Chapter 154: You Earned It
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Chapter 154: You Earned It
Tala had had a rough couple of days, and that didnt even account for her still healing chest. The burns caused by shorting out her crush and restrain inscriptions were taking a lot longer to heal than most injuries shed taken, though they were mostly recovered by this point.
Taking everything into account, as the wagons began moving once again, Tala realized that she was mentally and emotionally exhausted.
As foreign as it seemed to her, she felt like she should not be training right then. So, going against the habits shed tried to build over the last couple of months, Tala gave herself a bit of a break that afternoon. She simply relaxed on the cargo-wagons roof, watching the rolling plains slide by.
She hadnt realized how much shed missed the open air, but it seemed that her time in Makinaven had given her a new appreciation for wide open spaces.The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñøv€l-B1n.
Their caravan must have given off more dangerous vibes than usual, because they werent attacked even once as afternoon slid towards evening.
Tala did see some arcanous beasts watching them at a couple of points, but none tried their luck.
Thankfully. She shook her head at the idea of having to defend the caravan. Were all exhausted.
It was nearing evening when Mistress Odera finally joined Tala on the roof, moving slowly and deliberately.
When she saw the older woman, Tala rushed to her aid. Mistress Odera! She offered her a hand up, and the other Mage took it.
Thank you, Mistress Tala.
They moved back to the center of the roof, where Tala left the cushioned central seat for Mistress Odera.
Thank you, again. As she settled down, Mistress Odera sighed in relieved weariness. Now, Id love to hear your version of this mornings events. What happened after I passed out? After a moments hesitation, she shook her head. No, go back a bit before that. I only caught snatches, as I was too near my limit at that time to truly pay attention, but I believe you organized some strategies for when the shield came down. Is that correct?
Tala nodded, then launched into an abbreviated version of events, not pausing until shed explained Rane and the guards coming to her rescue in the end and their safe departure from the forest and final escape from the Leshkin as a group.
Mistress Odera nodded, finally commenting then. It sounds like it went better than we had any right to hope. It also seems blindingly obvious that they were after you, for some reason. Id suspected on our inward journey, but there can always be oddities and anomalies.
Tala nodded. Thats what we concluded as well.
We? Mistress Odera gave her a searching look.
Tala shrugged, glancing away. Master Rane, myself, the guards, and drivers.
The older woman gave a small smile. Ahh, good. So, theres nothing tucked away. No building rumors we might need to deal with. That makes things simpler. She regarded Tala for a long moment before nodding. It is almost always better to be forthright about such things. Her eyes narrowed. Did you know that they would target you before we entered the forest?
Tala jerked her focus back to Mistress Odera. What? No! Of course not.
The Mage clucked her tongue, humming contemplatively around the motion. What about before we departed to head back to Bandfast?
Tala hesitated, then. No? I had fears, and wild speculations, but I didnt know for sure.
Mistress Odera grunted. Your fears, we discussed. I still dont agree with your anthropomorphizing of the greater Leshkin, and so if that is truly all that you had to go on, I am satisfied that the danger was not fully expectable.
Well, and my defensive magics being based on ending-berry power.
She sighed and shook her head. That isnt news, either. She held up her hand before Tala could add anything else. Nor is your iron based protection. We should update the Archive with the possibility of those links, however. Things could have gone much worse. Many caravans would not have held up so well under such an onslaught, and we are nearing the Leshkin surge for this cycle. Only a century and a half or so before the height of that threat.
Tala frowned. What do you mean?
Surely the Leshkin wars arent unknown to you.
No, of course I know of those, at least in part. I meant: What do you mean by many other caravans wouldnt have held up.
We are somewhat, but not entirely, uniquely able to survive as we did. I have one of the greatest defensive powers, for caravan protection duty, of any Mage currently working.
Tala was about to scoff and roll her eyes at the arrogance but then considered for a moment. She can fully isolate and protect a caravan as it moves, for hours, all while it is under heavy assault. In the end, Tala had to concede that Mistress Odera might actually be right about her abilities relative to other Mage protectors. Go on.
The side of the womans mouth pulled up, and she clearly had intuited Talas thinking, but she didnt comment. Second, we have an incredibly high number of guards for our relative size. Thus, we had more defenders per area of the caravan. That is due to you. Your high-capacity cargo-slots, and their proportionally increased cargo, necessitated more guards, and their space efficiency concentrated that defense onto only two wagons.
Tala smiled at the compliment, oblique though it was.
