“Because every prism Dawn produces weakens her.” The Red Mother replied. “A single powerful mage with a tower is much more valuable than many weaker mages. Remember that Sunrise amplifies Dawn’s power so the weaker she becomes the less the amplification effect is going to matter in a battle of this scale.”
“I bring good news as well.” Simara chimed in. “I have no children of my own so I contacted my old rival. Aylen will come with us so you can add another white core to our forces.”
“How did you convince her?” Lith was impressed.
“Mother won’t interfere directly, but she gave me permission to offer Aylen a pardon. Also, I mentioned your offer to reward with the Ears whoever saves Solus and promised Aylen she can keep whatever she can grab in the Fringe.
“Elves, Yggdrasill wood, books, anything but Solus and her possessions. Before you ask, she gave me her word.”
“That’s reassuring.” Lith said and everyone but Jirni nodded.
The clause made no sense to her.
“If she brings her army of Emperor Beasts, she will be of great help.”
“She offered to bring along her son, an Eldritch, and other Liches, but only if they get to pillage the Fringe freely as well. Since a Lich away from their phylactery has their strength more than halved, Aylen would like to store them inside your tower, Yaga.
“She also wants your sacred oath that you will return them by the end of the battle.”
“Liches?” The Red Mother grimaced as if speaking the word coated her tongue with poison.
She wanted to spit in disgust at the idea of carrying those perversions of her work inside her hallowed tower, but her respect for her host stopped her. On top of that, beggars couldn’t be choosers.
Baba Yaga cared for Elphyn Menadion much more than she despised the Maker of All Liches and her sickening progeny.
“Lith, the choice is yours.” She said after a while. “I don’t trust Liches. They are a dangerous, selfish bunch. If they expose one of your secrets, you can’t count on them to keep their mouths shut or not try to exploit it. Think carefully before you answer.”
“There are already too many people involved to worry about that.” Lith said without hesitation. “If my secrets get exposed, I’d be screwed anyway. My priority is saving Solus, everything else is a problem for later.
“Besides, if you keep their phylacteries, Yaga, the Liches can’t make any funny move without paying for it with their lives. Even if their loyalty ends the moment we leave the Fringe, I can live with that.”
“You can tell Aylen we have a deal, then.” Baba Yaga nodded at Silverwing and the women moved toward the exit.
They had to pick up the Firstborn undead, share all the official intelligence with them, and then check if Silverspire’s self-tuning process required more manual adjustments with Creation Magic.
On top of that, Lochra could use a few sparring matches to get accustomed to the battle form of her tower.
“Just one question.” Lith stopped the Red Mother. “Do I need to keep resting in your tower to complete my recovery or will any place do?”
He knew that Baba Yaga would hear whatever he said while inside her tower and he needed privacy. Yet again, beggars couldn’t be choosers, and saving Solus was more important than fleeting embarrassment.
“Any place will do. You just need to rest.” The Red Mother and the First Magus Warped away.
“By the way, Fanny sends her regards.” Fyrwal handed Lith twin crowns that he recognized as the Hands in the form Faluel used as a Hydra and an inconspicuous gold-rimmed pince-nez that short-sighted nobles used all over the Garlen continent.
Tessa’s eyes sparkled with greed when she recognized the artifacts but she kept it to herself.
“Does the offer for the Ears apply to us as well?” The Titania asked.
“Of course.” Lith replied. “If you save Solus, I’ll give you the Ears and anything you want within reason.”
“There’s not much you can offer me, young man.” Tessa pondered for a while. “What about this? You let me use your Forgemastering lab from time to time and while I’m there, you lend me every special piece of equipment you have at the moment. Deal?”
She pointed at the various pieces of the Menadion Set.
“Sounds reasonable.” They shook hands. “Now, if you don’t need me anymore, I have to talk to my wife, spend a bit of quality time with my family, and get some rest. We leave at dawn.”
Lith took the babies from the crib and Warped with his family to his private quarters inside Salaark’s palace.
“Look, I’m sorry for rushing things but time is of the essence. I don’t know if I’ll be back and I have yet to ask Grandma to reforge my equipment to better suit my life forces after they merged further-”
“Then go straight to the point.” Kamila said.
“I’ll be honest with you. I don’t know how to protect you.” He sighed. “Not this time.”
“What do you mean?” She asked. “There has been no attempt on my life for months now and I can stay cooped up in the Blood Desert until your return.”
“It’s not that simple, Kami.” Lith replied. “The attempts stopped because there was no opening for more attacks. After giving birth to Elysia, you have stopped working. There was no schedule the culprit could exploit.
“You never left the Verhen Mansion and its arrays, and the rare times you did, there were always many powerful individuals with you.”
“Why do you think they never attacked while you were away on missions?” Kamila pointed out.
“I have no schedule either and it’s not like I announce my movements.” He said. “The Tower Warp contributes to making me untraceable and I never left for long. There was never the time to notice my absence, plan something, and then put it into practice.
“My longest mission was with the Wayfinder but you came to Jiera with me. Now, however, too many people know I’m about to leave you alone to fight the World Tree. Even worse, it won’t take my enemies long to notice that most of my allies followed me.
“Whoever is behind the attempts on your life has plenty of time to wait for an opportunity if not create one.”
“What if I bring Elysia around?” Kamila proposed.
“It would be useless.” Lith shook his head. “You heard the Guardians. As long as your assailant doesn’t threaten her and their attack won’t harm Elysia, you are on your own.”
“There’s really nothing I can do? Like hiding?” She swallowed a lump of saliva.
“Kami, you can’t hide forever.” Lith replied. “If Jirni is right, those people won’t stop. They’ll just wait until we drop our guard and then strike. It’s what happened to me with Strider.
“I would be dead without my Abomination side and you don’t have one.”
“So what do we do?” She hid her face in his chest, fearing that the days she had left with her husband and children were numbered.
“I have only one option.” Lith said, giving her hope. “I can’t do it without you and you need to follow my instructions to the letter.”
