Supreme Magus

Chapter 4506: Humiliating Secret (Part 2)

”You are the one I want as my plus one, Yaga.” Lith said after storing away his dimensional amulet. ”Please, I need your help.”

”No need to be polite. Of course, I’ll help you.” The Mother replied. ”This is a great opportunity for me to study the workings of my deranged daughter. If you didn’t ask me to accompany you, I’d have begged you to let me come with you.

”What I don’t understand is why you thought of me in the first place.”

”It’s not that hard.” Lith shrugged. ”You are one of the greatest experts on life forces on Mogar and Night’s mother. If someone can understand what she’s done to Meln, that’s you.

”Also, you are a white core, and everybody knows about your tower. Your presence will deter the Fae from trying anything funny and provide me the cover I need to use the Ears and Eyes of Menadion.

”Everything we learn from the artifacts, we can claim it’s thanks to your powers or tower. Without you, the Fae might suspect something or think that my bloodline is more powerful than it is.

”My family is already under siege, and I don’t want the entire Fae race to become obsessed with them.”

”All excellent points.” Baba Yaga nodded. ”When do we move?”

”Now.” Lith replied. ”The situation is critical, and the Fae already wasted a lot of time before calling me. There is not a second to lose.”

He Warped Kamila to the tower, explaining everything to her via a mind link.

’Please, find a nice cover story and don’t tell Mom about the child.’ Lith said. ’She hates Meln like everyone else, but that boy is innocent and her grandchild. I don’t want her to grieve him if I fail to save him.’

’Can’t we talk about this?’ Kamila asked. ’I’m the one who has to lie to our family.’

’Sadly, there is no time. Wish me luck.’ Lith Blinked her in the keep and charged up the Tower Warp.

’Kick his ass.’ Kamila replied. ’This is no illness. It’s just Meln, and I know you won’t let him win.’

Starforge moved to the nearest mana geyser to the Fae secret hideout Lith knew, and from there they moved with Bloodhaven.

”We really need to travel more and mark more geysers.” Solus sighed. ”If not for Malyshka, this would take a while.”

”We’ll stop on the mana geysers we meet on the way to let you imprint them.” Baba Yaga said. ”Now let’s focus. Lith, give me Solus’ ring. You don’t want the magical formations of the Fae to detect something that powerful on your finger.”

”Way ahead of you.” Lith handed her what looked like a stone pendant of a dragon coiled around a precious gem.

”Great minds do think alike.” She shapeshifted into her Crone form and put the pendant at her neck.

The group reached their destination in a few minutes. It was a thick woods in the east side of the Kingdom, the like they had seen hundred others. If not for the presence of a powerful mana geyser, the place would have been unremarkable.

”My tower can siphon the world energy even from here. What about yours, Solus?” The Crone asked.

”The Fae’s magical formations take most of the mana geyser’s output, but I should be able to nibble a bit of world energy without them noticing if I take things nice and easy.” Solus replied. ”Marking it is impossible, though.”

”Do what you can; I’m calling Lotho.” Lith said.

The Treant emerged from a sycamore smaller than him that stretched like rubber upon his passage.

”Good gods!” He said when he recognized Bloodhaven.

Baba Yaga had kept her tower outside the area of effect of the detection arrays, and her cloaking enchantments made Bloodhaven invisible to anything but regular sight.

”Stop gawking at a lady. It’s rude.” Lith walked towards the entrance with the Crone one step behind him.

”You know the Red Mother? How?” Countless thoughts ran through Lotho’s mind, and not one was peaceful.

”Know is a big word.” The Crone replied. ”We just have something in common. Or rather, someone. I want Night dead, and he wants Meln dead. It would have been stupid of me not to give Verhen the means to contact me. Now make way, little sprout.”

”You are a white core, and that’s your mage tower.” Lotho retorted. ”My friends will feel threatened by your presence.”

”What a coincidence, I feel threatened by them.” Lith sneered. ”I won’t go anywhere without her.”

”Fine!” Lotho raised his hands in surrender and gestured for them to follow him into the array field.

”Why aren’t we using that entrance?” Lith pointed at the sycamore.

”That’s me putting your safety first.” The Treant replied. ”Instead of forcing you to walk underground in a fortress you consider unfriendly, we’ll move above ground until we reach our destination.

”I’m giving you an escape route at all times and keeping the Fae from surrounding you in a location where they have the field advantage.”

”How nice of you.” Lith said.

’My bet is the Fae don’t want you to study their facility and magical formations.’ Solus said. ’They are protecting themselves under the guise of protecting you.’

’As Yaga said, great minds.’ Lith inwardly nodded.

”Here we are.” The walk through the woods was as brief as it was uneventful.

Aside from a few birds and critters, the Eyes of Menadion hadn’t spotted anything or anyone.

”Do you want me to go first or last?” Lotho placed his hands on an oak tree, and its bark opened like a door, revealing a long, luxurious corridor leading downstairs.

”You first, then me, then Lady Yaga.” Lith replied. ”You’ll be my wooden shield, and she’ll keep our escape route open at all times.”

Lotho furrowed the bark of his face, but didn’t comment. The inside of the oak tree turned out to have been stretched with dimensional magic, and there was enough space for two Treants to walk abreast.

The stairs led to a single door that opened on what Lith recognized as a medical ward. The environment was sterile and filled with medical and diagnostic arrays. The only furniture was a bed for the patient and a bedstand.

The walls and floor were made of wood, so any Fae visitor could conjure a chair or anything they needed the moment they needed it.

The patient turned out to be a Dryad of rare beauty, with hair the flaming red of autumn leaves and eyes as blue as diamonds. Her swollen belly drew Lith’s attention, but not as much as two different dirty-white flames burning with a sickening light.

One orbited over the mother’s head, and the other marked the unborn child’s position.

”Order and Chaos, what’s wrong with her?” Baba Yaga asked.

The Dryad’s lovely features were twisted in a rictus of focus and pain. She gritted her teeth and clenched the bed’s wooden headboard as if her life depended on it. She was covered in sweat-like sap that drenched her clothes and stained the bedsheets.

”I don’t want to eat my child, that’s what!” She snarled in fury, her eyes burning with violet mana. ”I don’t want to, but I have to. I-”