Master Rane is very destructive of single targets, and he is incredibly efficient in his use of power and inscriptions in that destruction. Mistress Odera shrugged. True, that is no different from any Mage using an artifact as a primary means of attack, but that is still a factor in our favor.
So, we were uniquely suited to survive.
We were distinctively designed to survive.
Tala frowned. Explain.
Mistress Odera shrugged. Things like this are always a possibility. So, the Caravan Guild tries to ensure that forest ventures are well suited.
Ahh, so you meant that many non-forest route caravans wouldnt have held up well.
That is accurate. Yes.
Tala shrugged. Thats fair. Though, I suppose, this is close to what well have for other routes, right?
Well often have fewer guards, but otherwise, yes. After a moments thought, she shrugged. We probably have about the optimum ratio of guards to wagons, at this point. In truth, we might have more guards for some of the plains routes, if we have sufficient passengers, but then, wed need passenger wagons anyways, which would drastically lower the ratio were discussing. She seemed to consider further. So, like I said. We were in a very good position for the danger that we encountered.
The conversation continued as Tala asked some pointed questions about being a lead Mage protector. Her short stint trying to operate with Mistress Odera incapacitated had shown her that she had a lot to learn.
Mistress Odera seemed to be ready and even to have been waiting for Tala to show such interest. Thus, they spent the remainder of the afternoons travels, that nights dinner conversation, and their time until first watch, continuing Talas tutelage in the finer points of leading a caravans magical protection.
Mistress Odera also gave Tala a list of reference materials to look into, when she had time, and Tala added them to her growing to-read itemization. The Archive tablet is looking more and more appealing.
Even though that tablet would be an amazing resource, she doubted that shed ever want to fully give up on physical books.
All in all, she had quite a lot to process as she laid down for the first half of the night.
She did her best to compartmentalize, as shed have plenty of time to think while on second watch, and she didnt want to keep herself awake through what little time she did have to sleep.
Tala landed lightly, thanks to the warning. Thanks. She nodded to Terry.
Now Tala groaned. How am I going to kill them?
She sighed. I did it again. I was so focused on finding one, and going after it, that I didnt decide how to kill it in advance.
She had one, partial answer. She pulled out three tungsten balls, none of which contained her bloodstar and none of which were currently gravitationally altered. Those in hand, she began amplifying their gravitation towards the three biggest animals.
If she had to guess, the herd down below was an alpha bull and two betas, each with a mate, and four calves. It was a bit of an odd grouping as she didnt think thunder cattle were monogamous. Maybe theyre all the alphas mates, and the other two bulls are just hangers on?
It didnt really matter. She was targeting the massive bulls heads.
Even though it wasnt a quick process, she got ready, bracing against the pull that would begin, soon. Now, the others.
I assume you want the little ones?
Terry crouched a bit lower and bobbed a nod.
Thats acceptable. Quick, clean kills, please.
He glanced her way, then seemed to roll his eyes before bobbing again.
Thank you. That would leave her with three cows to deal with, assuming her spheres were as lethal as she had reason to suspect. She was still a couple hundred feet away, and while she wasnt invisible to the animals they werent paying her too much attention. Thatll change in a few minutes.
She would have loved to target more than three with metal meteors, but three was her current limit.
She imagined running in, Flow swinging, carving them up, but eventually, she sighed, shaking her head. Ill take the boring way. There was too much chance that theyd be able to kill her with lightning. Or at least deeply cut into my ending-berry power and inscription integrity.
Large animals did not handle weight increases well, as a general rule, and while these cattle had magic that gave them benefits well beyond any mundane creature, it wasnt their primary magic, and it wasnt immutable. The cows shouldnt be as robust as the bulls, either.
The balls were beginning to pull, if not quite at her limit, but she didnt want one to slip free early. Better on my timing than unexpectedly. So, she signaled Terry and let them go.
As soon she released the balls to start their bloody journey, Tala had locked onto the three cows. Increase.
The three spheres began rolling downhill, quickly picking up speed until they lifted free of the ground altogether, practically streaking through the air to crack into the three bulls.
The first had been facing a bit away, so the ball hit it in the upper back, between the shoulder blades. A loud crack and a panicked bellow were precursors to the beast collapsing in what seemed to be a paralyzed heap.
Oops. Ill try to finish him off, quick. No need to be overly cruel.
