Once they left the children, Darthañan and Frigglene went to the study where they would meet Albella to define some final points and go out to the stables, where they would meet the members of their respective groups. Around lunchtime, all the groups had to be present on the first level of Vorpiax to go from there in a caravan to the place where the energy radiations were located.
The couple of pikmis Anya and Kolia returned to their villa to continue their work, if they had not had to bring the huge trunk with their daughter's clothes and personal items, they would not have had to use the robots nor bring their daughter together. On the other hand, the two servants stayed with Mr. Crispa to take care of the 5 children the days of the expedition.
Seeing that his friends' parents had left, Shimu called everyone to one of the most remote places in the park that Mr. Crispa had created.
“Everything is ready. When do we go out?” Shimu asked rubbing his hands trying to calm the emotion he was feeling.
Elizabeth now had doubts about the plan she had organized yesterday, but seeing the expectant looks of everyone around her, she stopped thinking about that and began to speak.
“We have to enter the room where our bags are to take out everything we prepare.”
All the little ones nodded.
“Shimu you are in charge of distracting the adults, when everything is ready Theodor will send Destroyer to call you.”
“Leave it to me” Shimu responded sticking out his chest.
When Shimu ran out to accomplish his task Elizabeth motioned for the others to follow her.
The first adult Shimu encountered was one of his servants, Ilma, who he asked to bring a toy that he had forgotten in his villa. Then he found the other servant, Banksi, and Mr. Crispa organizing the morning snacks. He approached carefully and repeating in his mind the instructions Elizabeth had given him, he placed his right hand on his stomach.
“I’m feeling bad” the little boy complained walking as if he had no energy.
“Did Lutza hit you again?” Mr. Crispa asked while the servant approached with concern to see how his little master was.
“AAAG!” Complained the little boy, shaking his head.
“What happened?” Banksi asked quite alert about the state of his master.
“I don't know, we were playing and suddenly my tummy started to hurt” Shimu replied making circular motions in his stomach.
“You didn't eat anything from the floor or hit yourself?” The ubax asked again.
Shimu denied with his head again.
" You should go to the bathroom, " said Mr. Crispa, rearranging the snacks.
Both Shimu and Banksi opened their eyes not expecting him to say that.
At the same time the other children were in the room where all the suitcases had been kept. Mushi took out the basket for dirty clothes that they had used the previous day to escape, which thanks to its materials, in addition to being quite resistant, had great flexibility. Lutza took out of her trunk a suitcase that could be easily and comfortably placed on her back. While Theodor and Elizabeth carefully took out a jar of glue that they had obtained from their home.
Then they glued together the suitcase and basket, and as a last measure tied them with ropes that Mushi had asked the servants to pack.
“Done, send Destroyer to let Shimu know” Elizabeth said looking at her brother.
Theodor grabbed the red panda, who was huddled over his head and whispered “Go find Shimu.”
The little animal, as if it knew what it was being asked, moved its head to look around and when Theodor placed it on the floor it ran away.
Shimu, who was being made to drink a strange frothy white drink after leaving the bathroom, saw Destructor as a gift from the heavens, then thanked the gods and without thinking twice decided to run away.
“I already feel good!” he screamed grabbing Destroyer.
The two adults were stunned to see the little boy run away, but they immediately understood that he had been lying.
“I suppose he was hiding from his friends here” commented Banksi trying to excuse his little master's mischief.
“There is no problem, this is just soursop juice” Mr. Crispa answered, grabbing the glass and drinking its contents.
As soon as Shimu got to where his friends were, they were already waiting him inside the basket.
“Hurry up” Theodor said moving his hand so that Shimu would move faster.
Shimu plunged face first into the basket, launching himself without any care, destroyer managed to jump and climb Theodor before getting trapped under a little lepiota.
“We are ready Lutza” said Elizabeth indicating the two-meter gorilla that they could start their escape plan.
Lutza immediately grabbed the basket and placed it on her back like a backpack. Sticking her head out the room, she checked that no one was around and ran at full speed from Mr. Crispa's villa.
On the first floor of the castle were Albella, Darthañan and Frigglene with their groups organizing for the expedition. All the details of how they were going to move, feed and protect had already been defined.
“Advance” Albella ordered, confirming that everything was ready.
The group that left the castle was of twenty-four people, the ten members of Albella's team, the ten members of the Darthañan's team and four servants in charge of the two resource carts. The twenty individuals were riding Deerxylons while the two wagons carried a couple of servants and were hauled by the strange animals that Darthañan and Frigglene had seen this morning in Mr. Crispa's villa. Colifrog was the name of the hauling animal.
While they were going out no one noticed how a shadow slipped into one of the carts that the Colifrog were carrying. If these animals were smart they would have complained about the sudden increase in weight, they were carrying.
The huge wall made up of the peculiar carnivorous plant Guahaioque noticed the five beings that had sneaked into the caravan, but as they have permission to go through the wall and none of the people with them had any bad intention towards the kids of Helvella, the vine ignored them. In any other case, this plant would have torn them or the adults apart without caring that they were children.
As they descended the stairs as they could not use the cable cars or trains since they were on mounts, Albella thought about how delicate the situation was. She could not make mistakes; she was risking the lives of her men to get an object that she did not even know if it really existed. In the worst case scenario, it would be just a fluctuation of energy produced by a portal between Tellurus and Almawarth so all Vorpiax could be exposed to the invasion of the terrifying creatures that made their ancestors have to take refuge here.
Frigglene noticing the state of mind in which Albella was, indicated to her husband to do something and Darthañan following the instructions of his beloved wife approached with his horse near the young lepiota.
“You know, when I was taking classes at the Imperial Academy I took the exam to be part of the Technomagic group, it was for the elite of the elite twenty years ago.”
Darthañan looked up at the sky remembering those distant times where his only concern was the grades he was going to get, how much money his parents gave him and how many girls he was able to conquer.
“After taking the exam I felt supremely stressed thinking that if I failed to pass, my life would end there, and this constant concern began to affect my daily performance. But it was thanks to my great friend and personal servant Fukuroko and his simple words of wisdom that I was able to bear with it.”
Albella turned her head, paying attention to Darthañan on those mysterious words of wisdom.
“If it is something that you can solve, why do you worry? If you cannot solve it, why do you worry?” Darthañan smiled when he saw Albella's disappointed face.
When he heard what he had just said from his servant, he had made the same face.
“I know it doesn't sound like much, but once you meditate on it you can be a little calmer and focus on the present” added Darthañan scratching his nose.
Albella smiled, what Darthañan had just said were not elegant and pompous words, it was a reality that people had to face. ‘Acting according to what is in one's ability’ was what Albella was able to deduce from Darthañan's words.
“Thank you” Albella replied, starting to ride faster making everyone have to keep up with her.
“Well done” I congratulate Frigglene passing her husband.
Darthañan was a little confused because he did not think that Albella's reaction would be so positive because in his case he simply mocked the poor old man's words and refuted them with what he thought at the time was reality.
After an hour they reached the first level of Vorpiax, where the other three groups were waiting for them. Out of courtesy the five leaders began to greet each other and after several cordialities they finally began the ‘blissful’ expedition that had made them carry out a death pact.
