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While Reggio arrived safely at the tree shelter with the native witches, Jade was just getting to the church with the remaining of her brood. The group she was with consisted mostly of the elder and more respected witches, the ones that stepped up to lead when they were cast out into the wilderness. They were all taking the chance of remaining on the ground while the others were in the safety of the trees.
The structure they chose to protect them was the human’s church, and it was a rather sturdy two story building built mostly from the vast amounts of cypress trees in the swamps all around. The inside was built into two separate sections, a front and a back. The front of the church was built into a large enough alter room to accommodate all the mortals living in the settlement for mass each week. Behind that was a living quarters built for those who lived within the church, complete with kitchen and bedrooms downstairs, along with more rooms upstairs. This is where the mortals of the church hid from the storm, up in the church’s rafters. Most of the other mortals felt that their military barracks was a much safer building to wait out the storm in, which left most of the church empty for the witches to use. The ones that remained behind chose to put their faith in their God instead of a sturdier building. A few other mortals from the settlement joined them as well, opting to let this all mighty God protect them as they huddled up and prayed with the other mortals upstairs while the witches took over the alter room for the time being.
As the witches entered, they were greeted by Surekote’, who had been waiting there with the newly returned Heather and their self proclaimed king, Orleans. He told them to make themselves comfortable, and they did. Everyone seemed to spread out, speaking amongst themselves, all of them knowing the importance of surviving this storm. Orleans and Heather, though, were nowhere to be found as Surekote’ began speaking with Caffin about all that was happening, and probably learned about all that he had missed being at the church since the night before. Jade found a pew that was away from everyone else so she could be alone for a moment, her thoughts racing, but Marigny, the warlock that was supposed to speak with the natives instead of her, found her in the corner by herself and sat down next to her, flipping a box of matches in his left hand as he did.
“So… I suppose you rushed everyone out of there so quickly because Jane is retrieving the stones for us.” Marigny said to her, not quite asking her a question, but not quite telling her that was what happened either.
Jade was lying back on the pew, staring up at the ceiling, watching the wooden planks rattle up and down every now and again, allowing in small sprays of rain. Then, with a sigh, she sat up and hugged her legs with her arms, putting her chin up against her knees to look at him. “Yes, if you must know.” She told him, her voice a bit muffled.
Marigny smiled and let out a slight chuckle. “That is good.” He said. “It will put us in a very powerful position once we have them free from that damn labyrinth.”
“No more so than we are now, actually,” Jade pointed out with pessimism, “The same obstacles will still be in our way… Rita over there and Orleans right beside us.”
“Well, those obstacles can’t live forever.” Marigny reminded her.
“Yes, but neither can we.” She told him in return. “We have waited long enough for ‘our time’ to arrive.”
“And we will wait longer, as long as we must.” The warwalker spoke softly, but kept a rather demanding tone. “This has taken many centuries to arrange, and we cannot allow any of the things that have happened in the last day to rush us into doing something we are not prepared for.”
“But I am prepared, Marigny.” Jade made clear to him, pausing for a moment before continuing. “I have been ready for a long time, a very long time. You are the one that keeps delaying everything.”
He looked at her as if he were just insulted. “I am prepared to take action once the opportunity presents itself.” He told her. “Things may not quite in place yet, but are without a doubt moving in the right direction. We will be ready soon, Jade. You must keep your patience.”
Jade smiled briefly at him, but only to spite him. “Patience only serves to hold us back.” She hissed quietly. “I have heard you speak in this way before, claiming to nearly be ready… ‘oh, if the sun were only set,’” she mocked him, “’If only Alasha would not have arrived, just when I was about to make my move’.” She laughed at him for a mere second before stopping herself abruptly and glaring at him with annoyance draped across her face. “But never have you ever moved to act. Patience has been your excuse every time. And each time, we wait for things to fall into place for us, every time waiting for the perfect opportunity, expecting the ideal situation to just slap us across the face, yet something always happens to prevent our actions. So, maybe instead of waiting for everything to fall into place, and stalling for that perfect opportunity… maybe we should try forcing those things into place. You know, make our own opportunity.”
“What are you trying to say?” Marigny asked curiously, wondering what was going on inside her mind.
“Exactly what I just said, we make things fall into place for us.” She told him obviously. “We create our own opportunity and wait no longer for some perfect fate to fall into our laps. The stones have nothing to do with it, but instead the sands of time.” Jade shifted slightly as she pointed to the west. “You see, it dawned on me earlier. Time controls the mortals. Their lives are short, so it is constantly wearing on them. And finally, I believe their memories are now dull enough for us to begin shaping them in our own way. All we need is power of our own, then, with it, we can mold the future however we wish.”
Marigny chuckled at what she said. “Very intriguing, Jade, but the stones have everything to do with this.” He corrected her. “Without them, all of our efforts to gain power would be for naught.”
“But if no one knows where they are, and we do, would that not be the same as having them ourselves?” She asked him.
“Well, yes, I suppose.” He admitted. “The only problem… others do know where they are.”
Jade looked at him with a slanted smile. “Yes, for now they do.” She told him. “But that may change by the end of this night.”
The two stared at each other for a few awkward moments before Marigny broke the silence.
“I hope you are not planning anything without my knowledge.” He told her warningly.
Jade’s smile widened as she spoke. “Oh, of course not,” she told him. “I am just stating a fact. This is a very dangerous storm that could take any one of our lives. None of us are guaranteed to make it through this.”
Marigny stood up and looked down at her, beginning to flip the matches again. “Just come and find me when Jane arrives with the stones.” He told her, basically ignoring what she just said as he turned away from her. “We can speak more about our next move then.”
Jade watched him as he walked away, her thoughts flashing back to her conversation with Jane, just after the meeting called by Orleans, while Reggio was still in the library… “Heather has just informed me that Rita has predicted the arrival of this vampire.” Jane had told her, to which Jade nodded her head in confirmation. “And if we are correct, they will be coming for an… the, uh, the vampire, whatever he calls himself.” She corrected herself oddly before continuing, “And Heather also believes one of the coming power signatures to be Angela, and because of your former relationship, we see you as our best chance at stopping her. If she is allowed to find him…” The elder witch was clearly nervous. And as she looked into Jade’s eyes, the younger witch could sense her urgency as she spoke, “Whatever you do, Jade, whichever path you choose to take, you must promise me one thing…” The way she stared at the young witch made her nerves suddenly explode with fright, as if she knew everything that Jade was already planning in her head. But, as a broken smile tilted upward the elder witch’s lips, seeming to ease her tensions, instead of any threatening ultimatums, Jane left her with a simple request, “Jus
t protect him… protect the vampire. Whatever you do, Jade… just promise me that you’ll keep him safe.” As Jade graciously nodded her head, assuring the elder witch that it would be so, her thoughts flashed back to the present, her neck leaning back as she mumbled to herself, “If Jane makes it back… sure.”