The realization allowed Malakai to understand just how serious the threat was.
His enemy had the authority and resources to utilize a freaking Bloom as a scout…
Malakai's gaze widened slightly. He had just realized another thing.
He had just told the Gor'Mekhai that they were outnumbered and outgunned. Completely outmatched. Their best bet was to leave everything they had and run as far away as they could.
However, the coven head had refused his advice the instant it left his mouth. Malakai had felt a hint of frustration at her blatant decision.
She was basically condemning thousands of her people to die simply because of their pride. But right now, Malakai felt like a hypocrite.
He was literally doing the same. What right did he have to ask people to do otherwise?
His enemies were people from the Sanguine clan. People the Sovereign had decided to leave even after finding out they plotted to have Malakai's parents killed.
They weren't his match. But even knowing that, Malakai still had every intention of having his revenge.
'Their home is important to them, just as my revenge is to me,' Malakai realized.
It was odd, finally understanding someone else's perspective. If he had to be honest, he had only ever thought about his way, and his way alone. He'd never actually considered others.
Malakai shook his head and decided to have the thoughts later. But deep down, he knew, it would affect how he treated the Gor'Mekhai in the future. The coven head especially. They had more in common than he would like to admit.
Malakai fixed his churning gaze on Nyx.
"What are your orders?" She asked.
"Can you defeat him?"
"It's difficult to tell without meeting him directly. I can only feel his eyes… and it's faint."
"Do you think you can sneak past him then?"
Nyx nodded confidently. "Yes." Then added after a few moments, "I think his actual target is the base. We're caught in his sights because we're here."
Malakai began to nod, then shook his head. "You're half right, Nyx," he said, moving towards the window and shutting it.
"His target is most likely the whole squad. But it's very unlikely that he won't try to monitor us if he sees us leaving the base."
If the man's objective was monitoring the squad, that would extend to wherever each of them went. Malakai didn't want to risk being followed, especially during the nights he planned on visiting the Gor'Mekhai.
'I'll have to stop Grunde from going there for now,' Malakai thought.
Grunde obviously had no idea that they were being tailed. He couldn't afford to let the big man lead anyone to the fountain.
He turned back to Nyx. "You can sneak us through?"
Nyx pondered for a moment before nodding her head seriously.
"Alright, take down the veil. When I get to Grunde's, erect another."
Nyx listened to Malakai's command and brought down the vita veil. The vita veil was truly useful for a lot of things.
The Blood Knights used it to contain the darkness creatures and keep their battles from causing more deaths. But in this case, Nyx had used it to block out any sound and even sight.
Malakai left his room and went down the hall. Because of the ongoing construction, they had moved to the alternate house.
It was smaller than the base, but as Malakai would prefer, neater. It had only two floors, and most of the squad had their rooms on the second floor. Except Riven, who had chosen the one on the first.
Malakai reached Grunde and informed him of the restrictions. Just like he had expected, Grunde whined and groaned, even blatantly refused.
But though Malakai wanted to avoid it, he threatened to tell Laila about his 'love affair' if he didn't stay put.
Grunde had been forced to listen, but Malakai could feel the sadness radiating from the big guy. Regardless, he didn't change his mind.
He, of course, hadn't informed Grunde of the reason behind it. The big man couldn't lie. If Malakai told him about a Bloom watching their every move, odds were that he would challenge him directly. And at that point, Malakai would only have himself to blame.
Afterwards, Malakai made his way back to his room where he informed Nyx of their next move.
It involved her doing what he had asked earlier, sneaking him past the eyes of the Bloom.
For this, they had to wait until night time.
Before then, Renlo had come with food during the day, and while Malakai ate, Renlo had asked once more about what happened to him.
Malakai had stared at Renlo, his mind churning. It wasn't that he didn't trust Renlo, but he maintained his silence for two reasons.
The first, the fountain was important. Too important for it to get out. As far as Malakai was concerned, the fewer who knew about it, the better.
The second, it didn't feel right spilling Grunde's secret like that.
Regardless, he didn't want to lie to his only friend. Eventually, Malakai had settled for the truth, even though it wasn't complete.
"We went back to the forest and I had to fight some of them," was all Malakai said.
Renlo's eyes had widened. Never in his wildest dream would he have imagined that those savages were responsible for this.
He had assumed that Malakai and Grunde were doing some kind of secret training. Not this. Never this.
"Why did you go back?" Renlo had asked, baffled.
"I wanted to find out more about them."
Renlo opened his mouth to speak, then shut it the next moment. He glanced down and Malakai didn't miss the clenching of his fist and the hardening of his expression.
Renlo soon excused himself, telling Malakai that he had to train.
Malakai sighed as Renlo left. While he didn't know the exact cause, the boy's face had shown exactly what he was feeling. He wasn't happy.
Night soon came, and it was time to leave the base.