“Then I’ll make sure once we find him, your father realizes the vital role you played in his survival, Lord Neth.” Strider nodded. “If he has been lured into a trap, it will be thanks to you if he comes back alive.”
The Wyvern rubbed his chin, pondering the implications of those words and the advantage that overlooking Jaya’s slight might give him in the upcoming battle for succession.
“Don’t thank me. Thank my sister.” He said with a warm smile that didn’t extend to his eyes or voice.
“I’m not Lith, but if you ever need a new teacher, this is my contact rune.” Solus felt guilty for Jaya’s predicament and was afraid that the moment they left, Tanat would make her pay for her fangirl behavior.
“Thank you, Lady Verhen.” Jaya took out her communication amulet to exchange runes.
Now she could call for help and if something happened to her, Solus would know.
‘Gods above and below, she’s no Tiamat but she still is the mother of his child.’ Tanat thought, falling victim to the common misconception caused by Elysia’s streaks and the fact that Lith and Solus shared the same last name.
‘If Jaya leaves our home for Verhen’s, she would still enjoy his protection and share with his wife the secrets of the Wyvern bloodline. I’d better wait for the old lizard to return and deal with Jaya himself.’
The group left the volcano and traveled back to the lair of the regional beast Lord of the Council, to leave a trail of her movements and reach their next destination with a single Warping array.
“Why did you do that, Solus?” Lith asked as soon as they were at a safe distance. “Are you really willing to take in an apprentice with all the obligations that it entails?”
He wasn’t referring to the housing costs and responsibilities but to the many secrets they had to keep from the rest of Mogar.
“To save her life, dummy!” She replied. “And no, I’m still too weak for an apprentice.”
She sighed, taking a brief pause.
“Also, I never said I’d be her teacher. I just told Jaya to contact me if she needed a new one. I’m sure that Faluel, Ajatar, Athung, and anyone with half a brain we know would pay Jaya’s weight in gold for an apprentice who can use Origin Flames.”
“Good thinking.” Lith nodded. “I wonder why she hasn’t left already.”
“Because it’s not that simple.” Ryka explained. “First, Jaya must meet someone who can take her master’s place and they have to accept taking her in. An apprentice doesn’t get many opportunities to leave the house and when they do, they can’t trust anyone.
“Any mentor is basically their owner and even though Barham is an ass, he’s still her father. His other disciples are still Jaya’s siblings. If she leaves, how can she know for sure she’s not jumping out of the pan and into the fire?
“What if her new mentor turns out to be a monster the moment they have her life in the palm of their hand? What if their workshop has a survival of the fittest environment and the older apprentices harass her night and day?”
“Point taken. I guess I’ve never had to worry about such things because Protector introduced me to Faluel and we just hit it off.” Lith felt guilty for rejecting Jaya for almost one second.
Then he put her in the “none of my business” folder of his brain and forgot about it.
In the following hours, they visited the private residences of the over twenty Forgemasters on their list. Three of them had returned home and knew nothing about the disappearance of their colleagues.
They had all gone out for personal business they refused to disclose, but swore on the grave of their parents they knew nothing of the matter at hand. Their words meant little since according to Ryka, two out of three belonged to Awakened bloodlines and their parents were alive and spellcasting.
What really mattered to Lith were the readings picked by Eyes of Menadion during the questioning.
‘One has just returned from the Blood Desert.’ Lith pondered. ‘The sand in his hair and the residual auras of multiple Phoenixes can’t come from any other place.
‘The second has been somewhere near a Dragon, and judging from how relieved she was when she heard we came on behalf of the Council, she was up to no good either.’
‘Agreed.’ Solus nodded. ‘The third one puzzles me a bit. And not just because he’s another fucking Redcap.’
She was still triggered by the memory of Maergron. She had almost died twice inside the Garden and seeing another Redcap pushed all of her wrong buttons.
‘Yeah, he carried the signs of an underground mine which explains his unwillingness to answer our questions. If he was illegally digging ores belonging to another Awakened, I’d understand his reticence.
‘But there was no trace of crystal or metal dust on him. Just a lot of powerful residual auras.’
“Well, you win some and you lose some.” Strider sighed. “Guess we can rule these guys out for now. The timing of their departure matching the disappearance of the other Forgemasters is probably just a coincidence.”
The three returned Awakened had accepted being searched and they carried nothing illegal on them. Not for a lack of trying, mind you, but the Zouwu had no way to know that.
They had also agreed to not leave their homes and remain available for further questioning. With only four people working on the case, Strider had no reason to waste time on an apparently dead lead.
Not when there were more promising ones available.
After traveling through the three great countries and talking with the disciples of the missing Forgemasters, a pattern emerged.
“This is interesting.” Strider said. “All of them have been contacted during the past month by an unknown client who paid them upfront and arranged for a covert means of transportation the apprentices know nothing about.
“The missing subjects left their homes on different days but their circumstances are nigh identical. Also, depending on how much of their lifespan they have left, all the missing Forgemasters are in the ‘it’s just a matter of years/decades/centuries before they become a Ruler of the Flames’ ballpark.”
“At least according to their students.” Ryka pointed out. “It could have just been brown-nosing”
“No, they honestly believe that.” Strider shook his head. “It’s the reason I arranged for us to speak with the main disciple first and then with the rest of the apprentices. They all praised their mentors while they were alone with us.
“The future heirs had no reason to blow smoke up their master’s ass when there was no one to pat their heads and give them a tasty treat. It would explain why the three returned Forgemasters had nothing to do with our case.”
“Yeah.” Solus nodded. “Those guys were just average. None of their artifacts was even as good as Jaya’s hammer.”
“Good gods, Solus. Can you really tell the quality of an artifact just by looking at it?” Ryka was flabbergasted.
‘Me and my big mouth!’ Solus inwardly griped.
“No, not really.” She actually said. “I just looked at them with Life Vision and appreciated the craftmanship.”
