Still in the infirmary, Jacard and Alara sat together in a deep private conversation. A suite near The Magna’s home was being prepared for him.

Raias barged in without even knocking. “Jacard your friends are here.”

The news surprised Jacard. He asked, “Who is here?”

“Your friend Elef and…” Raias blushed, “another friend of his named Roc.”

Alara laughed. “Raias, I have never in all the years I have known you, seen you blush, Not like that. What is going on?”

Raias faltered. “I… have told not anyone. Can we just forget that for now? They want to see Jacard. If I ask Neferita, she will most likely say no. But you, Jacard, could talk to The Magna. I am sure she would be okay with it.”

“Sure. Absolutely. I would love to see Elef. Not sure how Roc got involved, but he is okay too. Is it alright for me to venture out of this room yet?”

Alara stood up. “I guess we will find out. Let’s go talk to The Magna.”

The three left the infirmary. The guards had withdrawn. Alara led the way. The internal caverns of the coven did not look like caves or caverns at all. Jacard felt like he was walking downtown in suburbia. There was no sky, as the ceiling was a cavern, but they smoothed it over. No stalactite or stalagmites anywhere. Hollowed-out rooms, some with doors and windows, followed along the walls. Several passageways branched off to places unknown. A huge opening was in the center where many women were doing various tasks, from crafts to preparing food. A few were practicing magical incantations in the back. These were mostly young girls.

Alara picked a corridor to the right. They had to walk through the center area to get there. Several members stared at the group. Many of the younger girls and a few more mature women giggled and smiled. “You would swear they had never heard of a man before.”

“For some of them, they may have heard about them, but to see one is not the same.” Raias looked at two who were staring. They both blushed and ran off. “It makes it all very real. Most do not get the chance to venture out as we do.”

They entered the corridor. It turned and twisted a few times until they found themselves in front of an enormous door, ten feet wide and twenty feet tall.

Jacard marveled at the size of it. “You could fit a heard of mastodons through these.”

Before they could knock, Mili, The Magna, opened the door. The door was at least six inches thick. She opened it with ease. “The answer is yes.”

“How did you know?” said Raias.

The Magna smiled. “It is my job to know everything. Use the main audience chamber. The one with the immense banquet table. Have the kitchen staff prepare a grand meal for our guests. I will join you in one hour. When I arrive, we will then invite our guests in.”

The Magna retired into her chambers and closed the door.

Jacard studied the details of the door. “How strong is she? That door has to be very heavy.”

The group worked their way to the hall.

“I will make the arrangements,” Raias volunteered as she walked out of the room.

The hall was colossal, four hundred feet long, one hundred feet wide, and at least fifty feet tall. Jacard looked around. “You could fit an entire football field in here and still have room left over.” There were numerous paintings and tapestries on the walls. They all looked ancient and very well done. “Only master artists could have made such beauty.”

“All these art pieces are The Magna’s. She has amassed an impressive collection. She is older than most of the coven knows. I have read my great-great grandmother’s journals. She spoke of The Magna, several times in them. She described her as she is today. Her description has not changed, and that was over a hundred years ago. The journals go further, eluding to the fact that she was over two hundred back then. What her correct age is, no one knows.”

“Do the journals mention why her chamber door is so large, or why most of the rooms here are larger than needed? I cannot imagine having this banquet hall full of guests. It would hold thousands.”

“Thousands of humans, you mean.” Alara grabbed Jacard’s hand and pulled him towards the very back. There were holes in the floor and scratches on the surface.  “This used to be a place for a chair, but not a chair for a human.”

She took him closer to the wall. A tapestry reaching almost to the ceiling and floor, and twenty-five feet wide, hung on the wall. “Look closely.” The tapestry depicted a battle with hundreds of ships and soldiers attacking a city. The city’s architecture was of ancient Greece. A beautiful woman was prominently portrayed as the reason for the war.

“This is amazing.” Jacard could not take his eyes off of it. “The detail is so real. Wow!”

“It is still an artist’s interpretation. I mean, it is not like the artist was there? Right? People say that the woman’s name was Helen, and the city, Troy. Now look in the upper right portion near the cliffs. There is another woman there, guiding what appears to be the elements. Like a witch. Look closely at her face.”

Jacard’s curiosity peeked. He had to narrow his eyes and focus hard as the woman was quite a way up the wall. His eyes grew large. “No. No way. That is impossible.” The woman in the tapestry was a perfect image of Mili, their Magna. Even then, she appeared as an older woman. She looked just like she does today. “You cannot believe that is her. Maybe a relative?”

“Notice the staff she holds.”

Jacard looked once more. The staff she held then and the one Mili used to stop the spell earlier were the same.

The Magna walked into the hall. “I see you are admiring my collection. I have spent many years devoted to collecting and maintaining these works of art. I have some in my private collection that you would not believe, lost works by famous artists. But enough of all that. It is time to prepare for our guests.”