Chapter: 570 – Mistress Xakiri

Tala, Rane, and Terry tipped the tide of combat against the Leshkin, but it still wasn’t going to be a quick clash. The incoming enemy numbers seemed to be never-ending as the surrounding forest seemed to disgorge foes constantly, more seemingly rushing in from every direction.

Tala hadn’t seen so many coming after someone in a long time.

With her gravity mitigated, allowing her to hover over the center of the beleaguered caravan, Tala had an easy line of sight—even with her mundane eyes—of the seemingly unending reinforcements. As they weren’t really gaining anything by killing the Leshkin—and every moment risked the others that they’d come to help getting injured or killed—she decided to try out an idea.

Well, I’ve got to do something.

With her aura—combined with Rane’s—holding supremacy over the whole area—simply and easily allowing the other Mages to function within it—she had options. Still, one stood out to her as potentially a simple solution.

With an act of will akin to plucking the string of an instrument, she caused the feel of her aura to rise to the surface and resonate throughout her surroundings.

It had one immediate, unfortunate side effect. Every mundane gasped, either falling to their knees or freezing in place momentarily. Even the Mages staggered slightly, though they seemed to have been differently affected.

Oops.

-Yeah, big oops. I’m glad you didn’t exert yourself more fully or entirely express our power. We might have killed some on the spot.-

Yeah…

On the positive side, the action had seemingly jarred the Leshkin from their rage, and they all seemed to truly sense who was before them.

Every Leshkin eye snapped to her, and a keening wail went up among them. Even the trees seemed to shudder around them, and the cries could be heard coming from miles around.

With her allies off-kilter, Tala needed this idea to work. Thus, she seized one of the juggernauts, pinning it in place, but allowing its resonant communications of alarm through without contest—not that she was sure she could actually stop them.

Then, she immediately let it go, so as to not start a renewed rush by the others attempting to free it.

There was only a single moment more of hesitation before every Leshkin fled their vegetative bodies, causing a cacophonous whoomph as a literal—if small—army collapsed as one.

It took a moment for the caravan members to notice, as they were all still dazed from Tala’s aura usage, but then one of the guards started laughing. One of his fellows slapped his back. “Have you gone mad, Cass? What’s funny about this?”

The man shook his head. “If that little wash of pain was all we had to pay to slay an army? I’ll pay that anytime.”

The other man snorted, then started to chuckle. “Yeah, I guess that’s fair.”

The laughter was seemingly more born of relief than of true humor, but Tala didn’t mind.

She altered her gravity to lower herself down on top of a wagon, next to the fire Mage who seemed to be the lead Mage Protector.

The fire Mage was wiping a bit of blood from his nose and upper lip, but he smiled, regardless. “I can’t say I understand what you did—and it hurt like a rusty knife in my head—but thank you.”

She grimaced slightly. “My apologies. I’m used to being alone with my husband and bound companion. I should have considered your presence and acted accordingly.”

He waved her off. “We only have the magics that we have, and the results speak for themselves.” He gestured around them. “I don’t know how we can repay you.”

The man looked rather nervous, clearly truly meaning that last statement. Therefore, it was her turn to wave him off. “No, no. That’s not necessary. I’ll chat with your guest and then leave you to your route. Without her, you shouldn’t have any more unexpected encounters.”

He smiled in relief. “Thank you, Mistress…?”

She bowed his way. “I am Tala.”

“Mistress Tala, thank you. I am Ignair.”

“Good to meet you, Master Ignair.”

Rane landed lightly beside them, bowing to the man. “I am Rane, Master Ignair. It looks like you all were acquitting yourselves quite well in a difficult fight, even before we arrived.”

Off in the woods, Terry let out a mournful trill, clearly a bit sad that the clash had ended so soon.

Rane chuckled, but continued speaking to Master Ignair. “Is there any other assistance you might need?”

The man bowed toward Rane. “No, Master Rane. Your wife has already done me the courtesy of verifying just that.” He then looked hopefully toward the darkly clothed Mage, below. “She was about to speak with that Mage, though?”

Tala grinned at his hopeful, questioning tone. “Yes, I was. I will say goodbye to you, now, Master Ignair. I wish you well on your travels.”

He bowed deeply. “And I you both. My gratitude—and that of our whole company—goes with you.”

Rane and Tala gave him shallow bows.

