259 Steps to take (1/2)

Tim was spying on Asda from her attic when word reached him via long-range Psionic messaging.

[Remian WHAT?] Tim blinked at Mikai.

Far below them, Asda was crying and complaining to her kitchen staff. ”But I haven't had cheese in MONTHS!”

”None of us have, your majesty. We're all very aggrieved about it.” The chef said apologetically. ”We keep ordering more and more, but the deliveries all just… disappear.”

Tim shot Mikai an accusing look. Mikai only replied with a sheepish grin, half-guilty, half-sympathetic. Poor Asda. If anyone understood a hopeless yearning for cheese, a lynxmouse would. Mikai even looked sorry for her.

[Maybe we should go easy on raiding their cheese. Just once.] Tim scratched his head.

Meanwhile, there were the other concerns to consider. Tim thought it over, ran ideas of Spectres and Wilds in his head, pondered over how to stop a Tier 8 Spectre and then consulted the experts.

Turning to Mikai, he asked, [Why can't the Five Emperors handle the Spectres?]

[They can.] Mikai assured him. [They already did that in the last Great War! They suffered grevious injuries and now spend much of their time sleeping to recover, but they definitely have the power!]

[What about other Wilds? Are there any other Tier 8's who can match the Emperors in power?]

[There are, indeed! They are known among your kind as the Great Dragons! Your people swear on them. But they, too, are in recovery. Those who survived the last Great War paid a great price to seal up the Rift.]

[Those who survived?] Tim repeated, realizing something. [Then how many didn't survive?]

[The majority of them.] Mikai scratched one year. [More than those who survived, but we don't know how many, exactly. Nobody counted. Sorry.]

Tim ran a quick list of Great Dragons in his head and wondered, [Can we even count on the Dragons helping us humans out this time?]

[Don't know.] Mikai shrugged. [Actually, you can't count on the Emperors either.]

[Why not?]

[Because the Deep Emperor and the Wind Emperor hate humans. Very much.]

[But aren't they sworn to fight the Spectres?]

[Everybody is sworn to fight the Spectres. But nobody promised 'when'.]

[So they want to wait for the Spectres to wipe us out, THEN fight them?]

[If the thought could occur to me, it could occur to everyone.]

Tim sighed. [Fine. It looks like we have no choice. We need to make a trip to the deepest depths of the Underground. It's time to raid the Labyrinth.]

[The Labyrinth?] Mikai's ears folded back sorrowfully. [But there's no good food there!]

[We can get food anywhere.] Tim waved the objection aside dismissively. [The Labyrinth, though, is the only place to get what we need.]

[And what's that?]

[The secrets of Fal'Herim and its relationship to Khar'al-dras.] Tim answered. [I want to see if we can learn how to awaken a Great Dragon and get him to fight on our side without destroying the whole city in the process.]

To that grand, stirring statement, Mikai twitched a little, scratched his tailroot, and said, [Oh.]

Tim half-laughed sheepishly, seeing how unaffected Mikai was. [As for Remian and space magic, well… that's not something I know how to handle. I'll leave it to Mindy and the Magic Academy or some such. Hopefully they'll find a good expert who can seal the Rift and get Remian back. I'll just send them some money to help ease the process.]

[You're sending them your own money to help?] Mikai looked touched.

[Not mine.] Tim glanced at Asda. [Hers.]

[Ah.]

***

At the time, Remian was tied up by a girl and trussed like a turkey.