“That’s good news, Sleeping God, but we were lucky that the portal didn’t lead to the island. If that had happened, the Nucleus would know about the temple on Kharinza…”
“But that did not happen, because my influence has risen. I cut the route from the mines of Kharinza to the Nucleus, but the portal remained there. Now it leads deep down, to a Plague Vector, and it must be eliminated as soon as possible.”
The speaker must have been talking about the instance the boys once found—on the day when Crag and I broke out of the sandbox.
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Good. Go. Tiamat awaits.”
I nodded, but didn’t leave. I was in the mood to take a risk…
“Will you tell the Sleeping Goddess that I’ll come to her in ten hours? I have some unfinished business.”
“Let it be so,” Behemoth boomed. “But hurry! Tiamat feels the forces of Nergal approaching!”
And I hurried. I signaled a full gathering of the Awoken—the fastest grind ever awaited us; a grind of experience, achievements, and anything else we could get. It would take us three hours to get First Kills in the instances we found on H oldest, the reptiloid island and the Kharinza mine. Far less time would be needed to defeat the Montosaurus, the new greedy patron saint of the troggs.
The hours remaining until Mogwai revived could be dedicated to something else, but for that, I’d need some help from Apophis and his priest, Yemi.
I headed for the Yoruba castle.
The world flashed black and the fort was replaced with a castle wall. The archers patrolling the walls reacted to my appearance surprisingly calmly. They didn’t even shoot. A shadow dropped down from above, landed nearby. The giant bat turned into a troll.
Vampires weren’t always former humans in Dis. Francesca, for example, was a turned ore. This one was a troll. He kept his long stooping body and knuckle-dragging arms from his source race. His pale skin seemed to glow from within, and his bright red eyes were hypnotizing… but not for me. The vampire was silent, waiting.
“I’m here to talk to Yemi,” I said.
“To what end, Legate?” the vampire asked, raising his comm amulet to his mouth.
“I want to help Yoruba become the biggest clan on Shad’Erung.”
Chapter 17: Gods and Beast Gods
“YEMI. SET ME UP A MEETING with Apophis, the White Snake. We’re going to Terrastera!”
While the stunned mage tried to grasp my words, I remembered myself and thanked him for helping me escape from the Widowmakers.
“Don’t mention it,” the mage darkened. “Without you, they would crush us. We were just saving our own skin.”
The atmosphere crackled. The stuffy air felt strained as if before a storm. The frowning Yoruba fighters watched me carefully, even with a note of hostility.
Something was bothering Yemi. Even the promise of farming on Terrastera didn’t summon up any enthusiasm in him, although the mage had enough patience to hear me out and answer. It turned out that summoning the White Snake was far harder to summon than Orthokon was for Bomber.
‘1 don’t feel him,” the mage admitted. “The serpent often sleeps outside of Disgardium. He appears in this world only to hunt.”
“How do you summon him?” I asked, worried. “Time is running out. By tomorrow, we might not be able to do what I have planned.”
“You young ones are always in a hurry,” Yemi said, shaking his head.
Now that he knew who he was dealing with—a sixteen-year-old kid… It wasn’t that he was condescending, but there was no more sign of his admiration for the ‘Great One,’ as he’d called me until recently.
“The serpent does not appreciate it when I interrupt his rest. And that’s putting it lightly. He could tear me apart and lower my reputation. But what you suggest Scyth…” He twirled a finger in the air, thinking. “It’s a guaranteed jackpot if we can do it in time. I’ll do everything I can to summon Apophis sooner rather than later, but I doubt he’ll agree to speak to you.”
“He should, Yemi. I have an offer for him.”
“As you say… kiddo.”
There was a word I didn’t like at all. The mage stared at me as if trying to see something. The air seemed to thicken. The piercing eyes of my possibly former allies made me uncomfortable. It wasn’t that I was afraid of a fight. I just didn’t want to make yet another enemy.
“Do we have a problem?”
“Maybe,” Yemi said. He was quiet a while, then asked: “Tell me, Legate… are you honest with me?”
“Have I given you reason to doubt it?”
“Let me put it another way… Do you tell the whole truth? You promised to turn us undead, but that service is no longer worth anything. Snowstorm is about to unlock the race for everyone, and Yoruba certainly won’t be the first. Mogwai is streaming and we know that the Elites have already got the cream of the new faction. And that Scyth’s position as a legate of the Destroying Plague is under threat. You aren’t planning to abandon us, are you? We stuck our necks out to help you! All those we attacked put us on their KoS lists. The less said about our reputation in the Empire, the better. Nothing but losses!”
“Have you forgotten to count how much Yoruba earned?”
“Less than we hoped!” Yemi spat. “Answer me, if you have something to say! What’s your plan, kid?”
I didn’t answer right away. I weighed up every word, deciding what exactly to say, how exactly to keep my allies given that I was basically talking to thugs. Our security officers had
