The days that followed were not joyous. The expedition was a failure. Although it could be said that the natives of Vorpiax were the victors, all they got was death. The only valuable, the book-shaped box with a magic padlock, remained closed. Not even Darthañan knew how to open the lock.
With two of his sons struggling between life and death, dozens of his men dead, and the possible war against three other baronies; Helvella determined that hiding Darthañan and Frigglene would only cause more problems. During the days he went out with his children, he found out the identities of those who had attacked them, and at the moment he did not have the resources or the strength to help them.
Helvella decided to meet with Darthañan and Frigglene as soon as possible, but the events that followed postponed the important meeting.
Mushi lost the battle. The hazasayi's poison had done too much damage to his small body. So when Anya and Kolia removed the harmful toxin, it was too late.
On the day of the funeral of those who lost their lives on the expedition, a special tribute was dedicated to Mushi. On the outskirts of the castle, near the place where people entered the last level to see the landscape, a statue of the little lepiota was unveiled.
Mushi and Destroyer appeared in the majestic statue, killing a Hazasayi. On the accompanying plate it could be read:
"Here lies Mushi hero who sacrificed himself to save his loved ones."
The days that followed were dark.
Banksi and Ilma, Shimu, and Mushi's servants were executed for negligence. Mr. Crispa kept his life thanks to his reputation as a scholar, but he was sent to the dark dungeons that existed hidden in the roots of Vorpiax.
The soldiers who were guarding Guahaioque were fired. A robust security reform was implemented in the castle. The new guards not only watched over Guahaioque to not eat the unwary, but they were in charge of patrolling the huge vine wall and inspecting everyone and everything entering or leaving the castle.
In this way, the meeting between Helvella, Darthañan, and Frigglene only happened after a month.
In an elegant office, Helvella was sitting opposite the human and the vampire. Of the three, the lepiota was the one that looked the worst. Mushi's death and the delicate state in which Fusca still was had made it difficult for him to fall asleep. The possible war that was coming was also a delicate subject that occupied his thoughts.
"I don't have good news," Helvella said resting his jaw over his hands.
“I discovered the identity of the leader of the group that attacked your family.”
Darthañan's eyes widened. He didn't expect to hear that. Frigglene turned to look briefly at her husband concerned about how he might react.
"Here's the problem," Helvella continued with a sigh.
“His power is such that if I speak his name he will know that someone mentioned him on this island. In less than a day, Vorpiax would be full of his followers.”
Helvella stopped and opened a drawer to his right.
"His name is written inside," the lepiota handed Darthañan a white envelope.
When the human started to open it, Helvella stopped him.
"Don't open it here."
“What do you mean?” Darthañan asked with a slightly shaky voice.
“The moment you learn about his identity he will also be able to determine our location. And as I said: as soon as it happens Vorpiax will be filled with his minions.”
“What do you propose we do?”
“The only place where you and your family will be safe when you read that letter is the Imperial Island. If you read it here you would be giving me away to him, and if you read it on any other island we cannot rule out that it is under his control.”
“Thank you. I will remember this favor,” Darthañan said, putting the envelope in one of the inner pockets of his jacket.
" There is nothing to be grateful for," Helvella rested again his jaw over his hands.
“Thanks to your sudden appearance, I have made several discoveries.”
“What, what kind of discoveries?” Darthañan stammered, his face turned pale knowing the implications that a traitor would bring among the guardian families.
“For around three hundred years, guardian families with insufficient power or few members have begun to disappear or be exterminated. All this has happened under various circumstances, so it could be thought that they are mere coincidences. But digging deeper I was surprised by the fact that there are no survivors; And not only that, these attacks happened every time the emperor traveled to Tellurus.”
Darthañan covered his mouth in concern.
“Are they using us as hostages?”
“So it seems. Now I am 80% sure that there is a traitor among the guardian families.” Helvella replied crossing his legs.
“Isn’t…?” Darthañan asked showing the letter.
“Fortunately not, if someone is betraying us, they are doing it carefully with a different objective than those who attacked you.”
"We must inform the emperor of this," said Darthañan.
"He already knows," Helvella replied.
“When I left Brevi to participate in the entrance exam of the imperial academy, I obtained an audience with the emperor to present my discoveries. I also told him about your situation.”
“What did he say?” Darthañan asked almost without letting Helvella finish his words.
Helvella sighed organizing his thoughts.
“For the emperor, the traitor and the organization that attacked your family are two different subjects.”
“What? That doesn't make sense.” This time it was Frigglene who interrupted the lepiota.
Helvella looked at Darthañan to see if he wanted to explain to his wife, but the human was facing down. The usual sparkle in his eyes nowhere.
"The matters of the empire and the guardians are two different things," Helvella said, raising his hand to prevent Frigglene from interrupting him again.
“The reason the emperor only manages one island and allowed the other thousands of islands, except Morgrum, to be divided into four kingdoms is that the mission of the guardian families is much more important than the banal game of Politics.”
"But someone is attacking the guardian families," Frigglene protested.
"They are not attacking only guardian families," Darthañan said weakly, understanding why the emperor would not help them destroy the organization.
“Precisely, it appears to be an alliance between quite powerful groups seeking to take control of Marburkan kingdom. All of their attacks have been against families loyal to the king, not just against guardian families. For this very reason, not even the emperor has been able to determine if there is a traitor among us.”
"Until the emperor is sure, he will not meddle in the affairs of the kingdoms," said Darthañan, clenching his fists with such force that his hands began to bleed “I will never be able to avenge my father's death.” Darthañan regret without energy.
A person's strength was nothing compared to the power of an organization. Even Helvella could not help him in this matter, Lhimkio was located in Jagulbud kingdom so the lepiota as baron could not meddle in the affairs of another kingdom without permission from his superiors.
" We could use a travel formation and meet the king of Marburkan, he certainly can help us, " said Frigglene, trying to calm her husband.
“Darthañan, I think you understand better than I how these formations work,” indicated Helvella.
Darthañan's mouth opened as he understood what Helvella meant. Frigglene turned to see her husband for an explanation. Darthañan scratched his head thinking about how to simplify his words.
“My love, the teleportation formations function like a shipping company. When you send a package, you have to put a stamp so that the courier knows what it is taking and where it should be delivered.”
Darthañan moved his hands through the air as he explained.
“In the teleportation formations we are the package and the stamp is our DNA.”
"Which means that those who attacked you may have someone reviewing the formation records. No! a simple machine can have an alarm when it detects that any of you used any formation,” said Helvella.
"They would catch us before we got to the king, " Frigglene said, realizing the predicament they were in.
"Exactly," Helvella smiled.
"But it will take years for a ship to reach the high islands," Frigglene complained.
Darthañan smiled bitterly when he saw that his wife had understood the problem.
“But it doesn’t matter my love, we can travel as a family with false identities. We can plan things while we travel,” Frigglene said surprising Darthañan and Helvella.
Darthañan was moved by his wife's words while Helvella was glad for other reasons. He no longer had to ask the couple to leave Lhimkio. He could organize provisions and money for their trip and be done with it. In this way, he could concentrate on the most immediate problem that threatened his people.
