Chapter 79 - Conspiracies

While Kraetor City was being conquered by the combined forces of the natives of the Northern Continent, and the soldiers sent from the Central Continent, a stealthy messenger made his way through the territory of the Bolvar Tribe.

When he got to the aboveground region where the underground city was located, the messenger buried a letter under a peculiar, tree that was strangely shaped. After doing that, he quickly left the area and vanished into the darkness that still lurked between the dense vegetation of the forest.

A few hours later, a lone Beastkin walked into the area where the letter had been buried. He made a beeline toward the tree where the the letter was, and dug it up with haste. He then covered up the ground to look as thought it had been untouched, before retreating and heading back to the underground city.

.

Ezra sat on one of the chairs in his study. A deep frown was drawn across his face as he examined the letter in his grasp.

The letter in his grasp was plain white, with no symbols on it except one. It depicted a black face with a single horn atop it. Ezra recognized this symbol. His father had told him quite a lot about this symbol in particular, as he was to be the next Patriarch of the tribe after his father stepped down. Unfortunately, he had died an early and untimely death, thrusting he reigns of power into Ezra's arms far too soon.

The symbol on the letter belonged to an organization that was deeply rooted in the underground society of the Central Continent. That organization was the backer of the Bolvar Tribe, and the tribe was actually just a splinter branch of the organization!

In fact, over fifty percent of the tribe had left on a mission to the Central Continent when the organization had called, just before the death of Ezra's father. That was the reason why the population of the tribe at the time when the taskforce had assisted them was so low. Most of their members were not available at that time.

After breaking the wax seal, Ezra pulled out the letter than was inside. He unfolded it and began reading it. When he was done, he scrunched up the letter and threw it into the fireplace that was burning at the side.

"Sigh..." He leaned on his desk and held his head in his hands that were trembling ever so slightly.

.

.

While Ezra was going through a moral crisis, the aftermaths of the battle for Kraetor City were just setting in.

The residents of the city were rounded up in front of the plaza where the Seat of Power was located. They were monitored by the soldiers to make sure that they did not misbehave. Although they were 'citizens' over seventy percent of them were demi-humans. If they decided to attack, then they might be able to overpower the soldiers.

As this was going on, all the important people of power that presided over Kraetor City were gathered elsewhere.

Mohawk watched Moses, the elected leader of Kraetor City as the man eyed Mian warily, with his limbs tied up. He was still under the control of the Herder Drug, so he viewed Mian as an enemy.

"Behave yourself." Mohawk reprimanded him with a stern tone of voice. Moses glared at Mohawk after that before directing a question at him.

"What did you do with Sir Adas, you vile beast?!" He growled.

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know?" Mohawk grinned at him, not offended by the Werecat in the least, as he was under the effects of the drug. Instead, his hatred for the Henshaw Dynasty went up a few notches.

Mian remained a few feet away from Moses as he raised his hand and pointed it at the older demi-human. A golden radiance shone from his palm and onto Moses, and the Werecat immediately froze. A few moments later, the light receded, and he was left a panting mess.

"What... What happened?" Moses took in his surroundings warily. He noted that his arms and legs were tied up and immediately assumed that those around him were his enemies. The sight of the Kraetor City's councilmembers tied up also added to his suspicions.

Before he could begin to struggle, the ropes tying him were immediately cut apart, stunning him.

"Welcome back, Moses." Mohawk nodded. "Let me get you up to speed."

Following that, Mohawk explained all that had happened, while Mian made rounds with the council members, cleansing the effects of the drug that still lingered in their bodies.

"What?! Those despicable Henshaws!" Moses cursed angrily when he got up to date. At first, he still doubted what Mohawk said, but when Mohawk handed him a scroll that was provided by Sir Delk, he was immediately convinced.

The amount of respect that demi-humans had towards the Gifted among them was immense. Just the proof that one of the demi-human Gifted was supporting a cause was enough for an immense amount of demi-humans to throw their support behind said cause.

He then went ahead to get his councilmen up to speed on the recent happenings, and when that was done, they all set off from the building here they were being held, to the Seat of Power, where their subjects were being held.

At first, when Moses tried to explain what had been happening to them, the people refused to believe, still under the firm belief that the Henshaws were their allies. That was when Mohawk had enough and walked across the balcony of the building where Adas was standing earlier that morning.

He threw out an orb of golden light that abruptly exploded when it reached the center of the plaza, showering the people down below in its contents.

A golden radiance overwhelmed the plaza for a minute before calming down. When the light was gone, the people were left, looking confused at what was going on.

"You can go ahead and explain it to them now. They have regained their senses." Mohawk waved at Moses to carry on before retreating back into the office.

Nodding, Moses repeated his earlier speech, and the response he got this time was much more positive. All the residents of the city were rightfully infuriated, both demi-humans and humans alike.

Although there were humans that resided in Kraetor City, none of them were remotely happy with their counterparts in the Henshaw Dynasty. Some of them had moved here from the lands of the Dynasty after running into some trouble with a rival in power, and seeing as they were unable to get the upper hand, they just decided to move to somewhere that their rivals would find it much difficult to inflict harm upon them.

Upon hearing that the Henshaw Dynasty had brainwashed them and made them nothing more than slaves, they were furious and began to rain down curses on King Fredrick and the rest of the nobility in the dynasty.

While Moses addressed his people, Mohawk was in the office, looking curiously at the middle rank demi-human who had called his attention, Mian.

"How can I help you?" Mohawk raised a brow and asked. Although he too held great respect for the Gifted, he was able to tame himself, and not worship them like the masses did. After all, they were not gods.

"I was just wondering what that thing you threw into the air earlier was. And how it was able to cleanse the people?" Mian asked with a tilted head. He was quite interested in what Mohawk had done, and wanted to know how he did it. From what Mohawk had told them earlier, while he was a powerful demi-human, he was definitely not Gifted.

"Oh, that? It was just one of the Cleansing Orbs that Sir Delk handed me before we set off for the Northern Continent." He pulled out one of the golden orbs he had in his bag and showed it to Mian.

"This little thing gets rid of all negative status effects like poisoning, dizziness, and supposedly, even brainwashing." He threw it in the air before snatching it and stuffing it back into the bag.

"So, Sir Delk already knew about what the Henshaws were up to?" Mian asked, moving on to another topic.. He wanted to know more about the Cleansing Orb, but he figured that Mohawk would know little about it, and instead, he decided that he would ask Sir Delk about it if he ever had the chance.