Supreme Magus

"Won’t our trick become obvious if you disappear soon after the caravan departs?" Keyla didn’t sound convinced.

"No, because we have more than one Light Master here." At a wave of Lith’s hand, Kamila pretended to cast a spell, and Jirni conjured a body double of Lith. "I’ll travel with the caravan while also staying with my children.

"Kami will keep my double in plain sight so that if someone tails us, they’ll believe my movements are still restricted."

"I’ll start the preparations immediately." Keyla said with a wide smile. "I’ll let you know when and where you must come to retrieve your identification as Snow Thrower. Keyla out."

The next day, both caravans in Ghishal had completed the deliveries, and the rest of the nobles hurried to ride Keyla’s coattails. Lith’s group changed hotels every day, but kept a strict routine of questioning the local lords and taking the children out for a stroll.

Jirni acted as a perfect personal assistant, filling all the paperwork for Kamila and performing the menial tasks. She often moved through the cities with only Orion by her side as if she hadn’t noticed the Gernoff scouts keeping an eye on her.

’This is dangerous. They could attack us at any time.’ Orion said with a mind link as their shoulders brushed.

’In the middle of the day and in public?’ Jirni snorted. ’That’s not how the Gernoffs operate. They won’t risk Lith Warping here and exposing their presence. Awakened laws don’t protect common criminals.

’If the Gernoffs kill a bystander or destroy public property, Lith can go after them as a law enforcer of the Kingdom. On top of that, Oghrom would turn in his grave if his descendants resorted to such brutish tactics.

’One strike, one kill was his creed, and his descendants uphold his will to this day, or I wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.’

Jirni and Orion also had to return to the Mansion discreetly to feed Dripha and reassure her everything was alright. They asked for Friya’s help, and she Forgemastered many Home Stones for them.

A single Warp Steps crossed hundreds of kilometers with the artifact’s help, allowing the couple to reach the Mansion quickly without the need to use a Warp Gate.

The baby girl was overjoyed to see her parents at the end of most of her training sessions with the Rune Stores, further reinforcing the misunderstanding. During one of these trips, Lith outlined the rest of his plan.

"I can’t use a communication amulet while undercover, but I can’t afford to be off the grid for too long." He said to Kamila and Solus. "If something bad happens, I want to be there and the tower to be able to tap into its full power.

"Solus, you’ll stay with Kami most of the time and come to my side whenever you assume she’s safe. I’ll recharge you, and you’ll keep me posted about the developments.

"Also, I want you to sprinkle Jirni’s construct with your Domination. You have my same energy signature, so if the Gernoffs or whoever is behind the attacks take a peek at my hologram, they’ll mistake it for me."

"An Awakened robbing merchants is preposterous, but I agree with the rest." Solus nodded. "Jirni can’t use Life Vision without blowing her cover, and even if she finds the perfect moment to use it, I’ll notice it with the Ears and recall my magic before she notices."

On the fourth day since the start of the mission, Keyla called Lith to inform him that the caravan was fully loaded and the personnel were assembling for departure.

"Here is your ID, your contract, and my personal token." She handed him an enchanted piece of paper which he imprinted, a regular piece of paper, and a silver coin with the Lark family emblem embossed on its front and Keyla’s profile on its back.

"Don’t worry. Every member of the caravan is someone I personally recruited, and they have their own token. Imprint it, please." Lith did as bidden, and Keyla brought an identical piece of silver near his coin.

Keyla’s token glowed for a moment, and Lith’s did the same a second later.

"Only tokens imprinted in front of me and activated by my master token are capable of recognizing each other."

"The enchantment is pretty simple." Lith pointed out. "What if someone kills the original owner, imprints the token, and then uses first magic to light it?"

"Your token won’t react, exposing the imposter." Keyla replied. "The first rule is never to use them in groups, only in pairs. Otherwise, someone might conjure a glow bright enough to eclipse the real enchantment and fool the real members of the expedition.

"One more thing. You can’t go out like this. Even without your Magus robe, you stick out like a sore thumb."

"I know." Lith shapeshifted into his original body, taking the appearance of Derek McCoy.

He was now shorter, leaner, and meaner. He had the soft gaze of a contract killer and the kind face of someone who had woken up on the wrong side of the bed for at least a year.

"You’re still too tall and stick out, but this is the perfect look for a magico mercenary." Keyla studied Lith’s Earth appearance with curiosity. "The frown will keep everyone at arm’s length, and no one will question your qualifications.

"I swear to the gods, if I met this person at night I’d cross to the other side of the sidewalk. You truly are a perfectionist, Lith."

"Thanks." Lith snarled. "I don’t know when or if I’ll be able to update you on my situation. I can’t risk one of the other members of the expedition getting suspicious. If they talk with the wrong person and we have a mole, our plan would fail."

"Not really. The news that I have the Supreme Magus on my side would make a lot of people happy and restore part of my reputation." Keyla replied. "It’s better than nothing."

"But it’s not enough." Lith shook his head. "Once your enemies know they have been exposed, they will become much more careful, and I might not be able to stop them next time."

He looked Keyla in the eyes, expecting her to become nervous or scared, yet she smiled at him.

"Thank you, Lith." She gave him a deep bow. "Thank you for worrying so much about me."

"I-"

"You didn’t fail my father." Keyla cut him short. "Now go. And be careful out there."

"I will."

***

The caravan head, a burly man in his fifties, frowned upon seeing Lith/Derek.

"I’ve been in this business long enough to know everyone. Who the hell are you?" He asked while extending his silver token.

"Tarak of Cerea. Hero for hire." Lith’s voice oozed enough sarcasm to make the burly man smile.

The two tokens glowed upon contact, and Lith felt an itch on his fingers that caught him by surprise.

"Aha! I knew you were a newbie. This explains a lot." The caravan head said. "I’m Gelm of Setria, but you can call me Chief. Why would Lady Lark hire someone who has never used a noble token before?"

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