“At ease.” Lith replied. “I’m not here on official duty nor am I going to stay. I need to cross the border. Is that a problem?”
“For you? Not at all.” The sergeant shrugged. “When you return, however, make sure to show your ID, or the guards will think you are a shapeshifter and shoot you on sight.”
Lith thanked the guards for their service and went to the meeting point with Xenagrosh, a big rock used as a landmark a few kilometers away from the city.
“Isn’t it dangerous for you to be in the Desert? Why didn’t we meet past the border?” Lith asked after greeting the two Abominations.
“The borders are relatively safe. Here Salaark’s senses are at their weakest. Unless we use a lot of magical power, she won’t ever know we’ve been here.” Zoreth shook her head.
“As for your question, if we met past the border, you would have risked being arrested. Salaark’s golden plaque makes you a valuable hostage. Sure you would’ve had no trouble escaping, but having an army on our tail would be a bad way to start our trip.”
“Where’s Elphyn?” Bytra asked, surprised to see Lith alone.
“Right here.” His eyes became golden and his voice feminine as he raised his hand to show her the stone ring. “Even after 700 years I still bear the scars of your attack. I can keep my physical form only for a short time before it crumbles.
“I prefer saving my strength for when it’s needed.”
“I’m really sorry, Elphyn. I swear that if I could, I’d give everything I have to switch our condition.” Bytra’s voice was filled with honest remorse that managed to get through even Solus’ resentment.
“Please, call me Solus. I hate that name, especially when you are the one speaking it. It only brings me bad memories.” She said.
Zoreth assumed her Shadow Dragon form, making Lith and Bytra climb on her back before taking flight. The border between Verendi and Garlen was filled with all kinds of elemental sealing arrays, making it impossible to fly or Warp.
Zoreth used her bloodline abilities to become as light as a feather and to turn herself and her passengers into a nigh-gaseous form that the wind carried through the border without triggering the magical protections.
She moved akin to a huge bird, propelled only by the flapping of her wings and the air currents. Once they got far away enough from the array field, she returned to normal and used magic to accelerate past the speed of sound.
“Fuck me sideways.” Lith said, gawking at the energy dome surrounding them.
Not only there was no air current slapping his face, but his feet felt as steady as if he was still on the ground. Yet the landscape flashing in front of his eyes in a blur told him otherwise.
“From the last message we received, we know that Theseus is not close to the Desert. There’s no point wasting our time there. We’ll reach one of the inner countries of Verendi and start looking from there.” Zoreth said via air magic.
“Why not Warp?” Solus asked, gawking as well from her ring as she used the Eyes of Menadion to understand how the Dragon could fly that fast and protect her guests at the same time.
“Warp requires a destination and we have none.” Bytra replied. “Also, if we appear out of thin air, we’ll draw the attention of the guards, or worse, people will try to hire us.
“This way, instead, we can go wherever we want unnoticed and listen to the rumors as we fly above the small settlements.”
“What rumors?” Lith asked.
“We are looking for a thirty meters (100′) tall monster-Eldritch hybrid who suffers from fits of blood madness and has created a pillar of black light just a couple of days ago.
“Even if he’s thousands of miles away, you can bet that he’s the talk of the day. That kind of news travels fast.” Bytra replied.
“What do you mean and why can’t you just use the pillar again to communicate?” It was the first time that Solus spoke to her without an insult or seething rage in his voice so the Raiju smiled at the question.
“Verendi is made of several small states compared to Garlen. They are constantly at war with each other, trying to find a way to expand their respective territories. An Eldritch is considered a powerful weapon.
“You can bet that all countries will try to cajole Theseus in their service and kill him if he refuses. They fear his strength, but they fear the idea of an Eldritch joining one of their enemies more.” Bytra said.
“And you can’t use the pillar too often without exposing his position.” Solus completed the phrase for her.
“Exactly.” The Raiju nodded. “By following the rumors, we can still discover our companion’s whereabouts and use the pillar only when we have no other option. We want to rescue him, not throw him to the wolves.”
“That’s great thinking. We should-” The words died on Solus’ ring when she realized how familiar the tone between them had become on the spur of the moment.
Her love for magic and the idea of visiting a new continent had almost made Solus forget who she was dealing with.
An awkward silence ensued and no one was willing to break it without a good reason.
The Shadow Dragon covered hundreds of kilometers at a time, circling around small cities and merchants’ rest areas along the main trading routes, hoping to pick up anything about their mark.
She used air magic to carry the noise up and then her keen Dragon hearing to filter the buzzing voices. It wasn’t enough to understand what they were talking about but she was just looking for recurring words like monster, weapon, and pillar.
If all she heard were curse words and haggling, she moved on to the next location, hoping to have better luck.
After a few hours, they had already crossed the borders of the republics of Danghia, Ruthen, and Zelma but they still had no clue about where to find Theseus.
‘At least I had all the time I needed to understand how Xenagrosh’s flight spell works and how to set up a gyrostabilized barrier.’ Solus thought. ‘Without it, we would have been crushed by the wind pressure or knocked off her back at the first turbulence.’
“Don’t worry, this much was expected.” Xenagrosh voice resounded inside the dome. “We are still going blind, but the moment we get a lead, things will become much easier. All we need is a starting point.
“We’re now in the republic of Namgar, two thousand kilometers from the border with the Desert and in the hinterland of Verendi. If anything weird has happened in any of the nearby countries, here we can find some clues.
“I’m above the city of Gulna, one of the main trading hubs of Namgar. The country is notoriously neutral and profits by selling weapons to anyone who can pay for them. People from all over Verendi come here to buy and sell.
“With a bit of luck, we’ll find Theseus simply by following the people hunting him. If he has been spotted, they are going to buy the biggest weapons they can afford.”
