Supreme Magus

3072 Rough Welcome (Part 2)

"The Guardian grants you audience, but she will receive you one at a time." Crevan returned and brought Nyka away with him.

"How's the most beautiful baby on Mogar?" The moment the potential enemy disappeared, the Phoenixes gave Elysia a proper welcome.

"Say hi to Uncle Jhet." Another member of Crevan's unit said. "Say Jhet."

"He." Elysia replied.

"That's right. What a smart girl." He pinched her cheek while dangling his colorful feathers in front of her face.

"Hey, I got two kids here." Lith grunted, pointing at Valeron who felt excluded.

"He's not of our blood." Lenanna said with ill-concealed annoyance.

Jhet was about to mention that Valeron the Second was the spawn of the Mad Queen and a traitorous Dragon. The members of the Nest had never forgotten the threat that Thrud and her Undead Courts had posed to the Desert and they would never forgive her.

To their species, blood carried great importance in both good and bad ways. As they bathed in Salaark's glory for it, Valeron carried his parents' shame.

Lith knew that as well so he shot a stern glance that silenced any further objection.

"He belongs to my blood and Leegaain's. By disrespecting Valeron, you are disrespecting us and Grandma. Have you forgotten she took care of him for months until I was ready for the task? That she agreed to raise him as her own?"

"No, we haven't." The Phoenixes had just hoped to have gotten rid of the puny disgrace.

"Yet I'm disappointed in you all." Salaark walked through the thick curtain that in the Desert's tents replaced doors. "Get out. Now."

The Overlord wore a flaming scarlet robe, the Blood Desert equivalent of a cocktail dress, that left her fair arms exposed up to the shoulder. Her legs appeared from the side slits of the dress with each step she took.

The Phoenixes lowered their gaze in shame and obeyed after kneeling to her.

"I hope that order wasn't addressed to us too." Lith said. "The kids even brought you a present."

"Gama!" On his cue, Valeron pulled a Fire Orchid out of the baby carrier and Elysia did the same.

Lith, instead, gave her a whole bouquet. They were flowers typical of the Desert and Salaark's favorite.

"How could I be disappointed in my babies?" She kissed their foreheads in turns, collecting the flowers after thanking them one by one. "I've never seen Fire Orchids so big. Where did you find them?"

"From Mogar's Garden." Lith told her how after losing the Ears, he had returned there to collect a few flowers for the Overlord.

"That's why they have grown so much and have so many extraordinary traits. They didn't grow in the Desert." She put Valeron's flower in her hair, making him smile, Elysia's in her breast pocket, and Lith's bouquet in a vase.

"Well, now that you've buttered me up, are you going to call me a pretty lady or are you going straight to tell me what you want?"

"Ouch. Am I that obvious?" Lith asked while clenching his chest in mock pain.

"You are. What's the matter, Featherling?"

"Actually, nothing. I just wanted to ask you why you never told me about Scarlett. She's a young Guardian, but she might be able to help me with a few of my problems." Lith replied.

"That's it? This makes me so happy, Featherling." She ruffled his hair and then answered his question. "I wasn't trying to hide her presence nor was I angry with you. I was just respecting Scarlett's wishes."

"She didn't want to meet me?" Lith asked.

'It makes sense. We never went along.'

"No. She didn't want to meet anyone from her old life." Salaark replied, leaving him speechless.

***

The Warping array moved Nyka from the Heavenly Plume tribe to the Forgotten Plume where the Sekhmet worked as second in command to Ilyum Balkor, Blood Magus and Feather of the tribe.

The tents were arranged in a crescent shape with the local oasis on the opposite side, leaving a wide empty space between them. Crevan Warped himself and the Vampire in the middle of the plaza that was empty during nighttime.

The watchmen guarding the village's perimeter had been alerted of the arrival of guests.

They just turned their magical beast steeds toward the newcomers long enough to make sure their appearance matched the description in the report they had received and then resumed their duty.

No life form could thrive in the Desert away from water so the members of the beast and human races had learned to cooperate in order to increase their chances of survival.

Beasts weren't considered pets or disposable cattle. They had names, lodgings, and those who took part in the village's defence had their individual military rank.

"This way." The village was small, a little over one hundred tents.

About forty of them belonged to the magical beasts while humans occupied the rest. Crevan led Nyka to the second most colorful tent in the village, the Desert equivalent of a studio apartment.

The color of the tents marked the importance of their occupants. Simple white tents belonged to civilians, those with silver strings to merchants, and those with golden strings to members of the military.

The tent of the Feather sported silver, golden, and red embroidering, the mark of the Overlord's authority.

Scarlett's tent was right beside Balkor's, bearing golden and red threads. The purpose of the markings was to guide people to the most secure places in case of attack since only tents woven from red and golden threads had defensive arrays of their own.

The others had to rely on the protection of the arrays that encompassed the whole village and their area of effect was delimited by the tall iron braziers that illuminated the village during nighttime.

The tent was big enough to comfortably host a single human-sized individual which surprised Nyka quite a bit.

'Aunt Scar always liked to have her own space and now that she has become a Guardian, she should be enormous. Is Salaark punishing Auntie for her past challenge or is Auntie punishing herself for something she did after becoming a Guardian?'

Between the apparent little importance of the Forgotten Plume village and the tiny tent, the place seemed unworthy of a being as powerful as a Guardian.

Of course, she was wrong about everything.

The moment she stepped through the curtain, she found herself in a place bigger than Scarlett's old lab in the White Griffon Academy's forest.

"Gods, this place is like the tower. It's bigger on the inside." She said in surprise.

"Hello, child. It's been almost two years since the last time we've seen each other." A familiar voice made Nyka's gaze stop wandering through the various open doors and focus on a figure sitting behind a tea table typical of the Kingdom.

"Aunt Scar! Thank the gods you are alright." Nyka rushed into her arms, but instead of lifting the Vampire in her arms like usual, the Sekhmet gave Nyka a brief embrace and patted her shoulders.

"Stop calling their names." Scarlett looked like a woman in her mid-thirties, her hair cut shoulder length and dyed black. "Salaark doesn't mind but other Guardians would get angry at you. They can hear you if you are close enough."

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