The ground looked absolutely normal from the side. No one could think that there laid a deadly trap.Gandharvas stared back at the bog and then at themselves. Not a speck of dirt was upon their bodies. Visha could see the bewilderment in their eyes and started to explain.
"That was not an ordinary bog. It was a Soul Trapper. Soul Masters use it to gain new souls. Anyone trapped within it would die as soon as they"re fully submerged and their souls would become slaves to the one who laid the trap. I"m sure Drona would have been more than happy adding Witches and Gandharvas to his collection."
Gandharvas stared at the trap with widened eyes. Was human magic really capable of trapping their souls? This was something they didn"t want to find out. But one thing they did find out was cutting themselves off from the outside world for an entire millenium had given them disadvantages for sure. This was something everyone else needed to know back home. Maybe the decision to ally with the witches was not utterly useless. They had doubted their leader for nothing, he must"ve had their best interests at heart before agreeing to this. Their loyalty and respect for Divrat increased many folds. As they vowed to follow him to their deaths willingly in their hearts and trust his decisions no matter what. If they found out that in reality he was forced and tricked into this, this respect and loyalty would be lost as easily as it was gained. They felt highly indebted to these witches they had deemed weak and useless at first.
One of them came forward and bowed to them, "We owe our lives to all of you. Accept our grat.i.tude and bestow us an opportunity to repay it as much as we can." The other three followed suit and bowed as well. Trisha smiled and saw this as an opportunity to gain their favors. She stepped up chirpily with a smile, "We"d never leave you behind. We are not monsters. Its the least we could do after you had accompanied us so far."
The first one to step up gave a slight nod as he smiled back and thanked her. He then proceeded to thank the others as well. When he came to Visha, she shrugged her shoulders and stared at him coldly. Everyone was furious as to why she was being rude to the Gandharvas when they can obviously prove to be powerful allies.
"You might be mistaken." Visha said sternly. The Gandharvas looked up in confusion at her. They knew since she was the bearer of the mark, she was important and so they kept quiet and let her continue.
"We did that due to the alliance. That trap was made by a human, it was out of our sense of duty, nothing more. We just hope for you to uphold the alliance. That is repayment enough."
Gandharvas nodded and stood upright again. Though her tone was quite rough, what she said was true. It was an alliance, there was nothing personal. They barely knew each other, there could not have been any camaraderie here.
"But how did you know so much about that bog?" Trisha"s voice broke the awkward silence as everyone turned to Visha in antic.i.p.ation as well. This was a question that all of them wanted an answer to. Danish looked at her in suspicion as well. He was the oldest witch here and even he didn"t know much about the Soul Master"s Tribe. How could a newbie witch know so much?
"I read about it in one of the books in the study room of the main house. There"s a whole lot more." Visha answered nonchalantly as she sneaked a look at Nati beside her. If Nati hadn"t sensed the trap before anyone and jumped off the cart with her immediately they all would be slave souls already. Even though Visha knew about Soul Trappers, this was the first time she saw one.
But ,the words that had came casually out of her mouth had shocked the group. The priests and Gandharvas didn"t know what it meant but they did. The books in that study were out of everyone"s reach. Only the Master of Bhairavi had access to them, not even the clan elders were allowed in that room. It contained information even about the magic that was lost to most of the other clans. Trisha gritt her teeth as she looked at Visha in envy. How could an outsider lay hands on the most precious books of the clan? That"s unbelievable. This was something her Grandmother had to know. That Dhira had let her pet run around in the Main Study disclosing precious clan information. This was enough to raise as an issue among the elders. They can finally have something against that perfect "heir". Then the Gutter-rat can return to wherever she came from and take this annoying pet with her. Trisha smiled internally as she already started imagining her brother in that seat, all the power that she could have after that. Soon, she could be the Young Miss of the Bhairavi Clan. Her smile grew bigger as the mere thought of it gave her immense joy.
Nati let out a disgusted grunt as she saw it. "That wench definitely has something in her mind."
Visha looked in the direction of her gaze and saw the creepy smile Trisha had pasted on her face. Even she could feel malice in those eyes.
"We"ll deal with her when she makes a move. For now, she"s not worth your interest." with that Visha averted her gaze. Even looking at that idiotic Trisha gave her a headache.