The second was almost exactly broadside to Tala, so the tungsten ball slammed into the side of its head, decapitating it completely and anything but cleanly. The pulped remains of the head painted the nearby bushes a grayish red, even while the beasts heart continued to pump, spraying the grass in front of the slowly tipping, headless corpse.
Talas eye twitched. Thisthis is a lot messier than Id anticipated.
The third bull had been facing her, more or less. The sphere breached the top of its skull, driving downward and embedding in the neck before slowly pulling back up, causing the bovine to disgorge some of the eviscerated flesh that had followed the ball for the end of its devastating path.
That was, unsurprisingly, the cleanest of the three kills. Well, two kills, the first still needs to be properly dispatched.
She walked down the slope following her weapons path, if much more slowly.
As the bulls were dying, the cows were already beginning to struggle.
Tala didnt see the calves die, and when she looked to see how Terry was doing, she saw him crouching on a nearby hill, just waiting and watching. There was no evidence of where the young thunder cattle had gone. Not one drop of blood in evidence.
Though, it would be hard to spot anyways, given the ocean Ive unleashed.
She began to jog, even as the cows were looking around, stumbling in a way that seemed a bit drunken.
Tala reached the first bull and used Flow to end his suffering with a blow from behind.
The cows hadnt really paid attention to the small human before that, given the chaos surrounding them and her iron salve making her less visible to their magic sight, but all three oriented on her instantly as the alpha bull died.
And they were livid.
A raking series of lightning strikes shattered the ground starting halfway between Tala and the largest cow, moving towards her with unnerving steadiness.
The smallest cow let out a bellow of fear and rage and tried to charge Tala, only to immediately trip. The loud crack and chaotic tumble that followed was a clear signal of that animals demise.
The middle cow was suddenly wreathed in power, with a flash of light, the bovine was towering over her, front hooves raised and already descending to trample her.
They can teleport?!?! Thankfully, her instinctive reactions were faster than her conscious thought, and Flow was transformed into a glaive and cutting upward before her incredulity fully manifested.
In her haste, she dumped more power than necessary into the weapon, and it blazed with power as it struck the bovines chest and the power tore through the animal, bisecting it and cauterizing the two halves in a single blow.
The largest cow stumbled to the side, its attacks faltering before they reached where Tala stood, already panting under the influence of an adrenaline dump, between two smoking sides of beef.
It was dead before it hit the ground.
Tala slowly calmed herself, before clearing her throat. Well. That worked. She swallowed. Im really, really glad I didnt just charge in here like last time. As she looked around at the carnage, she sighed. Well, it could have been better, but progress, not perfection, right? She looked to Terry, as he flickered into being beside her.
He looked around at the red-painted grass and melting snow. He tilted his head in an obvious question.
Yeah I know I said clean.
He squawked.
Tala grimaced. Im working on it, okay?
He trilled happily, giving an almost shrug, before plunging his head into the nearest carcass, skillfully extracting the guts and viscera without contaminating the meat.
Eat up, buddy. You earned it.
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Chapter 154: You Earned It
Tala had had a rough couple of days, and that didnt even account for her still healing chest. The burns caused by shorting out her crush and restrain inscriptions were taking a lot longer to heal than most injuries shed taken, though they were mostly recovered by this point.
Taking everything into account, as the wagons began moving once again, Tala realized that she was mentally and emotionally exhausted.
As foreign as it seemed to her, she felt like she should not be training right then. So, going against the habits shed tried to build over the last couple of months, Tala gave herself a bit of a break that afternoon. She simply relaxed on the cargo-wagons roof, watching the rolling plains slide by.
She hadnt realized how much shed missed the open air, but it seemed that her time in Makinaven had given her a new appreciation for wide open spaces.The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñøv€l-B1n.
Their caravan must have given off more dangerous vibes than usual, because they werent attacked even once as afternoon slid towards evening.
Tala did see some arcanous beasts watching them at a couple of points, but none tried their luck.
Thankfully. She shook her head at the idea of having to defend the caravan. Were all exhausted.
It was nearing evening when Mistress Odera finally joined Tala on the roof, moving slowly and deliberately.
When she saw the older woman, Tala rushed to her aid. Mistress Odera! She offered her a hand up, and the other Mage took it.
Thank you, Mistress Tala.
They moved back to the center of the roof, where Tala left the cushioned central seat for Mistress Odera.
