As Reggio stepped outside into the pouring rain and howling wind, he had a brief urge to just run back down into the chambers and find out where Jane actually was. He ignored it, though, knowing that it was not his place to do so, and decided to do just as Jade had asked of him, keeping the witches in front of him safe. As he followed a few paces behind the last witch he wondered if any of them even knew that they were being watched over by a vampire, almost like the sheep are watched by large dogs. He doubted that they did and found it all quite amusing. That’s when he realized that he basically held all of their lives within his own hands, or at least that is what Jade had led him to think. He began to feel great pride in his new responsibility, knowing that Jade had shown her real trust in him by giving it to him. He would watch over the witches in her absence, making sure they got to the native’s village safely. But if it did begin to get bad, he was not sure what he would do. He was not sure if his connection to Jane would prevent him from helping these witches. He did not know where his true loyalties were, not in those moments.
He tried not to think of it as he followed behind the crowd of witches, and soon realized that the Speed and Strength were taking a different route, the one that led them to the river, probably to avoid the flooding swamp. He remained in the back of the crowd to make sure none of the stragglers lost their way from the trail. He figured that way would be much easier with such a large group, leading them all away from the flooding lake, but once they reached the river, Reggio found it to be no better a place to travel.
To his amazement the wind had actually turned the river in the complete opposite direction, changing its course and pushing its water upstream, forcing up large waves onto each of its two shores. From what I could see, the surge from the sea just couldn’t make it around the bend. The wind was blowing straight northwest at the moment, as the storm approached from the south and pushed the surge straight up the mouth of the river. The water was slowly building up along its banks as it became clogged near the crescent. And as with any flood, it would find the path of least resistance… then it would take it. And it seemed to Reggio that the other side of the river was getting the worst of it as water looked to be rushing onto its shore.
That is when the vampire figured out that it was the wind making all of this happen, as it pushed water onto the land wherever it blew, being strong enough to shift the direction of the raging river. He then realized that any sudden shift in its direction could force that river to overflow onto his side. And it was not until that very moment when he finally sensed the true urgency of the situation. He knew from past experience the destruction this river could cause. And if this storm was strong enough to set it loose, then the swamp would be ravaged. It was just like everyone had warned… no one was safe. That is when he started to rush everyone along the river bank, pushing all of the slow stragglers up to the rest of the crowd. And with the help of Reggio’s urgency they all made it back to the native camp rather quickly, considering the circumstances.
They were met outside of the bushes near the native village by a dozen native witches and led to an open clearing closer to the river, where it was still dry. As one of the warlocks stepped up to survey all the other witches they would have to care for, Reggio recognized him as the warlock that had left the meeting, Suntos.
“You all took a lot longer than I would have liked to wait!” He yelled out over the storm as the rain poured down upon them all. “And this looks like much more than the sixty witches we agreed to help!”
“What does it matter? You told us you would help!” Some of the witches began to yell out.
Reggio then saw the witch named Violet step up next to the warlock.
“I knew that this is what they would do.” The warlock told her. “They only care about themselves.”
“What is going on?!” One of the warlocks next to Reggio yelled out.
Violet shook her head as if she was not sure what to do.
“This is why I did not want to be a part of this.” Suntos reminded her.
“Yes, I can see what you mean now.” Violet sympathized with him.
“So, what are we to do?” He asked her as the crowd began to grow restless.
After taking a deep breath, she answered him with reluctance. “We are to help them. It is what we promised.” A long sigh accompanied her words.
“But that will put as all in great danger.” The warlock objected.
“I know what it will do.” She assured him.
“So I suppose you understand the consequences it will bring, as well?” He asked more seriously. “If it is a war you wish for, you could have just asked for it.”
The dark skinned witch shot a look of cold defiance towards him. “I believe I just did.” She told him blatantly. “Now do as I say.”
The warlock nodded reluctantly and stepped forward. “Wonderful… alright, everyone, listen up!” He yelled to get everyone’s attention. “We are going to divide you witches up as evenly as possible between us! We will then take our separate groups to their respective shelters! And let’s put a move on it. There is no time to waste!”
Reggio shook his head as those words were spoken again. He seemed to be hearing them often, ‘No time to waste…’
So the native witches, all twelve of them, stepped forward and began gathering witches ten at a time. After that, all the odd witches out were gathered up one at a time, continuing until everyone was with a native witch except for the Speed, the Strength and Reggio, who had made up his mind to go with whatever group the Speed and Strength were in. But as the groups were gathered, they just stood where they were. And after a long moment, the vampire figured out what the problem was… they could not communicate.
