"What are you all doing?" asked a frightened Deba. His face was ashen white. He was blinking rapidly and his breath was bursting in and out. "Please, leave me. I will never come back to this side." He was tied to a wooden post in a dark room that had no ceiling. Men and women in black cloaks with hoods were standing around him.
Deba had come to the east side of the forest along with his wife. They belonged to the Red Moon Pack that was once Adrianna's father's pack. He had come to visit the town with his wife who was about to have a baby. He wanted her to have her baby in the human hospital instead of having it at the healer's place. He had admitted her to the hospital. She had undergone labor and the doctors had asked him to go back. It was at this time, when he was returning that a group attacked him. He noticed two of them taking their wands out and throwing a spell on him. He got paralyzed and was abducted. "Please leave me," he would utter hoarsely but soon passed out. When he opened his eyes, he found himself tied with a rope to a wooden post. The people around him were chanting, "Provbis, Oh the Great Soul! Provbis."
Deba smelled gasoline around him. Although he was tied very tightly, he was finding it difficult to stand because his feet couldn't find a proper ground to stand. So he looked down to where he was standing and his eyes bulged. To his horror, he was standing on a pile of logs, which were freshly sprayed with fuel.
"Leave me! Leave me!" he shouted on top of his lungs.
A woman in the hood stepped forward with a sword and attacked him on the leg.
"No! No! What are you doing?" Deba shouted. He saw a trident tattoo on her wrist as she raised her hand with a sword. In one fast motion, she brought the sword and struck his right leg slicing it from below the knee. It fell on the logs amidst Deba's excruciating screams. The blood sprayed on her hands and cloak. Calmly, she gave the sword to a man standing in the front who then came forward and sliced Deba's left leg. Deba kept shouting in harrowing pain. He kept telling them about his new baby. He pleaded with them to spare him for his baby but his cries soon became a hoarse whisper as he got covered in sweat and he felt dazed. And the last he saw was that someone had lit the logs. The group watched him crying out in pain as they chanted Provbis until Deba was completely consumed in flames.
---
Adrianna listened to Yanga with narrowed eyes. Yanga went on saying, "My son had topped the Wizard Academy and was in fact one of the best wizards." What she meant was that her son, Kenai was better than Adrianna too. "He is a pure-blooded wizard and being one of the youngest, toughest and very sound academically, he is the best choice for being the Military General."
Yanga went on to create her son's image in the air in front of everyone to see and recognize him.
Adrianna heard her blabbing about her son and then said. "I never saw him during the war."
Yanga jerked her head slightly and licked her lips. She stuttered, "Well, he- he- he was protecting the-"
"Oh, I wasn't asking about his whereabouts," Adrianna said with nonchalance. She knew that Yanga wanted to say that he was protecting the house.
Yanga was embarrassed. She quickly added, "You can test him out in any way you like and I am hundred percent sure that he would fare best." She said as though throwing a challenge to Adrianna only.
Adrianna sighed. She thought how stupid Yanga was sounding but she couldn't stop her because after all she was a minister. So she pursed her lips and held her hands close to her chest. "I would be glad to test him," she replied with a sneer.
Yanga gulped. "Yes, you must. After all that is the position of the Military General." She paused and looked at other ministry members for support. "I think it is important that we have this post filled by someone amongst us only rather than finding it in the entire Kingdom."
While some members nodded, others stayed quiet. As usual Isidorus imparted an impartial expression. His face was cold as ice.
Adrianna turned her gaze around. "Is there anything else?"
"What about Ziu's position?" asked another minister who was sitting across her. He was the Minister of Relations who had replaced the earlier one. He stared at her directly into her golden yellow eyes as though trying to intimidate her but her gaze was so intent that he lowered his.
Adrianna exploded inside with anger hearing Ziu's name. She curled her hands into tight fists until her knuckles were white. She clenched her teeth to restrain herself from shouting. A muscle feathered in her jaw. When she found her voice, she hissed, "That position will be abolished."
Everyone around the table looked at her with wide eyes. How can she just take a decision like that? "This position was created long back. You can't simply abolish it one day because the person who held it was a traitor," he countered.
The Minister of Relations was quick to enter his cell and read whom he had to offer as a candidate for the position. "So do you also want another of your kin to take that post?"
"No!" he replied with a shock. "I mean, why not-"
They were messing with her, with someone who had so many wars and had strategized them well. She scoffed, "Why do you want his post? You want to enter his palace? You want access to his files, his secrets or only his post?"
The Minister couldn't answer properly. "I- I-"
"The thing is that everything associated with Ziu has been seized. His palace, his friends, his family and even his servants have been thrown into jails. So that is one very delicate position. So whoever is willing to fill it, understand it very carefully—every movement of yours will be monitored. In fact I will be personally monitoring every movement of yours. Every breath that you will take will be mine to command," said Adrianna with a dangerous tone. Her nostrils flared and she bared her teeth as she spoke those words. It was as if her body's entire hatred was being spit out.
All those around her, quivered in terror. Some ministers clasped their hands in their laps because of tension.
She pointed at the Minister of Relations and asked, "Do you still have interest in it?"
"No, my Queen," came a terse reply.
"Then the post stands abolished. You have other questions?"
"No."
Adrianna rose from her chair and walked out of the room. The Ministers were left behind trembling under her threats.
When she reached the palace, she found that Dmitri wasn't there. Enya and Shang Kui were waiting for her. She greeted them. Then she asked the servant about Dmitri.
"My Queen, he has left for the werewolf realm on an urgent basis."
Adrianna frowned. What could be so urgent? Her mind went to her parent-in-laws. "I must visit them," she thought and then started to talk to the two wizard rulers.
---
Deba's wife gave birth to a baby girl a few hours later.
The group watched Deba burn to death. Once only his charred body was seen, they left the place quietly.
A man walked in front of the woman who had sliced Deba's leg and said—
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