurs from the elders.

"Your Majextry, what do you mean?" An elder with slider body and short hair adorned with light beads enhancing his gorgeous face asked.

She was silent for a beat,her gaze sweeping through the cautious faces of them looking back at her with nerves etched on each one of there spine.

She let out sharp exhale and started, "we have come to find out that there is a potion...a poison to be precise, that can kill us the current. Not just any current but an alpha."

She paused, letting the weight of her words sink in. The room went dead silent. A ripple of fear ran through the elders as their calm, cautious expressions gave way to pale faces and wide eyes.

A few of them leaned forward, their hands clenching the edge of the table as if for support.

Then added, "And you know what that entails for us all. Not only will cause great harm to the common currents but the Deepfangs, the Crestbeta, the Firstvoice, you the Mooncrest and I your Alpha Queen does not stand a chance if whoever created this decides to make a move. Or worse sell it to other clans."

"That is absurd!" An elder said doubting the queen’s information. "That means if any of such would actually had happened the gods must be the ones behind all this."

A wave of panicked whispers ripped through the room.

"A weapon that can harm an Alpha?"

"Is this a scare tactic?"

"But our healing is unparalleled!"

The murmurs grew into a deafening roar as the elders began shouting over each other, their voices laced with fear and disbelief.

"ENOUGH!" The queen roared, slamming her fist against the table with a sound like a thunderclap. A wave of raw power radiated from her, forcing the elders to flinch back in their seats as cold dread crawled over their skin.

Her voice dropped to a terrifying tone. "Elder Pakah, may I know why you feel doubtful about what I said?"

"Your Grace, with respect, I’m the lord over our technology and research, and I can boldly say this, that we are the kingdom with the most and best advance technology second to the gods. And our medicine and potions is second to none." He started, the other nodding their heads in agreement.

Then added, "if you have called us here to test our legacy then you don’t have to. Sow fear into us like this only make us see you don’t believe in us."

Elder Odin’s gaze was locked on the queen, his muscles tensed. He could feel the tremor building beneath her controlled fury, like a silent earthquake waiting to explode. "Elder Pakah, I would advise you stop talking right now." He warned.

"Your legacy!" She stated. "You are the best?" She rasped. "You?

"Then tell me why haven’t any of you in the healer, witch, or research group been able to come up with a solution to the curse placed on my son, your Prince? For the past 300 years?" Her voice was extremely low but it was loud enough it rippled through their skull and, head down.

Elder Pakah said nothing more. While Odin turned to the queen.

"Your Majextry, the poison you talk about is there an evidence to this?" He asked softly but cautiously.

"Zeenare lay unconscious in the lap capsule, bleeding to death not regrenerating, and slimes oozing from the wounds inflicted on him." She announced her gaze sharp.

"The young alpha?" Everything fell dead at once, then a sudden murmuring.

"We thought he was still with a land-dweller!" someone shouted.

She didn’t respond. Her eyes found the guard at the door. "Bring Othimise in."

"Othimise strode in, looks a lot better than when he arrived.

"Othimise I would want you to recount what had happened to them," the queen said to Othimise who stood at the opposite end of the table from that queen.

"There was a Kegi uproar at the island." Othimise uttered.

"A Kegi?" An elder cut him off, "That same Kegi the Auxe witch ancestors used in the war between us?"

"No this one is different." Othimise corrected, "These ones, can speak, have great intelligence, change into humans like use and their original body are vastly different."

"Different how?" Pakah asked.

"Faster, slimmer body, cunning and have nothing to lose." He explained.

"Nothing to lose?" The queen asked.

"They seen to be willing to sacrifice themselves for their cause and sacrifice others to achieve that." He released his ripped wings, and heavy gasp chocked the room.

"They are different from the Kegi we know, they are not that ones who would give up to protect their hatchetlins if threatened" He explained, his voice grim.

"Are these Kegi producing this poison from wetin them or ...—"

"That we don’t know yet. But for a fact, they have a master." Othimise informed.

"A master?!" The word sliced through the lips of each one of them.

"Othimise you are excused." The queen said.

"Mogxecheni." With that Othimise responded then walked out the room.

"This is serious than we thought." A female elder said, adjusting in her seat.

The meeting room was filled with a chilling, electric silence. The elders, their previous doubt gone, now looked at the queen with a mix of fear and grim resolve.

"Elder Pakah," the queen’s voice cut through the stillness. "I want your research team focused on one task and one task only: find a solution to this poison. Forget your pride; this is about our very survival. I want you to start an analysis from the victims’ wounds and every Kegi body you can lay your hands on. I don’t care how long it takes, just give me a solution."

Pakah nodded, a muscle in his jaw twitching. "Yes, Your Grace."

"Elder Odin," she continued, her gaze shifting. "Take a team of our best scouts. Go to Auxe. Find out what they know about their ancestors’ Kegi and this new breed. Find out if they have any link to this. And don’t engage in any violence unless they do. I want answers, not more casualties."

Odin bowed his head. "As you command, Your Majextry."

She gave out more orders, her voice firm and unwavering, before ending the meeting with a sharp order for them to return to her when they had something.

She strode out, leaving the elders to the heavy task she had just handed to them.

Meanwhile deep in the dark cellar the walls were damp, and the air was thick with the scent of mold and soil. Rhea lay on a cold, rough stone, her body still and unconscious, while the world around was nothing but silence and cold, but her mind wasn’t.

She stood before Sisi, "He will die by tomorrow!" Rhea voice match the terrifying news Sisi had just told her.

"Yes he doesn’t have much time left, if not treated." Sisi muttered.

"But Ravira said there was nothing she could do." Her stomach churned at each words that left her lips.

"Then do you want him to die?" Sisi asked.

"No! Never!" She voiced loudly.

"Good, come closer," Sisi instructed. "Whatever it is I’m going to tell you make sure to listen well cause I won’t say it again."

Sisi brought her lips to her ears, and whispered. Then said, "Tell this to the queen she’d know what to do."

Suddenly, a jolt of bone cracking cold ripped through Rhea. The ethereal world shattered, and Rhea was thrown back into the suffocating darkness of the cellar. She was on the floor, her body trembling.

She scrambled to her feet, her hands finding the cold, heavy door. She began to bang on it, her fists pounding a frantic rhythm against the unyielding iron.

"Let me out! I can help him! Zeenare is dying, and you have no time!" she screamed, her voice hoarse with desperation. "I have the solution! Let me out!"

The pounding continued, frantic and loud, until a sudden silence fell over the hallway. Footsteps approached, slow and deliberate. The sound of a heavy lock being unlatched echoed in the small space.

The door swung open, and an angry guard stood there, his face a mask of anger and impatience. "What is this nonsense, human? How could you possibly—"

Rhea’s eyes, burning with fear, locked with the guard’s. She didn’t let him finish. "I know how to stop it."