As she examined the woman below, Tala decided that it would be best to start the conversation with the wandering Mage from a point of strength, and because of that, she purposely flickered down—using Terry’s magics—reappearing in a comfortable stance, uncomfortably close to the woman, where Tala’s aura still reigned.

She had brought Rane beside her, and to his credit, he didn’t show even momentary surprise.

The Mage stumbled backward at their sudden appearance. There was blood coming from her nose as well, and she seemed at least a bit disoriented still after her ordeal.

-It seems that while our aura affected the mundanes more, the impact hit the Mages more… acutely? Likely due to their magical senses.-

That makes sense to me.

The woman quickly recovered her footing and bowed. “Thank you, Master, Mistress. I am Xakiri. I am grateful for your interference, and I am…” She swallowed, Tala only then seeing the woman swaying just a bit. “I am exhausted.”

Tala took a moment to examine the other Archon. Her black hair was short on the sides, and long on the top in a style that Tala found confusing, but she had been seeing it more and more of late. Mistress Xakiri’s green eyes held intelligence—along with weariness—and a single scar marred her otherwise unremarkable, if pretty, face. As she was a Mage at the very least, the scar had seemingly been left there intentionally.

So, a mark of pride?

-Yeah, likely from something that she survived or overcame.-

Interesting…

Rane cleared his throat. “Greetings, Mistress Xakiri. I am Rane, and my wife is Tala. Can you tell us why the Leshkin were pursuing you?”

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Tala frowned, the second hearing of the name tickling the back of her mind. As she thought about it, the memory came to her instantly. Master Saliocas mentioned her? This is her?

Mistress Xakiri’s eyes widened as she fully focused on Tala. “Mistress Tala? I was heading toward Makinaven in the hopes of finding you. A mutual acquaintance let me know you were in that city.”

Tala’s frown deepened, feeling like something might be off. “What are the chances we ran into each other out here?”

The other woman shrugged. “Well, I assume that you came to help this caravan when you sensed the Leshkin gathering or something like that?”

Tala shrugged. “Yeah, I suppose that’s accurate enough.”

“Then it wasn’t that unlikely. I was heading your way from Retindel, and I took the opportunity to delve into the respawning tree on the way from there to Makinaven. That always gets the Leshkin a bit irate… though this time, they seemed somehow… prepared for someone to mess with them?” She shook her head. “I should have realized something was wrong, but I didn’t. I barely escaped the increased activity there, and I fled ahead of a larger pursuit force than I’m accustomed to. It was more persistent as well. I was nearing my limits when I saw the caravan and came here for shelter.” She looked a bit guilty.

Only then did Tala see that large portions of the woman’s skin were a bit flushed as if irritated… and they all lacked any inscriptions. Tala’s eyes widened. “You used up your inscriptions entirely?”

The Mage sighed, but shook her head. “Only my more powerful, limited ones. I can usually step through shadows, but it’s power intensive—and requires burning through inscriptions.”

Like my ‘Crush’ and ‘Restrain’ used to be.

-Indeed, but movement focused rather than combat. That’s rare.-

True.

The woman didn’t pause for Tala’s internal dialogue. “I was using that to flee. It’s normally enough just to draw away from the pursuit, causing them to break off as they lose interest or realize they won’t catch me. This time? They just kept coming. I’ve been running for…” The woman grimaced. “Three days? I should have been able to reach Makinaven in one, but they kept heading me off, forcing me to go the wrong way in between shadow steps.”

Rane cleared his throat. “If you were able to evade them for so long, that must be a powerful ability. I am glad that you were not caught or overcome.”

The woman smiled back. “Thank you, Master Rane… I don’t suppose you would be willing to bring me along with you? I assume that you are going toward the research station in this area, but that is also assuming you didn’t divert too far from your intended path to come aid this caravan. I don’t want my presence to cause any more issues for these good people, but I do not trust my chances in these woods alone.”

Rane glanced toward Tala. “I’ll talk with the others here, then we can go.”

Tala nodded. “Thank you, Rane.” As he turned away, she looked back to Mistress Xakiri. “You can come with us as far as the research station. I would like to know what you’ve learned about Leshkin.”

Mistress Xakiri huffed a humorous laugh. “We don’t have that much time, Mistress Tala. I’ve been studying the Leshkin for more than a century. I suspect I know as much about them as almost anyone these days.”