Chapter 4388: Stooping Low (Part 2
Chapter 4388: Stooping Low (Part 2
"The kids don’t get out often. They each have their burden, but there is only so much my wife and I can do. Too many kids, too little time and money." He sighed.
"I’ve read your file." Lith kept an eye on every child, making sure they didn’t stray too far. "You have no children of your own, and you always host at least six orphans. Isn’t that too much?"
"I could ask you the same, Magus Verhen." Tessor replied. "Twenty-one years and you’ve achieved more than anyone in the Kingdom ever had. To answer your question, yes, it is a lot, but we can manage.
"We don’t just serve the kids food and put a roof over their heads. That’s the easy part that any hostel can do. We also give them love, support, and structure. All things that help them become good people and break the cycle they escaped from.
"If we do not take them, they might end up in the hands of someone who sees them as nothing more than a welfare check. Six children are too few, if you ask me, but we’re humans and-" The sounds of a commotion cut him short.
The two men turned around, noticing that Mirika was arguing with a much better-dressed young girl. Mirika was playing with Valeron’s figure when the other girl had snatched the toy from her hands.
"A beggar like you can’t afford something like this!" She spoke from experience since her family couldn’t afford such a masterfully crafted toy either. "You must have stolen it!"
"I didn’t steal it!" Mirika stared at the girl’s pretty clothes in envy and at her eyes in outrage. "It’s not mine but-"
"She admitted it, Mom!" The girl said with a triumphant smile. "This little beggar is a thief!"
"Mirika is no thief!" Osyan said. "That toy is mine, and I can prove it!"
He called upon Lith’s enchantment, and the Valeron figure was about to escape the girl’s grasp when her father caught it. Osyan tried again, but the spell was meant only to make noise, not to hurt.
"And where did you get the money for an enchanted toy, child?" The man was a merchant and appraised the figurine’s worth for at least ten silver coins. No matter how simple a spell was, it was always expensive. "Do you have a job?"
"No, but-"
"Then you are a thief, and this is stolen property." The man cut Osyan short. "You’re lucky I don’t call the guards. I will-"
"You will do nothing." Lith’s voice was level, but as cold as steel. "You’ve already pushed your luck. Give that back."
"Or what?" The man sneered. "Will you attack me, punk?"
Lith was in a pinch. He wanted to help Osyan, but at the same time he was afraid that any form of violence might traumatize him further.
"Ba!" Elysia had no such problem.
She shapeshifted into her Tiamat form and jumped at the merchant, biting his hand until he let go of the toy.
"Who’s that little monster?" The merchant’s wife lifted her parasol to strike Elysia, making Valeron and Ral hiss menacingly.
"Don’t!" Lith was afraid, but not for Elysia. "Farm me sideways, it’s too late."
A giant, flaming yellow eye with a vertical pupil had appeared right above the baby girl, and was staring at the merchant’s family with boundless hatred.
"What did you say?" A voice that sounded like the rumble of earth and the gurgle of lava asked. "What. Did. You. Say?"
An outline of fire appeared around the eye, tracing the form of a Dragon so big that his head alone blotted out the sky.
"Ba!" Elysia growled with the confidence of a baby Tiamat standing on the head of a Guardian. "Ba! Ba! Ba!"
She picked up the toy and returned it to Mirika as Leegaain’s body became less ethereal with each passing second. His fangs were ivory blades the size of a horse, and his open maw revealed a fiery pit ready to hurl death.
"I’m sorry!" The merchant fell to his knees, crying and wetting himself like a baby. "I was wrong! Please, spare my life. Spare my family."
His wife quickly joined him in his plea, while their daughter fainted, her hair as white as snow from fear.
The earth quaked, and the sky rumbled, but the Guardian didn’t reply. He just stared at the baby girl.
"D’hum rah hash ul, Adya." Elysia said in Dragontongue.
"Em’du sha." The Father of All Dragons said as he faded away.
"What did they say?" Tessor was still standing only because Leegaain had exerted his Dragon Fear only on the merchant and his family.
"Ely said that only bad guys bully the weak, and her grandfather replied that she’s right." Lith said.
"That’s her grandfather? Your father?" Tessor asked in disbelief.
"No, my father is human." Lith replied. "That’s my ancestor. Again, it’s a long story."
"Cool!" The other children said in unison.
They had experienced none of the shock and all of the awe of the sudden appearance of a majestic Dragon.
"Yah." Elysia nodded while still in her Tiamat form, striking a victory pose.
"Enough drawing attention, young lady." Lith put her back in the baby carrier and locked the straps. "Is everyone alright?"
He asked, receiving many nods in reply.
"Have you recovered your presents, Osyan?"
"Yes, thank you." He nodded.
"Let’s get you home, then." Lith said. "You’ve got enough emotions for one day."
***
Meanwhile, at a safe distance, two Isharas measured the area affected by Leegaain’s presence and how long it took for his aura to fade.
"I told you that our elders were right." Phalakon said. "Targeting Verhen whenever he carries his children around is nothing but an elaborate form of suicide. Think about what happened to the Verendi Council.
"They had a Guardian protecting them, yet they have been destroyed. Even if Selkis were still alive, we wouldn’t stand a chance."
"Please, if Selkis were still alive, we would have no reason to stoop so low." Girmala replied. "Luckily for us, who needs two Tiamat runts when we can get the real deal and an even more useful hybrid runt that doesn’t come with a Guardian bodyguard?"
"Inform the other scouts to keep an eye on Verhen but never to get close to him. We’ll use the time before he can step away from his lastborn to learn his habits and patterns. We won’t strike until he’s alone with Valeron the Second.
"Poor kid, though. He has already lost his parents and now this. I hope we can send him back home in one piece."
"Me too, but what other choice do we have?" Phalakon asked. "Without a Horde, we have no way to uncover the secret of the white core. Our only hope to compete with the other Divine Beast bloodlines is to understand what makes those two different from all the hybrids before them.
"Verhen and his adoptive son are the only two new kinds of Divine Beast born from the fusion of two Guardians’ bloodlines ." The Isharas also knew about Shargein, but they considered the Wyrmling as dangerous as Elysia or Raldarak.
"Since we have no Guardian progenitor that can give birth to new Ishara bloodlines, we need to do it on our own. Verhen and Thrud’s son hold all the answers we need."