Page 126 of The Silent Mountain
Alana turns to Shayan. “Since you were undercover in the cult, what do you think is going on?”
“The witch there was incredibly powerful,” he says. “Almost too powerful. It made sense that she was able to hold this whole organization together. However, looking at it now, it also makes sense that she was an ally to someone who is equally twisted and might even hold more power. After all we know, the man Alana saw disappeared without any trace. As if he snapped with his fingers and he was gone.”
“He left no traces behind,” I verify. “Aside from this one feather.”
“Did he leave it behind on purpose?” Endellion asks.
“I doubt it,” Alana replies. “I think he wants to remain undetected. But I am sure he must have known that Elio and I were on the island. Maybe he thought we wouldn’t make it. We were lucky with the feather, and with Elio and me making it out alive.”
“I am convinced his original goal was to get rid of you,” Shayan says. “But you were saved before he could do so. He retreated, but not because he is weak. He probably just isn’t ready to strike, for whatever reason.”
“You think he is going to go for a direct war?” Endellion asks.
“No,” Shayan frowns. “I think he is much more sly than that. Penelope, the witch who imprisoned King Favian, was sly too.”
“You are a man with a lot of experience,” Stefan says. “You were a strategist in the human realm. What does your intuition tell you?”
“That whoever our attacker is has bigger plans. It might not even be personal, maybe we are just collateral damage, or he wants to toy with us. He used guerrilla tactics to attack the dragon clan, while it would make more sense for him to attack directly. We need to think about why. Why did he remain hidden? Why does he lead this cult? Why did he disappear just like that? What does he get out of this?”
“How many more allies does he have?” Alana adds.
“That too,” Shayan says.
“Goddess,” Endellion groans. “I thought it was over when we beat Penelope, but it looks like she was just the tip of the iceberg.”
“It seems like that summarizes it well,” I grumble.
“Do we know anything about Penelope?” Alana asks
“The deities have imprisoned her,” I say. “Favia told me as much, but not more.”
“Maybe she wasn’t aware of there being a secret power supporting her,” Shayan adds. “Penelope was full of herself and overly confident. As Queen Alana said, our new attacker seems to like to remain hidden, but at the same time proves to be very capable. He has brought creatures into this realm that shouldn’t exist here. Then, there’s the spell and the birds. It’s almost like he wanted to spread sickness and desperation.”
“You mean, he had fun with it?” Endellion says quietly.
“Probably. Maybe in his own way, he was toying with Penelope also.”
I turn to look at Stefan, who has listened quietly so far, just a worried frown on his face. “What do you think?”
“Penelope was vindictive, vile, and cruel, but also very smart. Hence, the perfect tool for someone similar to her but with more power.” Stefan furrows his brows. “It’s all just assumptions, but I am with Beta Shayan on this. She might not have been aware. I am convinced our enemy will target other shifters, but we are just not aware of the whens and hows. We just know that the human realm is already experiencing unusual incidents. However, his goals remain hidden. I have no clue what he is trying to achieve.”
“Neither have I,” Shayan mutters.
“I want to propose an idea,” Endellion says. “Azadeh and I talked about it recently, and we think it would be a good idea to amass our allies, to meet them in person and to strengthen our bonds—maybe in a yearly event.”
“You mean like a ball,” Alana says. “Where we invite everyone and meet privately.”
“Exactly. In a way, all shifters have one thing in common, and it’s also our biggest weakness: we all stay within ourselves. It makes us weak and easier to attack.”
“You are right,” I concur. “It was certainly what made us dragons weak. We didn’t have allies or friends.”
“That’s true for a lot of shifters, but also for the human realm and for the Fae,” Endellion adds. “We are in contact with all of them. Why not use this to our advantage, gather them, invite them, give them a voice and a chance to mingle?”
“We could keep in touch about everything that way,” Alana says. “We don’t know who our attacker is or if he disappeared for good. As Stefan said, chances are high that he is targeting other realms too. Flinn had some worrying things to report. We need to try to stay united.”
“I agree, we need to strengthen our bonds,” Stefan agrees.
“The hosts could alternate,” Shayan adds. “It gives smaller kingdoms the chance to represent themselves and know that their voice matters too.”
