Chapter 3233 Trade Off (Part 2)

"I truly had underestimated your relationship with Solus. Is there anything I should know about the two of you? Anything that could escape from the lips of our prisoner during the interrogation?" Jirni asked.

"No. Also, there's going to be no interrogation." Lith gave her a brief summary of his plan to find the Fringe.

"It's a good strategy and I think I can help you with it. I know nothing about elven physiology but if you can give me a few minutes to study the prisoner with Invigoration, I should learn everything I need for the job. I accept your terms." Jirni nodded.

"The plan won't start until we've rallied all the allies we can. Until that moment, make yourself comfortable. I'll have a room assigned to you." Lith said.

"Not so fast." Jirni raised her hand with her palm out to stop him. "Even though the meeting with Jiza put me in this situation, that day I learned a lot. I've never stopped investigating who is behind Kamila's attempted murders."

Kamila's eyes went wide in surprise while Lith's narrowed. She had done everything she could to forget about it and live a normal life whereas he had never forgotten about it.

Yet without a lead to follow or a prisoner to interrogate, there was nothing he could do.

"Jiza's words offered me insight into the thought process of the Awakened community and helped me better understand the motive for such an act." Jirni took a folder out of her dimensional amulet and handed it to him.

"It's not very thick because it's mostly guesswork. You can't expect powerful individuals to respect my Archon's badge and answer the questions of a puny woman. Even if I met them in person, they would have either ignored of killed me."

Lith took the folder and instinctively tried to put it inside Soluspedia.

'Fuck me sideways! I have to actually read this thing and waste a lot of time I could better employ dealing with the preparations.' It wasn't the reading per se that upset him.

The lack of Soluspedia was another reminder of Solus' absence. During the past sixteen years, Lith had become so used to the tower's abilities to consider them a part of himself like his hands and feet.

Now, instead, only his thoughts filled his mind and he was back to being no different from any other Awakened. It made him feel empty and incomplete. His anger flared, the pain from the destruction of his bond with Solus struck him like the day Strider had betrayed him.

Kamila's care and the joy of reconnecting with his family had helped him take his mind off of it, but to Lith, mere minutes had passed since the Yggdrasill's emissary had taken Solus away from him and to the Fringe.

His wounds were still fresh and every reminder of his current condition tore them open and cut him deeper.

Lith wanted to scream and shout. To take the Chronicler out of Tezka's bag and beat him hard enough for the World Tree to experience one iota of his grief. Yet it would serve nothing but waste time and ruin his plans.

Lith gritted his teeth for a second before his expression relaxed and he opened the folder.

Jirni noticed everything but didn't comment on it while Kamila moved her chair next to him to read the documents together.

"I'll pat your shoulder when I'm done reading and you can turn the page." She said while also using a mind link to soothe him.

'You'll get her back. I know you will.' Much to Lith's surprise, Kamila was faster than him.

Her enhanced senses were inferior to his own but as a Constable, she was used to reading that kind of document. She tapped his shoulder while he was still halfway through the first page.

'Fine!' Lith opened his extra eyes to beat quality with quantity.

"You must give Quylla a nice gift." Jirni resumed talking in an attempt to lighten his mood. "If not for her, I would have learned about your quest only when it was too late. The more calls you and your allies make, the sooner the rumor of your imminent absence is going to spread.

"With you and most of your allies gone, it would be the perfect time to finish the job. I didn't deliver this to you sooner because I hoped to have more time to narrow the suspect list to a few names but this development forces my hand."

The document just contained a bunch of names followed by their relationship with Lith and their most likely motive to target Kamila. There were nobles, Awakened, lesser races, and even Divine Beasts.

All of them were very dangerous for an Awakened as weak as Kamila and each one would require a specific countermeasure. No one would be stupid enough to attack her in plain sight.

An ambush or a trap were the most likely scenarios but each possible culprit had different means. Some could be dealt with by the Queen's Corps but others would require time and manpower.

Lith could afford neither. He had to bring his most powerful allies to the Fringe to have a chance of success and to act swiftly before the World Tree noticed the absence of their Chronicler and prepared for the invasion.

He revised the files over and over but the only thing he learned was that he couldn't save Solus without sacrificing Kamila.

***

"No, Old Wyrm, I'm not going to help you." Quashol the Father of all Ice Dragons said. "Or rather, I'm not going to waste my time with a runt's problems."

"Do you realize that this might be the final favor I ask you?" Valtak sighed. "I'm old and weak. Our current odds of success are slim and unless we get someone to help us, wether we succeed or fail we'll suffer massive casualties."

"And how is any of that my fault?" The Ice Dragon's scales looked like finely cut diamonds covered in dew that sparkled under his lair's magical light. "You were old and weak even before you went into slumber a thousand years ago, yet you are still here.

"Do yourself a favor and give up on this foolish endeavor. In another thousand years, we'll be laughing about this conversation like the joke it is and you'll thank me for not indulging in your latest senile fit."

"A life is at stake, Quashol!" The embers of Valtak's rage flared into a fire that ignited his beard, eyes, and hair. "One of our kind, the youngest of our kind, has been robbed of his most precious treasure and your solution is to sit there and enjoy the show.

"What if Verhen loses his life in the process? The Tiamat bloodline would be extinguished. What if our enemies learn of the discord among our ranks and grow bold enough to target older Dragons?

"Would you turn your back to everyone until it's your turn? Who'd help you then?"

"Many lives are at stake, Valtak, and yours is the only one I'm worried about." An Ice Dragon's rage was cold, but no less scary. Quashol's scales grew in size as snowflakes danced in the air despite the heat of summer.

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