Chapter 1385 - Rebellious Phase (Part 1) (1/2)
”Don't worry about the others.” Baba Yaga said. ”Vladion is even more paranoid than you are. These walls keep anyone from overhearing us, even him. Whatever happens in here will stay between the two of us.”
”When you put it this way, it sounds like a threat.” Lith said while using Life Vision to check his opponent, yet she wasn't weaving any spell nor using fusion magic.
”I'll get straight to the point. I'm not interested in you so much as in Elphyn. I'd like to speak with her. Now.” She said, making Lith jump on his feet.
”How do you know that name?” He asked as War appeared in his hands. The cracks had yet to disappear and the Adamant fragments stuck to each other as if they had been badly glued together.
”Please, don't insult my intelligence. Dawn told me about your partner and how the three of you clashed until you merged with Elphyn. Back then I had no idea who such a cursed object might be, just like I failed to recognize Menadion's tower during the battle of the Feymar mines.
”Yet during your last tribulation, when I saw that young woman fighting against the King of Kolga, everything become as clear as day. She was Elphyn Althena Menadion and she looked exactly like the last time I saw her.” Baba Yaga said.
Lith stared at her while weaving his spells yet he said nothing.
”If I wanted to attack you, I would have already done it.” Baba Yaga sighed. ”I'm not Lochra and I'll not try to take her away from you. I just want to make sure that she's alright.”
”How do I know you're telling the truth?” Lith said, following his basic rule to trust no one unless strictly necessary.
”Use your brain, dammit. Do you really think Ripha accepted Threin's death with a shrug and a smile? As soon as Elphyn passed out crying, Ripha came to me with all the pieces of her husband she could find, begging me to bring him back.”
The Red Mother spoke with an annoyance that reminded Lith of Elina back when he was little and one of his siblings threw a tantrum.
”She even offered me victims to fuel Forbidden Spells and it took me hours to talk sense into her. Only once she accepted that her husband was gone forever did Ripha cry herself to sleep.
”Once she woke up, we pooled together our resources to devise a way to save Elphyn from death if necessity arose. I'm the mother of all the undead and she was the greatest Forgemaster of her generation so of course we found a way.” Baba Yaga said.
”Think about it. I know about the tower, about the artifacts that she left to her apprentices and I even know how to use them. Menadion was many things, but a genius healer wasn't among them.
”How could she create on her own a way to put Elphyn in a suspended animation state without my help? For crying out loud, I even helped her to plan that damn tower!”
”Really?” Solus slipped off Lith's finger and turned into her stone doll form. ”Did you really know me and my parents?”
”Epphy? Is that you?” Warm tears streaked down the Mother's cheeks. She had long lost any hope to hear that voice again.
”Why are you crying? Were we that close?” Solus had no memories of Baba Yaga and seeing an a.d.u.l.t moved so much for a complete stranger felt really awkward.
”What? Did you lose your memory along with your body? Of course we were close. After your father's death, I became one of your best friends and we spent a lot of time together. Back then I looked like this.”