Out of the Darkness

Within an hour the explosives were set, it wouldn’t have usually taken so long but with us trying to remain undetected, the amount of tunnels there were and us not wanting to split up in case we were attacked, the time soon went by. We were heading down the last tunnel, towards the Queen when we ran in to a problem. There were guards standing on both sides of the tunnel at regular intervals. Taking them out wouldn’t be the issue, doing so without being heard, spotted or them warning the others would certainly cause us problems.

I looked between Raven and Jonathan, wondering who would take the lead. Without a moment of hesitation the whole team disappeared from my view. After a moment of confusion they once again returned, I looked questioningly at Raven.

‘I didn’t think it would work this close to the main sector but I’ve managed to make us invisible to everyone except each other, they may have more charms to block our powers in the main sector but it’s the only thing that could help us gain an advantage.’ Raven told us telepathically.

We followed the tunnel until Raven signalled us to stop, we set the last explosives right by the guards at the entrance to that part of the cave. We snuck past the guards, keeping especially vigilant and trying not to make a sound. When we were well away from the entrance we crouched behind some rocks to shield ourselves from the explosion. Raven moved further along to ensure the Queen couldn’t escape before she got to her. We all paused for a moment to check everyone was ready before triggering the explosives.

The noise was almost painful to my ears as the structure completely crumbled in on its self. There were panicked screams and guards rushing towards the Queen, bodies of their people littering the floor and halting their progress. As soon as the explosion happened we leapt in to action, still invisible for a short while giving us a further element of surprise. I saw Raven head in the direction of the most powerful witch there, but I couldn’t keep my eyes on her long enough to see if she reached her, I needed to concentrate on my own fight.

Raven was right, there was no longer a block on our team’s magic, and our necklace charms worked to an extent but the witches we were fighting figured out what was blocking them much faster than those in the clearing did. The room filled with dust and smoke from the explosions and it was making it difficult for even me to see. We fought our way through, the explosions providing a more than adequate distraction to knock the witches of their game. Whilst I was fighting I could just about over hear Raven’s conversation with the witch leader.

“Blowing up my compound, nice touch.” Raven didn’t reply, undoubtedly knowing the witch was trying to distract her. “I see you weren’t brave enough to come alone, although I do see the others managed to minimise your numbers quite significantly.”

“Stop talking and fight.” Raven challenged.

“Maybe you should surrender before we kill the rest of your friends. I wonder if they would still stand by you if they knew the truth.” The witch taunted her.

“They know who I am.” Raven said through her teeth as she swung her sword at the leader, the witch dodged the blade.

“That’s not what I meant, think about it. Don’t you think getting in here was just a little too easy?” Raven paused for a moment before continuing to fight the witch.

“What are you talking about, why would you want to make it easy for us to get in here so I could kill you?” I was just as confused as Raven. I listened more intently whilst continuing to fight the witches that came at me. The leader was right, it was easy to get in here, if they knew we were coming they should’ve cleared out, protected their leader at all costs.

“You’re not seeing the big picture Raven, but you will.” The leader smirked and stood still, she made it clear that she wasn’t intending to fight or speak any further about this ‘bigger picture’. Raven raised her sword, and stabbed the witch through the chest, when she drew her sword back, the witches’ body fell to the ground.

After a brief moment Raven fell to her knees, holding her head with both her hands, clearly in pain, likely in result of the spell breaking. I knew I had to get to her, she was defenceless like this. I charged in her direction but witches blocked my way, the fall of their leader seemed to give them more determination to kill us. The strangest part was that none of them went for Raven, they charged at us but were careless when fighting, seemingly with no strategy. With them fighting like this it didn’t take long for us to kill the rest of them, I looked around and bodies covered the floor. I made my way to where Raven was lying on the ground, her eyes closed.

“Is she-?” Jonathan couldn’t quite fully ask the question. I crouched down and let out a sigh of relief.

“She’s alive, just passed out, must be a side effect of the spell being lifted.” I lifted her in to my arms and looked to Clara who nodded, and began reciting a spell that transported us back to the agency. From there I carried an unconscious Raven to the infirmary where she could rest.