BOOK PREVIEW

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As they delivered their words, the women mostly spoke in unison, with eyes glossed over with an onyx tint. At times some voices fell out and joined back in. They also tended to finish each others' sentences as if they shared one mind.

They said, "We are four yet exist to serve as one. But it wasn't always so. The Dark Empress rose then fell, and the light was born into the world again."

"Speak plainly. I'm losing my patience. What does that mean? Is she close? Does Moonlight come for me?"

The council of heretic witches paused, poured out more colorful sand onto the stone table. They were silent while they connected it in a tree like pattern. Their faces were neutral until they connected the last line of sand upon the prophecy stone. 

Their shaken expressions immediately returned to what they had been before. Giving no indication of the prophecy or why they had reacted in the manner they had.

Their voices scratched out the wave of words, "Yes but your window is small to change the outcome. Others are making efforts to awaken her. The balance is shifting even as we speak." 

After that their eyes returned to normal. 

"We will tell you one thing more, but after that you must go. You must act as stone not as sand. Act as tree not as wind. Act as the ocean not as rain."

His eyes narrowed and his hand folded into a tightly clenched fist. 

"Riddles. You've told me nothing. What does any of that mean?" he hissed.

"What we tell you is yours to understand. Do with it what you will."

He shot forward and soon was next to one of them so quickly the average mortal would not have seen him move. It would have seemed as if he had just appeared in a flash. He clutched her jaw and then slid his hand down in a menacing way to rest upon her throat. He began to squeeze and then issued a threat.

"I don't care for riddles. You will tell me what I need to know plainly or you will die."

He had barely finished his words when he noticed the other three had shifted their positions. They had done so, so fast that even his immortal enhanced eyes had not seen. They did not surround him but they all faced him as if ready to strike. 

They now appeared to be waiting. But for what? His eyes snapped back to the one he held in his clutches. Her eyes glowed white that time. 

"He's amusing."

"Yes." The others had agreed shadowing and ringing like bells answering the other before them yet ending at the same time in precise unison.

"What?! I'm in control here. Remember, you serve me," he said as his voice dissolved into a shrill of pain.

His hand that clutched her throat glowed white. Embers of glowing white fire ash began to shed from the top of it but the pain was most intense where he gripped her throat. He tried to retract it but it would not move. The pain began to still as she began to speak. 

"We tolerate this alliance. We allow you to exist like we allow you to no longer be in pain. We do not serve you."

He clenched his jaws yet his hand was still immobilized and under her control. She went on.

"You may threaten us with your leverage, but you have no servants here. We serve balance, equalize the shifts, and harmonize the realm. If you walk out of line again we will no longer sit on the sidelines. We will not be your forced allies. Is that plain enough for you?"

His eyes narrowed. Clearly he was seething with rage underneath the surface of his demeanor. But regardless he was at a disadvantage to their power. He knew better than to press the issue.