Visha could still feel Trisha"s glare drilling into the back of her head but chose to ignore it. A haughty second miss of a n.o.ble witch family was the least of her concerns right now. Trisha had done nothing to her directly so there was no reason to retaliate. She could hate Visha all she wanted as long as she kept it to herself. Visha then shifted her attention at the white ball curled into her arms. The root cause of everything and also the savior of everyone. After knowing his actual ident.i.ty Visha felt nervous around the same bird that had given her comfort till now. She shouldn"t be pressured about it but she couldn"t help it. After all, it was the familiar of a G.o.ddess. And not just any G.o.ddes, the very G.o.ddess of Destruction itself. The one that she had prayed to all her life, the one that was the prime deity of the Bhairavi clan. But her nervousness had not been noticed yet. Mr Feathers had went back to sleep as soon as the matter with Gandharvas was resolved. It had no time to notice the change within Visha.
Everyone carried on the journey silently due to the tense atmosphere. One must admit the Gandharvas did have a heavy air around them. The only unaffected ones seemed to be Mr Feathers, Visha and Nati. Everyone else could feel something weighing them down because of their presence.
Mr Feathers suddenly jumped out of Visha"s arms and caught everyone"s attention. They stopped right where they were and saw the little bird trot up front.
"We"re here!" Nati said. Visha nodded and stared into nothingness where the next chamber should be. A restlessness surfaced in her heart as she kept staring at their destination.
After more than a week of struggle, they were finally here. No one knew what lied beyond this chamber or the extent of the power that Drona had. All they had were just a.s.sumptions. This one man had turned the entire priesthood and the Spirit Forest upside down. He had replaced the souls of the beasts of the forest and divided it into a hundred different chambers. Both the tasks require huge magic power and strength. His magic reserve must be immensely huge. He was not an enemy to be trifled with.
Priest Dharma gave everyone a meaningful look and they nodded back. They knew they had finally reached their destination. The Gandharvas gestured everyone to get in the cart and as they took places around it. One of them stepped forward to pull the cart while others took stands at other sides and at the back. Mr Feathers was at the very front so the cart could pa.s.s with him.
Everyone held their breaths and closed their eyes as the cart pa.s.sed through the chamber. As soon as the cart pa.s.sed through the invisible chamber, atmosphere suddenly changed. Everyone opened their eyes, the bright sky from a second before was nowhere to be seen. This chamber was entirely dark with no view of anything. No one dared to get off the cart in the dark and continued to look here and there in the darkness. One couldn"t tell if their eyes were open or closed. Soon, a tiny flame away from the cart lit up the surrounding area. Everyone turned to see Visha conjuring a flame spell in her palm. Her eyes seemed to sparkle as it reflected the flame, but the chill in them was unfazed.
"Stay if you want to die but I certainly don"t." she said coldly and looked down. Her action made everyone else look down at the ground that was unbelievably close and seemed to get closer. They were sinking? It was a bog. Everyone jumped from the cart to where Visha was standing.
But the Gandharvas were stuck. Since, they were on "foot" they had sunken without even knowing it. Just what sort of bog was it. They hadn"t felt anything wrong till they saw it with their own eyes.
"It must be a spell." Danish concluded as he saw the bewilderment on their faces.
"What are you all standing there for? Pull us." One of them yelled. Everyone rushed to get branches or vines to pull them out. Ashwin and Trisha brought a long rope like vine and everyone started to help pull their comrades. Visha gestured Nati to stand by and wait for her signal. She won"t let them die but wouldn"t reveal her trump card till she was sure there was no other way.
They put all effort and even got blisters but in vain. Gandharvas were too heavy for them. They weighed more than normal horses, how could a handful of people pull them out? They could see their end coming and decided to accept it with pride.
"Leave. This is just wasting precious time. Go and stop the human. We couldn"t be of much help, our apologies." one said sincerely. There was great determination in his eyes as he tried to talk everyone into leaving them behind. Gandharvas were a race of proud warriors, they weren"t afraid of death. A warrior accepts death with grace when it comes. The others however had different plans. Visha was about to gesture Nati when Shaurya yelled.
"Everyone! Strength Enhancement Spells, now." The witches nodded and started chanting. By the time they were done, Gandharvas had already sunken till their chests. They only had one chance. Shaurya tossed the vines towards them and everyone started to pull. Gandharvas had joined hands as they tried to struggle out of the deadly bog. As soon as one of them reached the surface, he too started to help pull his brothers. Soon, everyone was out. Their cart though was not that lucky and was nowhere to be seen. The ground looked absolutely normal from the side. No one could think that there laid a deadly trap.