บท 65: Priesthood (Part 2)

The entire journey was absolutely quite except the occasional angry stares from Trisha. But Visha completely ignored her and that made her even more furious. She couldn't take it anymore and started to throw occasional taunts but Visha completely refused to give her a reaction. Soon they reached the Priesthood Main House. It's entrance was from within a prestigious temple. This temple was famous in the entire country for granting people's wishes, and hence hundreds of believers were always there to visit the shrines. Since it was so crowded one of the priests' disciples came out to greet them and to show them the way. He was quite young and must've been around eighteen or so. The shrine chamber was filled with hundreds of people and was extremely crowded. It became quite difficult to spot their guide in this chaos. But thankfully no one lost the sight of the young disciple and pushed their way through the bustling sea of people. The team followed behind him to a corridor that didn't allow common followers to enter. Only the temple's priests had access to the grounds beyond that corridor. They finally breathed a sigh of relief after leaving that swarming crowd behind. The disciple occasionally looked back to see if their guests were able to keep up. The corridor opened up to an open ground with a few buildings.One could easily see the river a

that flowed behind the buildings at some distance and the thick forest on the other shore. This temple completely surrounded by mountains, seemed right out of a dream. No one can imagine such a peaceful and serene place to exist in the modern world. Shaurya spotted a building ahead that stood surrounded by a patch of lush green grass. The disciple went and pushed the wooden doors open revealing a hall with a gold statue of the temple's deity! It must've been about twelve or thirteen feet tall that stood upon another four feet pedestal. The height made the deity look majestic and overpowering. Below it were nine chairs with a long table ahead. The word 'chair' seemed like an insult, they were more like small thrones. The one in the middle was bigger and slightly higher than the others. All of the nine thrones too were made of gold! This simple looking priesthood could put most of the business tycoons of the country to shame. They were the filthiest rich among the filthy rich! All five stood their in awe as they stared at the gold in front of them wondering if they had chosen the wrong profession and if they should become priests instead. Just then they heard a few footsteps approaching and looked up at the entrance beside the statue. Nine enigmatic men, probably in their thirties, stepped into the room one after the other. They had a royal yet benevolent aura around them as they gracefully sat down at their respective 'chairs'. The disciple standing beside the team bowed to them and left after shutting the doors. Shaurya too bowed and everyone else followed him.

"Elite team three, Bhairavi, at your service."

The man in the middle nodded as a gesture to accept the greeting. His aura was no lesser than that of a King! One of the First Priests scoffed at the word 'elite'. The others looked at them in disdain as well. They were clearly upset about involving witches in their business but couldn't say anything against the High Priest himself, so they directed their hatred towards the witches. Visha looked up and stared at the man who had scoffed at them just now. The disdain was instantly replaced by a slight fear as he saw a beautiful pair of cold eyes staring back at him. He could feel a chill in his entire body as he continued to be both awed and surprised by the girl. She had a powerful aura around her that no one could escape. That look was capable of freezing the most brave men. He shook his head in an attempt to escape the unbearable chill he was feeling.

"You must already be aware of the situation?" said the High Priest. Visha turned her gaze away from the despicable First Priest shifting her attention to the gentle High Priest.

"We have been briefed a little, Your Eminence." Shaurya replied and after receiving a nod from the High Priest he continued, "Our Mistress has informed us that a treasure has been stolen from your lands which is of utmost importance to avoid a great calamity. That is all."

"That was what happened but she had omitted a lot of details. The stone was stolen two days ago when all the disciples and Second Priests had already gone to bed. I was discussing the details for the ceremony with the First Priests right here in this very House of Priests. That's when we heard a scream and rushed towards it. We found a pale faced disciple on the floor outside the Treasure room. He was pointing towards the bodies of the guards at the open gates. We immediately rushed inside to see the volt door of the Treasure room open. The gates of the inner chamber, where the stone was kept, had been blasted open and the stone was missing." the High Priest explained the entire incident. Even though he sat on a very high reputation there was no hint of irritation or arrogance in his tone.