Thank you, again. As she settled down, Mistress Odera sighed in relieved weariness. Now, Id love to hear your version of this mornings events. What happened after I passed out? After a moments hesitation, she shook her head. No, go back a bit before that. I only caught snatches, as I was too near my limit at that time to truly pay attention, but I believe you organized some strategies for when the shield came down. Is that correct?
Tala nodded, then launched into an abbreviated version of events, not pausing until shed explained Rane and the guards coming to her rescue in the end and their safe departure from the forest and final escape from the Leshkin as a group.
Mistress Odera nodded, finally commenting then. It sounds like it went better than we had any right to hope. It also seems blindingly obvious that they were after you, for some reason. Id suspected on our inward journey, but there can always be oddities and anomalies.
Tala nodded. Thats what we concluded as well.
We? Mistress Odera gave her a searching look.
Tala shrugged, glancing away. Master Rane, myself, the guards, and drivers.
The older woman gave a small smile. Ahh, good. So, theres nothing tucked away. No building rumors we might need to deal with. That makes things simpler. She regarded Tala for a long moment before nodding. It is almost always better to be forthright about such things. Her eyes narrowed. Did you know that they would target you before we entered the forest?
Tala jerked her focus back to Mistress Odera. What? No! Of course not.
The Mage clucked her tongue, humming contemplatively around the motion. What about before we departed to head back to Bandfast?
Tala hesitated, then. No? I had fears, and wild speculations, but I didnt know for sure.
Mistress Odera grunted. Your fears, we discussed. I still dont agree with your anthropomorphizing of the greater Leshkin, and so if that is truly all that you had to go on, I am satisfied that the danger was not fully expectable.
Well, and my defensive magics being based on ending-berry power.
She sighed and shook her head. That isnt news, either. She held up her hand before Tala could add anything else. Nor is your iron based protection. We should update the Archive with the possibility of those links, however. Things could have gone much worse. Many caravans would not have held up so well under such an onslaught, and we are nearing the Leshkin surge for this cycle. Only a century and a half or so before the height of that threat.
Tala frowned. What do you mean?
Surely the Leshkin wars arent unknown to you.
No, of course I know of those, at least in part. I meant: What do you mean by many other caravans wouldnt have held up.
We are somewhat, but not entirely, uniquely able to survive as we did. I have one of the greatest defensive powers, for caravan protection duty, of any Mage currently working.
Tala was about to scoff and roll her eyes at the arrogance but then considered for a moment. She can fully isolate and protect a caravan as it moves, for hours, all while it is under heavy assault. In the end, Tala had to concede that Mistress Odera might actually be right about her abilities relative to other Mage protectors. Go on.
The side of the womans mouth pulled up, and she clearly had intuited Talas thinking, but she didnt comment. Second, we have an incredibly high number of guards for our relative size. Thus, we had more defenders per area of the caravan. That is due to you. Your high-capacity cargo-slots, and their proportionally increased cargo, necessitated more guards, and their space efficiency concentrated that defense onto only two wagons.
Tala smiled at the compliment, oblique though it was.
Master Rane is very destructive of single targets, and he is incredibly efficient in his use of power and inscriptions in that destruction. Mistress Odera shrugged. True, that is no different from any Mage using an artifact as a primary means of attack, but that is still a factor in our favor.
So, we were uniquely suited to survive.
We were distinctively designed to survive.
Tala frowned. Explain.
Mistress Odera shrugged. Things like this are always a possibility. So, the Caravan Guild tries to ensure that forest ventures are well suited.
Ahh, so you meant that many non-forest route caravans wouldnt have held up well.
That is accurate. Yes.
Tala shrugged. Thats fair. Though, I suppose, this is close to what well have for other routes, right?
Well often have fewer guards, but otherwise, yes. After a moments thought, she shrugged. We probably have about the optimum ratio of guards to wagons, at this point. In truth, we might have more guards for some of the plains routes, if we have sufficient passengers, but then, wed need passenger wagons anyways, which would drastically lower the ratio were discussing. She seemed to consider further. So, like I said. We were in a very good position for the danger that we encountered.
The conversation continued as Tala asked some pointed questions about being a lead Mage protector. Her short stint trying to operate with Mistress Odera incapacitated had shown her that she had a lot to learn.
Mistress Odera seemed to be ready and even to have been waiting for Tala to show such interest. Thus, they spent the remainder of the afternoons travels, that nights dinner conversation, and their time until first watch, continuing Talas tutelage in the finer points of leading a caravans magical protection.
Mistress Odera also gave Tala a list of reference materials to look into, when she had time, and Tala added them to her growing to-read itemization. The Archive tablet is looking more and more appealing.
