2090 Turning the Tide (Part 2)

'Also, are you seriously calling them kids? They are both older than you and the bright blue core is a dream for most fake mages and the limit that Awakened can reach without enlightenment.'

Kamila's unexpected pregnancy had thrown a monkey wrench in Lith's usually clockwork mind. He didn't want her to go back to work, Salaark or not, nor did he want to leave her side.

To make matters worse, it had also cranked his paranoia and overprotectiveness up to twelve. Lith now saw everyone but himself as weaklings that required the protection of a Guardian.

"What are the other two targets?" Tista asked, unaware of her brother's inner turmoil.

"I'm sorry, Mage Verhen, but that's a secret." Queen Sylpha shook her head. "The members of each unit only know their own mission so that even if they get captured and tortured, they can only give the enemy useless information."

"When do we start?" Lith couldn't find a flaw in the plan and was eager to put it behind himself.

"As soon as you are finished arranging the final details between the three of you." Raagu replied. "The Warp Gate will lead you to Zehnma where the Awakened troops are already waiting for you disguised as a scouting unit."

Lith moved to a corner of the room, followed by Tista and Phloria, conjuring spells that would seal them from the outside world.

"Are you sure you want to do this? Did they threaten you in any way to force you to accept this mission?" He asked.

"For the hundredth time, lil bro, I'm here of my own will." Tista sighed in exasperation. "I can't spend my life on the sidelines while you do all the hard work. I accepted to take part in the conflict for you, our parents, and most importantly, for myself.

"There's no way I'm going to stay idle while everyone and everything I love is in danger because of a mad woman."

"I appreciate, your concern for me, Lith, but I lived my life as dangerously as you do ever since I graduated from the academy." Phloria crossed her arms. "I'm not doing this for you, but for my soldiers.

"Even though most of the Awakened I trained are way older than me, they have less battle experience than Tista. Without my leadership, they'll panic and die at the first hitch. My dream has always been to lead my loyal troops in defense of my country and the Council made it come true.

"Raagu didn't force me to do anything, I volunteered for this mission. Stop being paranoid and relax. We'll have each other's back, just like old times." She said with a warm smile that turned sad the moment her hand reached for her necklace out of habit and found nothing.

"One last thing." Lith still carried the golden lily pendant on himself and noticed the gesture but said nothing about it in respect for her choice. He took Tista's and Phloria's hands to establish a mind link.

'Solus, who do you think will need your help the most? I'm going to stay hidden to control the Demons until the siege starts so your tactical cunning and skills would be wasted on me.'

'Excellent question.' She didn't like the idea of being separated from Lith one bit, but her priority was to bring them all back alive. 'Phloria, you'll be fighting on the frontlines and drawing the attention of the enemy while they work on the inside.

'A battlefield is a chaotic place and you could use Menadion's set whereas Tista has the Mouth.'

'Thanks for the offer, but no. Full Guard works almost as well as you do and with my soldiers around me, I'll have plenty of people watching my back. Between my breathing technique and my spell holding blade, I'm nigh-invincible as long as I have a bit of time to prepare.

'Tista, instead, will have to navigate through traps and arrays and could use your expertise and the Eyes. You made one good point, though. If you go with Tista, two Mouths are overkill whereas I could use one.'

Solus' ring slipped off Lith's hand while Tista handed Menadion's artifact to Phloria. She shapeshifted it into a necklace with a mask-shaped pendant that filled the void that returning Lith's gift had left without revealing her feelings.

"Let's go then." Lith said after they had convened signals for any contingency they could think of.

After stepping through the City Gate of Valeron, they found themselves out of the wooden circle that formed the temporary gate. The red dimensional runes contained the coordinates of the artifact and allowed the Gate network of the Kingdom to lock onto them.

It was one of the few pieces of Royal Forgemastery's technology that the Council envied the fake mages.

"Welcome back, Commander Ernas." A seemingly young man in his mid-twenties said while giving her the salute with the wrong hand. "The troops are ready and waiting for your orders."

"Thanks, Lieutenant." Phloria had recreated the army ranks to teach discipline and establish a clear hierarchy without bloodlines or personal ambitions messing with the chain of command.

"Lieutenant Merrik, allow me to introduce you to the Supreme Magus Lith Tiamat Verhen and Mage Tista 'Red Demon' Verhen. Guys, he's Rhekan Merrik, my second in command."

The Lieutenant was even taller than Lith, almost 1.9 meters (6'3") tall with a broad physique, dark blonde hair, and blue eyes. With his pale skin and finely trimmed beard, he reminded Lith of a modern Viking warrior.

Merrik's eyes went wide at those names, staring at Lith in surprise for way longer than it was polite.

"Do you like what you see, do you want an autograph or what?" Lith said with a scoff.

"I'm sorry, sir." The Awakened smiled awkwardly in embarrassment. "I heard a lot about you and I've watched all of your recorded fights."

"And?"

"And you looked so majestic that I expected you to be taller." At those words, Tista and Phloria started laughing, making Merrik think he had said something rude.

"Never meet your heroes, kid." Lith replied with a shrug while looking at Zehnma.

The temporary Gate had been set up atop a hill surrounded by tall trees, far away enough from the city to allow scouts to study its surroundings without being visible from the walls.

Zehnma was an important trading hub where food supplies from all over the western cities would be brought and stored before being moved to Prode, the city considered the granary of the Kingdom.

Thrud had taken it over after the annual tax collection had started. Due to the famine of the previous year, the local lords had been forced to pay part of their tributes in food.

The Royals had learned the hard way that, without constant supervision, the regions with the greatest number of cultivated fields would hoard the crops after the harvest and refuse to share them in order to avoid food rationing.

Half of the Kingdom had almost starved because of that the previous year, causing riots everywhere. By taking a part of the crops before the harvest and sending inspectors to weigh the product, the King had hoped to prevent such things from happening again.

Instead, he had unwittingly created a perfect opportunity for the Mad Queen.