“You two better thank me for this later.” Reggio mumbled to them as he stepped in front. “We do not mean any trouble.” He said to the native witches as they looked on awkwardly. “We just need to be as close to the… the, ah,” he snapped his fingers as he tried to remember what it was called, “The church, yes, we must get close as possible… just in case things get too bad. We have been assigned to help the others if we have to.”
The warlock breathed out deeply from his nostrils, showing his agitation. “Leave it to them to give such suicidal orders.” He commented underneath his breath, although Reggio still heard him over all the rain.
“It was our decision to do so.” Reggio added, just to make it clear.
The warlock looked at him oddly, wondering how he could have possibly heard him. Reggio only shrugged his shoulders to show his confusion regarding his predicament.
“Fine,” the warlock finally added, pointing over to a hooded figure on the end, “You can go with Sanfrond, then.”
As the three of them entered his group, Reggio could sense his disapproval of getting three extra witches because of some unconfirmed order. It was clear to him now that these witches did not like doing things any other way but their own. But no sooner than they entered into the crowd, they began to make their way back across the swamp once again.
Reggio took the time to admire his surroundings for the first time all day, despite all his trips out there. The storm made everything look so different. The dark clouds hanging overhead gave the swamp an ominous feel, a feel that clearly emphasized the dangers that were approaching. The wind ripped moss from the trees, snapping limbs down to the ground as it kept pushing water further and further out into the swamp, the lake filling beyond its capacity. And soon, he knew, the river would do the same.
It was only a matter of time.
They wound up following Sanfrond passed the settlement, and then traveled another two or three miles beyond it, into the deeper parts of the swamp, somewhere between the settlement and the witch’s underground chambers. They followed him as he led the way to a very thick and very tall tree. It seemed much larger than any other tree around it, probably having survived many storms like this before, and as Reggio looked upwards into the falling rain, he could see that it towered above them all, as well. As
the group approached it, Sanfrond reached up and pulled down what seemed to be a fake branch, causing a rope ladder to drop down along the bark of the tree. Reggio watched as the warlock then began to climb the ladder without telling anyone anything about what to do.
After watching Sanfrond climb halfway up the rope while the other witches just watched, Reggio told them to “Follow him up.” He then stood by and watched as all the witches began to climb up the ladder behind him, one after another in an orderly fashion, as the rain and wind swarmed around them. He could sense the coming of nightfall, even without seeing it. It had been dark all day long, but the vampire could feel the darkness approaching as the rain grew worse and the moon began to take its place in the sky above this strange swamp, its gravitic tug pulling the seas further upward onto the land despite it being hidden away by the thick clouds that enveloped the land, doing more to worsen the flood than anyone could realize. And before everyone had made it up the ladder, they all began to notice how dreadfully dark it was getting, as it was becoming harder to see with each minute that passed.
After everyone had made it up the ladder, Reggio waited for the Speed and Strength to go. The Speed made quick work of it as he basically flew up each vine-like rung with ease. But as the Strength lifted himself onto it, Reggio could hear the stress that was put upon the flimsy rope ladder. He thought it was going to pop from the weight, but climbed up right behind him anyway.
From beneath, Reggio watched as they swayed back and forth with the wind. The Strength then got pulled up into a large structure that had been built into the higher branches of the large tree. Its base was built around a thick fork-like limb that stretched out into three more thick limbs. These three limbs seemed to serve as the center and two ends of the structure, with other smaller branches serving as the four corners and the other two sides. The structure was built around these branches, with them running through and through the wood to help support its weight and hold it in place. It was built in a way that would prevent it from moving on its own, only being able to sway with the tree. The branches helped it stay together and the structure helped the limbs from bending. It seemed like a very sound creation to Reggio, and a very safe place to ride out the storm.
It was rather clear, however, as he pulled himself up into the shelter, that the wind was much more violent this high in the air. Even though they would escape the flooding, he wondered whether they would not be more susceptible to wind damage. He could once again feel all eyes upon him as he rolled in and sat up, looking around without looking at anyone directly, just examining the inside of the shelter. The first thing he noticed was that most everyone was all stretched out along the four walls, all of them dripping wet, leaving little room to fit. But he did not want to sit near anyone, anyway. Instead, he scooted himself back against the thick center tree trunk and rested his head against it. He knew he was out of the rain for time being, and away from the flooding, but he would not forget that Jane was not. He knew that she was still down there on the ground, where the worst of the storm would take place. He was not sure what would happen, but taking Jane’s words to heart, he would not be surprised by any of it.