3174 Clear Motive (Part 2)

With that single answer, the Shadow Dragon unwittingly told Baba Yaga how much Zoreth knew about Solus's true nature.

'I knew it! Bytra might be a clone and Xenagrosh might have turned a new leaf, but letting them know about the tower would have been too dangerous.' Baba Yaga thought.

'It was smart of Lith and Solus to keep the Eldritches in the dark but I'm afraid the secret of the tower is going to be exposed if we need their help to rescue Solus.'

"Maybe the Tree only wants to retrieve Solus' memories or maybe they know who has taken the tower after Bytra killed Ripha." She actually said, glaring at the Shadow Dragon. "We'll worry about these details later.

"Do you know the current Yggdrasil's location?"

"No." Zoreth shook her head. "But one of my associates knew how to find the old one. I'll ask him. Is there anything else I should know?"

Kamila and Malyshka exchanged a quick glance before saying: "No."

"As you wish." Zoreth could feel many things were being left unsaid but she didn't pry. "Xenagrosh out."

"The whole truth, child. Now." Baba Yaga said after sealing Kamila's amulet.

She told the Mother about M'Rael's plan to use Solus and the tower to reclaim the old elven Kingdom and how the Tree had witnessed the fusion between Lith and Solus.

"Order and Chaos!" The Mother squinted her eyes and scowled as a shadow seemed to cross her face. "This explains a lot."

"This explains what? Please, I hate riddles!" Kamila forced Malyshka to look at her.

"Fine. Until a second ago, I believed the Yggdrasill had no motive to do all this so nothing coming to my mind made sense. Now, however, things have become pretty clear. The Tree learned from their predecessor Solus is bound to Menadion's tower, but had no idea how powerful it has become.

"You see, one thing I didn't mention earlier because it seemed unrelated to our current predicament, is that the Chroniclers have stopped trying to study my tower for a while. Ever since Lith went to the Fringe, to be precise."

"Do you mean…" Kamila gasped.

"Yes." Baba Yaga nodded. "That day the Tree learned that Menadion's tower, the most powerful artifact ever created on Mogar, has become even more powerful. They have witnessed the fusion and its endless possibilities.

"If I'm right, everything since the accident with the Ears of Menadion has been staged to lure Lith and Solus in a trap and Strider was one of the Tree's accomplices."

"There's one thing I don't understand." Kamila clenched and unclenched her hands in a failing attempt to keep her outrage under control. "The Tree has captured Solus already. Why are they still trying to kill Lith?"

"Foolish child, it's to avoid a war." The Mother sighed. "You know Lith. What would he have done if not for his amnesia?"

"He would have…" Kamila's eyes went wide at the realization. "Raised hell."

"Exactly." Baba Yaga nodded. "Rather than losing Solus, he would reveal the secret of Menadion's tower to the whole Mogar and the Yggdrasil would be doomed. Lith would call me and Silverwing.

"The Tree knows we are alive and would fight to the death to rescue Elphyn. Just like they know that if the Master's Organization gets involved, things won't go well. Their Fringe might be sieged if not even stormed.

"While in their domain, the Yggdrasill is as strong as a Guardian, but their precious Chroniclers are not. A full-scale war, even if won, would mean having their strength crippled for a long while and their domain burned to the ground.

"The Yggdrasil can't let Lith unleash the dogs of war, that's why they are so desperate." She tapped at the armor fragment. "The Tree didn't even bother cleaning up because there was no time.

"Zoreth got there too fast and they couldn't risk their Chroniclers being found on the scene. The Tree betted everything on no one being capable of identifying the broken Darwen armor because they didn't know about my counter-scan arrays."

"What do we do now?" Kamila asked.

"There's not much we can do." The Mother pondered. "We don't know the location of the current World Tree and we have yet to rescue Lith. He's the only one who can decide how much we can reveal to the rest of Mogar about Solus.

"Without him, we can involve solely the people who already know the whole truth about her and they are nowhere enough. Even with Silverwing's help, we don't have the means to find the Tree's Fringe, let alone fight the Yggdrasill inside their domain.

"I'll inform Lochra and ask my Firstborns for help, Kamila. You gather your forces as well. We have just jumped out of the frying pan into the volcano."

***

Somewhere on the Garlen continent, Fringe of the World Tree, at the same time.

Xenagrosh's conversation with Kamila was Hushed so the Yggdrasill couldn't overhear it. Yet they witnessed Baba Yaga's hologram appearing on the Shadow Dragon's communicator through the eyes of the Chronicler sent to clean up after the fight.

There wasn't much left but the various pieces of the Darwen armor were scattered throughout the battlefield. Darwen made them undetectable to mystical senses and looking for black rocks in the middle of the night was harder than looking for a needle in a haystack.

To make matters worse, the Shadow Dragon kept arriving first on the scenes of the fights or so quickly that the Chroniclers couldn't finish covering the tracks of their dead colleagues.

'Dammit! Somehow Verhen's wife involved the Red Mother. This wasn't supposed to happen. If she joins the search for Verhen and finds him first, my Chroniclers will never kill him before he reveals my involvement.

'Even worse, I now have to be on the lookout for Baba Yaga and Silverwing as well. They are both white cores and great friends of the late Menadion. They won't leave any stone unturned until they find Elphyn.

'They don't know about me yet, but they can pose a threat to my ongoing operations. I have even less time than I hoped. Vamir!'

"Yes, My Liege?" Vamir Enfiro was a happily married male elf.

He was one of the oldest and wisest Librarians of the Tree. He had been chosen as Solus' next host because his love for his wife and his long life would bolster his defenses against Solus' psychic attacks.

'Have you gotten accustomed to the deep violet core, Vamir?'

"Yes, My Liege." The elf couldn't believe to have received such honor.

Mostly because he had no idea what had happened to his predecessor, Nes'hiah.

'What about the telepathic defense techniques I've imparted you?' The Yggdrasill asked.

"As you know, I have already studied most of them as a Librarian. It didn't take me long to master the rest but I've never put them into practice." His long experience in the theoretical field of telepathy was another of the reasons the Tree had chosen Vamir for the role.

'Don't worry. I have full trust in your abilities.' The Yggdrasill replied. 'Also, you won't fight this battle alone.'

With a rustle of their branches, a Chronicler entered the room.