Only another Tiamat or a Guardian might have called Lith out on his lies.
Alas, Guardians didn't meddle in trifling matters and Lith was the only Tiamat on Mogar. Raagu took his words at face value, regretting one time too many the times when she had missed the opportunity to make him an offer too good for him to turn down.
'Even though in the end Verhen became a Divine Beast, part of him is still an evolved human. It might be a path unique to his species, but maybe it's something he could share or at least other humans could learn from.' She inwardly sighed.
'As it is, he has no reason to help us. All of his notable allies are beasts whereas my race only antagonized him on multiple occasions. Asking his family for help would be a waste of time. Maybe his wife could be easier to reason-'
Then, Raagu remembered the day of the Black Sun and that there was always a Guardian watching the baby. A cold shiver ran down her spine as she dismissed the thought of approaching Kamila. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
Upsetting her would have been an extremely convoluted and painful form of suicide.
"Why are you here?" Lith asked, snapping Raagu out of her waking nightmare.
"Just to check on you and inform you that everything is fine. Also, our work in Phogia is almost done. Just a bit longer and the arrays will be back online." Her first phrase referred to the status of his family in Lutia.
After Phloria's kidnapping, the security of the Verhens had become even tighter but there was no telling what Thrud might attempt.
"Thanks." Lith nodded. "There's no rush. I need time to fully recover."
"How long?" She asked with more curiosity than worry.
"If no one disturbs my rest and I avoid any further exertion, one hour. More or less." Lith's answer was supposed to be reassuring, but Raagu actually swallowed a lump of saliva.
One hour was a long time in battle, but only if you knew the position of your enemy. The council representative couldn't stop worrying about what would have happened if Thrud had kidnapped Lith instead of Phloria.
Or worse, if one day he decided he was fed up with the Council and its rules.
"I'll leave you at it, then." Raagu turned around and left, cursing herself for her stupidity.
She quickly cast a Hush spell and put all of her disciples on Phloria's tail as well. Learning Blade Magic had just turned from a matter of power and prestige to a matter of survival of the human Council.
***
It took Lith more than one hour to complete his preparations but no one noticed because it took the joint army much longer to reach its destination. The series of attacks were cutting deep inside Thrud's lines but the further in the troops got, the more cautious they had to be.
The Crown had been cut out from those regions for months and they had no intel on its security and the position of Thrud's reserve troops. If the army moved too quickly, they risked being surrounded and wiped out.
Too slowly and their next target would become obvious, giving the Mad Queen the time to take away the advantage of surprise.
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