Chapter 4201  Bad Timing (Part 2)

"Then bring your son with us." The Horde shrugged. "We'll protect you both."

"Ral is under the Guardians' protection. He's already safe. Yet-"

"Yet it doesn't mean we allow Lith to put our grandchild in danger." Leegaain said, and Salaark nodded. "We won't let Ral step into a battlefield and be turned into a weapon."

"And if I can't carry Ral with me, I can't come with you." Lith said.

"There is nothing you can do?" Loma's orange mist twisted in grief and worry. "We can't lose another Horde. The next one might not be born for dozens of millennia!"

"I can point you to the only tracker on Mogar I recognize as my equal in skill." Lith pointed at Kalla.

Everyone turned to look at the Wight, while Kalla looked over her shoulder to see who Lith was pointing at.

"She doesn't possess my bloodline abilities, but Kalla here is the owner of the legendary Eyes of Menadion and the current wielder of the Ears as well." Lith continued, making the Wight's jaw hit the floor.

"With the combined powers of those artifacts, I doubt there's anyone she can't find."

"Maybe." Kalla said in an attempt to cool off everyone's enthusiasm. "But why should I do it? I don't owe the Hordes anything, and I'm a busy Wight."

"Because I'm asking you, Kalla." Lith said. "Please, I owe Loma and his people a lot. I would help them myself if only I could. Can't you do me this one favor?"

"Well, when you put it that way, it sure sounds like I should." The Wight looked left and right, searching for a way out of her predicament.

"It doesn't sound like that, Mom, you have to do it." Nyka said. "Lith helped us every time we needed him in the past, and it's only thanks to him that you now hold two pieces of the Menadion Set.

"Also, have you forgotten how we enjoyed his hospitality and magical facilities since we left the Eclipsed Lands?"

"Technically…" Kalla was about to retort that Scarlett had left the Eyes to her, and Lith had simply delivered the artifact.

As for the deal with the Fire Dragons, Kalla was quite sure she could have handled it herself, if only she could remember the details.

"There isn't anything technical about this." Scarlett the Sekhmet joined the other two Guardians. "A child's life is in danger, and as your friend and Guardian of the Children, I'm asking you to help that poor kid, Kalla. Can you do this for me?"

"No! I don't want to!" The Wight started to cry. "Please, don't make me do it. I swear that I'll be good. I'll eat well, exercise regularly, and even go to the bathroom at least three times a day.

"I'll do anything you want, as long as it doesn't require leaving my lab for the next six months!"

"That's the lamest concession I've ever heard." Scarlett clicked her tongue.

"And it's not because of your recent Guardianhood." Leegaain nodded. "I'm the second oldest Guardian, and I've heard half-mad Eldritches come up with better promises."

"Please, Kalla." Solus patted the Wight's head as fat tears of darkness fell off her snout, melting the snow. "Lith and I are indebted to the Hordes, and your help would mean a lot to us. Also, it shouldn't take you long.

"You just need to find the young fungus folk, and the Hordes will do the rest. If it makes you feel better, I'll accompany you." Solus' heart bled at the idea of leaving Raldarak's side, but unlike Lith, her pain was not physical.

"If we work together, we'll be done in a few days at worst-"

"Days?" Kalla sobbed harder in shock and despair. "Not hours?"

"Verendi is big, Lady Kalla, and all we have are rumors." Loma had no trust in the crazy Wight, but Lith recommended her, and they had no other option. She had to do. "Rest assured, we'll waste no time. The competition is going to be fierce and-"

"I knew it!" Kalla inwardly cursed the gods for their unfairness, and the gods glowered at her from one meter away. "Just find the fungus folk my fleshless buttocks! We are going to fight, and I'm going to die.

"My poor research, I mean, babies! Who'll look after them if something happens to me?" Kalla whined.

"You are right only about one thing, Mom, and that's Solus jinxing the mission." Nyka said. "I'll come with you. No offense, mister Horde, but I don't know you, and I have no reason to trust your people."

"None taken." Loma replied. "I have nothing against Baba Yaga's children, but I can't let you come along. Undead can't move during the day, and we have no time to waste."

"Don't worry, I have that covered." A quick call to Baba Yaga, and Dawn walked through the door of the tea room. "Dawn, can you please make me one of your Chosen for a few days? Solus and I must help this fellow with something."

"A Horde?" The Bright Day studied Loma for a few seconds. "No problem, but remember that the power my prism holds is not infinite. If the mission lasts for too long, you'll need to recharge it."

As Dawn turned Nyka into a Chosen, Solus silently thanked the Horseman for giving her a good reason to return to Lutia regularly.

"Don't worry about me, Mom. I'll stay here with Fluffy and Lith." Nok said.

"Fine." Kalla sighed. "You got me real good. Let's go."

"Wait a second." Loma was relatively young, but not stupid.

He knew that such an unwilling helper was prone to mistakes simply because she didn't care whether the mission succeeded or failed.

"Judging from that white crystal at your neck, you want to become a Lich, right?"

"Yes, why?" The Wight caressed the gemstone like a baby. "Are you a fellow researcher of true immortality?"

"No, but my older comrades often told me about people like you looking for us Hordes. They are interested in this." Loma made the spores that formed his mist body resonate until their minuscule cores channeled and amplified each other's mana.

"That's exactly the effect I need to reproduce!" Kalla jumped up in excitement, using the Eyes and Ears to study the phenomenon. "My crystal and mana core must become like your spores, capable of exchanging energy even from a considerable distance."

"Glad to hear." Loma nodded as he stopped the resonance. "If you help me to find my friend, I promise I will let you take all the notes you want."

"Damn!" Kalla cursed when the resonance between the spores stopped, and the Eyes' scan ended. "I mean, sure. We have a deal. When do we leave?"

***

Verendi continent, Phytrik region, in the middle of nowhere, at the same time.

"Explain it to me again. Why are we here?" Theseus, the Bastet-Meneos hybrid, asked.

"Because, according to our human associates in Verendi's black market, something that resembles a fungus folk has been spotted in this region." Xenagrosh replied as she sniffed the air for clues.

"None of us can Awaken yet, let alone reach the white core, but Hordes are mythical and elusive creatures. There's a lot that the Master can learn from studying them, and since no one ever succeeded in capturing a Horde, a fungus folk will have to do."