Will of the Witch [Legacy, BK 2 - Completed]

Chapter 11.4

Ezra

As soon as we were clear of the village, I opened a portal back to the Temple. We all rushed through, and I quickly shut it down, not wanting to chance that one of them would follow us.

"What the hell?" Anissa said, dismissing her lizard-like demon. "Why are they still camped there?"

"They're waiting." I thought to say more, but another portal opened next to us, throwing a bright light throughout the Temple's courtyard.

Hunter and John came through, Benji and their demons followed. Benji turned and immediately closed his portal just as quickly as I had.

A tightness in my chest eased. We'd all made it back in one piece. No one had been hurt or captured, and we'd gotten the information we'd needed.

Suon clapped me on the shoulder, "A good night, Hassim. Rest now. We talk in the sunlight."

"Yeah," I said, watching Suon and Anissa head for the Temple's entrance. Hunter hovered over John like a nursemaid. John looked pale, even in the light cast by the oil lamps at the sides of the courtyard.

"Come on, let's get some sleep." Hunter tried to take John's hand, but John shrugged him off and stalked off on his own.

Hunter watched him go with a pained expression.

"What happened?" I asked. I dismissed Kastem as Hunter and Benji shared a look.

"We don't know," Benji finally said. "We think that John lost control of his powers, but-"

"He can't lose something he never had," Hunter said bitterly. "He has no idea how to use his power now. It's completely different."

"How so?" Fear gripped me as I thought of John, who'd been so lost since we'd come to the Half World the first time. To have lost his family and his power. I feared that he'd started to lose himself in the depression that had taken hold of him.

"One of the warriors caught John by surprise, I think. I'm honestly not sure what happened, but the next moment, the warrior fell over, dead as a doornail."

"Are you sure John did it?" I asked. In the distance, I caught sight of Poe as he stepped free of the Temple archway and made his way towards us.

"I'm sure," Hunter said and ran a hand through his hair. "And I don't care that the guy died, but it devastated John to lose control like that. I just want to help him, but I'm not sure what to do."

I patted Hunter on the arm as Poe joined us. "I'll talk to him."

Hunter nodded at Poe and walked off, beckoning his demon to follow along.

"I see you've all made it back." Poe stood next to me, the lanterns throwing dancing shadows in the courtyard. There was a sly grin on his face as he said it, but I knew what he really wanted to know.

"Let's at least go find somewhere comfortable to sit," I said and started towards the Temple. It wasn't like I was hurt, just ... exhausted. We'd gone from doing nearly nothing over the summer, no news, no struggles besides trying to convince John to eat something, to one situation after another in a matter of days.

Poe walked beside me like a quiet, slightly taller shadow. "Let's go into the meeting hall. I take it the information you found-"

"Oh, it's Nathan," I said, stepping under the archway and into the meeting hall. "I've no clue how he gained contact with the Northern Warriors. But they're camped out and waiting for Nathan to bring them over to our world."

"And you found this out how?"

I turned to face him, where he paused. "I heard it directly from Nathan. Suon and I snuck into Chief Naekas' hut, where the warriors' leader was able to contact and speak with Nathan. I don't know how. Is that something that can be done with Blood Magic?"

"I'm afraid I'm not well-versed in the ways of the other Families, besides the Stanwoods. Us Reinhardt and the Stanwoods were often close. But the Acklands? They've always been standoffish, secretive." Poe moved into the room, pacing the length of the rough woven rug and back.

"If Nathan can contact them," Poe continued. "What is preventing him from bringing them over now?"

"Me," I said.

Poe stopped and looked at me.

"He needs the blood of a summoner. I'm really hoping he's not thought to look for other lost summoners and that he's been trying to find me. But I can't take that risk."

"You have all the summoners that are alive here, with you-"

"All but one," I reminded him. "There's one other, up north on the east coast. I need to get to him before Nathan does."

Poe sighed, folding his legs under him to sit. He motioned for me to join him. "You will need to go and get him."

"Yeah, it was already on my to-do list. We'll head back in the morning, once everyone's had a chance to rest."

"And what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Are you going to rest?" Poe looked at me with a knowing glance, and it was my turn to sigh. I lift myself to my feet. "I'm going to find my bed now."

"Good. You need to rest just as all the others do."

"Yes, Grandpa."

Poe's chuckle followed me out of the hall. 

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A/N: Hello friends. I just wanted to give a quick update. My health has not been the best and has slowly been getting worse the past year, especially after my surgery this past summer. I'm still trying to figure out what's exactly wrong and it's been a slow process with the doctors. I'm currently waiting on an appointment with a specialist.

I bring it up now because my illness is starting to affect my creative output and my energy to write (or do anything more than exist). I'm going to keep writing, nothing will stop me from that, but my upload schedule and frequency are being severely impacted and at this point, I can't say when or if it'll get better.

I'm really sorry about this and I hate to disappoint you. I know many of you have been following my works for years and love these stories as much as I do. I hope that I can have better news and more updates for you sooner rather than later.

Stay safe my friends, and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.