As blood dripped from the wound, the beast lost its mind and rushed to trample Danish. Since, Danish was still chanting to clear its mind through the dagger he threw, he couldn"t move. The beast saw Visha standing behind Danish with a strange glow around her hands and shifted targets. It coiled the trunk around her waist and picked her up. Everyone else rushed forward to help her and Visha increased the pace of her chants and formed a small blue translucent ball that hovered between her palms. The Gaja seemed to have grasped her intentions as it threw her with all its might away in the air. Visha was in mid-air when she finally released the ball at beast"s feet. A sudden chill blasted the entire clearing and the force threw everyone leaps away. A sudden fog covered the entire place and slowly started to clear away. What they saw after the fog dissipated was unbelievable, the whole Gaja had been frozen solid in its place with its trunk still in mid air from when it had thrown Visha away. Trisha widened her eyes as she saw the impact of the small freezing spell Visha had done. Ashwin came forward and knocked at the frozen Gaja and a "thak" sound came out.They were the elites of Bhairavi, and yet the most they could manage with a beast of that size was a frozen limb. But a newbie like Visha completely froze it solid in one go. Just what exactly was she?
"I don"t think it"ll be following us for quite a while now." Shaurya said.
Danish turned to Priest Dravya who was still in shock to see a majestic beast completely lose to a young witch. He couldn"t believe his eyes, if witches were this powerful then why did the priesthoods never worked with them before? Were the old priests afraid of their power? Or were they more powerful? Questions kept on popping in his mind non stop and none of them could be answered. He could never ask it out loud to any First Priest or even the High Priest without sounding disrespectful.
"As per your request, the beast is unharmed. We should continue to find the Hall of Priests." Danish said and Priest Dravya nodded, still in a daze. Laksh looked at his suddenly dumbstruck master in disbelief and then at the frozen beast. That girl was really something else. She had disrespected them, talked back to them, called them weak, but now he could see why. That arrogance she had must come from the immense power she held. But the cold way she had of caring for people brought a smile on his face. A warm fuzzy feeling gripped his heart as he looked around to find her but he couldn"t.
"Where"s that witch girl?" he asked. His words made them look around themselves but no sign of Visha. The beast couldn"t have thrown her too far, she should"ve been back by now.
"Could it be that she got hurt and she can"t move?" Ashwin asked. That was a terrifying thought. In a forest as dangerous as this, they cannot let her be alone or injured or both. Shaurya took a deep breath and stepped forward, "Did anyone see which way it threw her?" Everyone was busy fighting the beast. They were just one mistake away from death and no one could have afforded to look away at a time like that. It was hard to keep track of anyone else, so they shook their heads to say no.
"She was standing at the back the whole time. How could anyone have noticed that coward? She was just lucky, I think." Trisha scoffed as her tone dripped of jealousy. All that she did was stand at the back while everyone else put their lives on line to fight that beast. That newbie can"t just wash it all away because of one lucky move.
Shaurya chose to ignore her comment and faced others with a grave expression. He being the leader bore responsibility for the safety of everyone in his team and Visha was no different.
"The Gaja"s trunk is frozen in mid air. Maybe, she is in that direction." Laksh said. Shaurya noticed the beast"s trunk pointing to a possible direction. He pondered for a while to think of the best way to do this. They still had to track down the Priests before they offered up their lives. Time was of essence here. He couldn"t afford to lose even a second more.
"Danish take Laksh with you and try to find Visha. Everyone else will be with me to track down the old men. And Danish take this tracker spell, contact us if you run into trouble and join us as soon as you find Visha." he took out a small black stone and handed it to Danish. He kept it in his pocket and Laksh too happily agreed. After all, that girl had managed to save everyone without hurting the Gaja. That bad mouthed girl from before was now a respected savior in his eyes. He wanted a chance to save her too and return the favor he owed.
Trisha couldn"t believe that Shaurya was ready to waste time on her. Had he forgotten how Visha had sabotaged their only chance impress the priesthood? That loosemouthed b***h had offended First Priest Dharma and cowardly stayed behind in the entire fight with the beast. How could he still not be annoyed by that idiot? Trisha grit her teeth as she cursed Visha. That sly vixen sure knows how to get the powerful ones on her side. First, it was the Young Miss and now the team leader. She felt awful seeing Shaurya fall right into Visha"s honey trap. Her rage had been fueled to the point of no return. Once this was over, she would immediately contact her brother to help out and take care of Visha. No matter how immensely powerful Visha was, she was still a newbie. There was no way she would stand a chance against one of the strongest witches of the coven.
The team then split up to carry out their respective tasks.