1841 Brothers at Arms (Part 1)
Lith, Solus, and Elina walked slowly toward their destination. They enjoyed the noises of the bustling city and the warmth of the sun that shrugged off the coldness that haunted them inside.
Yet the brightest light always cast the deepest shadows and many of them were following Lith from far away enough to not let even his inhuman senses notice them.
***
City of Belius, about the same time.
Kamila Yehval stared at her sorry figure in the mirror, taking deep breaths in a futile attempt to calm down. She had deep bags under her eyes from the lack of sleep, she was covered in sweat, and her eyes were bloodshot.
Yet she wasn't back from a deadly mission nor had she been forced to work a triple shift. It was her birthday and she had taken a leave of a few days to recover from fatigue and celebrate the anniversary with her sister.
What had reduced her like that was simply stress.
The idea of meeting Lith again and giving him the final answer about their relationship that she had withheld since the day she had run away from the tower was driving her insane.
She had spent the days after talking with Zinya questioning her relationship with him and pondering if breaking up had been a mistake on her part.
"Calm down, dammit." She said to the mirror. "We just have to go there and tell him that we don't mind Solus. That she's just another of those hot women he always hangs out with." She said the last part with a snarl.
"Note to self, don't snarl. This way, with a little luck, everything will go back to the way it was and we'll spend my birthday together with our families reunited for the event." She had already made the dinner reservation, she only needed to hear Lith's answer before inviting her guests.
"Worst case scenario, even if things between us don't work because of the forced 'threesome', I can always break up with Lith again. I'd still have a job to return to and Zinya's family as a shoulder to cry on.
"This isn't a matter of life and death. I just have to be strong and give ourselves a chance." The idea of another break-up actually terrified Kamila, but after spending so much time with Lith, she didn't feel safe without at least one contingency plan at the ready.
Three more rehearsals and two showers later, she Warped out of the barn of the Verhen house.
"Aunt Kami! I missed you!" Aran galloped to her with Onyx.
"Happy birthday Auntie!" Leria said, looking at him with an air of superiority for forgetting about the date.
"You remembered! You're the smartest and the cutest girl of the Kingdom, Leria." Kamila hugged the kids, kissing their foreheads while Aran rushed to make up for his blunder.
"Happy birthday, Kamila." Raaz inwardly thanked Leria since he had forgotten about it as well. "What brings you here?"
"I need to speak with Lith for a moment. Is he home or at the lab?" She asked while looking around.
The security had definitely improved. Since the day Orpal had declared his intentions, the kings of the woods watched the house, never letting the kids out of their sight.
The magical arrays around them emitted such dense energy that Kamila could feel the hair on her neck stand up.
"Neither. He's in Lutia with Elina and Solus." Raaz replied.
"Oh." Kamila looked at her lucky clothes and her shoes, unsuited for the thirty minutes walk that it would've taken her to reach the city. Between the dust and sunlight, she would've gotten there covered in dirt and sweat.
"Don't worry, I can give you a ride." Raaz proudly patted on the DoLorean. "You are lucky, I was just about to leave. My business is expanding a lot and between the war and the famine, my crops are never enough.
"I'm going to the village of Nenia to see if there are lands that I can turn into cultivable fields with a little help from Lith."
"What about the kids?" Kamila asked with worry.
"Rena is always here while Senton works. Besides, we have magical, Emperor Beasts, and even the Queen's Corps. They are safe. It's us that we should be worried about." He said with a laugh as the magical device took flight and devoured the distance to Lutia.
"Please, tell them that I'll be back for dinner and that they can always call me on my amulet if they need something." Raaz dropped Kamila in the middle of the village, in front of Zekell's shop.
The members of the Queen's Corps would take a while to reach them, but there she would be safe and the blacksmith would point her where to find Lith.
"Thank you, Raaz!" She gave him one of her dazzling smiles, glad for that lucky break.
Then, after the DoLorean turned around and soared into the skies, an Adamant blade pierced through the Orichalcum of her Scalewalker armor. It just prickled her skin and made a droplet of blood run down her back, forcing Kamila to freeze in place.
It wasn't fear stopping her but the awareness that the blade was poking at one of the major arteries of her body. One small cut and she would bleed out so quickly that after less than one minute only a healer capable of using tier four magic would be able to save her.
"Make a sound and it will be your last." The cold voice came from a smiling mouth. She had never seen the man before but he was acting as if they were good friends. "Nod if you understand."
Kamila nodded and followed her kidnapper with a smile on her face.
She had seen worse and Jirni's training made her confident in her skills. That and the countless magic wands and alchemical tools stored in her dimensional amulet that she could use to kill him.
The only thing she needed was an opportunity to use them.
***
After placing their order, all that Lith, Elina, and Solus had to do was wait.
The Heavenly Wolf restaurant was a cozy building made of solid wood. The owner had to be a skilled hunter since he hung his trophies along the walls for his guests to see them.
Oddly enough, despite the restaurant's name, there was no stuffed wolf head.
Solus stopped one of the waitresses, asking her for an explanation.
"Years ago, the owner almost got killed by a Byk. He was hunting down the beast to get the bounty on its head that Baroness Rath had promised to whoever brought her proof to have avenged her son.
"Too bad that the Byk was a much more skilled hunter than my boss and he almost died for his bravado. If not for a flaming red Ry saving his ass, I would be unemployed today." The young woman replied.
"It gave the restaurant its name and the reason whoever hunts wolves is not welcome here."
"Someone should tell Protector that he has a fan club." Solus chuckled as soon as she was certain that the waitress wouldn't overhear her.
"What's a fan club?" Elina asked.
"It's a place where people who admire the same person assemble." Lith glared at Solus for adapting Earth's terms to Mogar's language.