Even though that tablet would be an amazing resource, she doubted that shed ever want to fully give up on physical books.
All in all, she had quite a lot to process as she laid down for the first half of the night.
She did her best to compartmentalize, as shed have plenty of time to think while on second watch, and she didnt want to keep herself awake through what little time she did have to sleep.
Tala landed lightly, thanks to the warning. Thanks. She nodded to Terry.
Now Tala groaned. How am I going to kill them?
She sighed. I did it again. I was so focused on finding one, and going after it, that I didnt decide how to kill it in advance.
She had one, partial answer. She pulled out three tungsten balls, none of which contained her bloodstar and none of which were currently gravitationally altered. Those in hand, she began amplifying their gravitation towards the three biggest animals.
If she had to guess, the herd down below was an alpha bull and two betas, each with a mate, and four calves. It was a bit of an odd grouping as she didnt think thunder cattle were monogamous. Maybe theyre all the alphas mates, and the other two bulls are just hangers on?
It didnt really matter. She was targeting the massive bulls heads.
Even though it wasnt a quick process, she got ready, bracing against the pull that would begin, soon. Now, the others.
I assume you want the little ones?
Terry crouched a bit lower and bobbed a nod.
Thats acceptable. Quick, clean kills, please.
He glanced her way, then seemed to roll his eyes before bobbing again.
Thank you. That would leave her with three cows to deal with, assuming her spheres were as lethal as she had reason to suspect. She was still a couple hundred feet away, and while she wasnt invisible to the animals they werent paying her too much attention. Thatll change in a few minutes.
She would have loved to target more than three with metal meteors, but three was her current limit.
She imagined running in, Flow swinging, carving them up, but eventually, she sighed, shaking her head. Ill take the boring way. There was too much chance that theyd be able to kill her with lightning. Or at least deeply cut into my ending-berry power and inscription integrity.
Large animals did not handle weight increases well, as a general rule, and while these cattle had magic that gave them benefits well beyond any mundane creature, it wasnt their primary magic, and it wasnt immutable. The cows shouldnt be as robust as the bulls, either.
The balls were beginning to pull, if not quite at her limit, but she didnt want one to slip free early. Better on my timing than unexpectedly. So, she signaled Terry and let them go.
As soon she released the balls to start their bloody journey, Tala had locked onto the three cows. Increase.
The three spheres began rolling downhill, quickly picking up speed until they lifted free of the ground altogether, practically streaking through the air to crack into the three bulls.
The first had been facing a bit away, so the ball hit it in the upper back, between the shoulder blades. A loud crack and a panicked bellow were precursors to the beast collapsing in what seemed to be a paralyzed heap.
Oops. Ill try to finish him off, quick. No need to be overly cruel.
The second was almost exactly broadside to Tala, so the tungsten ball slammed into the side of its head, decapitating it completely and anything but cleanly. The pulped remains of the head painted the nearby bushes a grayish red, even while the beasts heart continued to pump, spraying the grass in front of the slowly tipping, headless corpse.
Talas eye twitched. Thisthis is a lot messier than Id anticipated.
The third bull had been facing her, more or less. The sphere breached the top of its skull, driving downward and embedding in the neck before slowly pulling back up, causing the bovine to disgorge some of the eviscerated flesh that had followed the ball for the end of its devastating path.
That was, unsurprisingly, the cleanest of the three kills. Well, two kills, the first still needs to be properly dispatched.
She walked down the slope following her weapons path, if much more slowly.
As the bulls were dying, the cows were already beginning to struggle.
Tala didnt see the calves die, and when she looked to see how Terry was doing, she saw him crouching on a nearby hill, just waiting and watching. There was no evidence of where the young thunder cattle had gone. Not one drop of blood in evidence.
Though, it would be hard to spot anyways, given the ocean Ive unleashed.
She began to jog, even as the cows were looking around, stumbling in a way that seemed a bit drunken.
Tala reached the first bull and used Flow to end his suffering with a blow from behind.
The cows hadnt really paid attention to the small human before that, given the chaos surrounding them and her iron salve making her less visible to their magic sight, but all three oriented on her instantly as the alpha bull died.
And they were livid.
A raking series of lightning strikes shattered the ground starting halfway between Tala and the largest cow, moving towards her with unnerving steadiness.
The smallest cow let out a bellow of fear and rage and tried to charge Tala, only to immediately trip. The loud crack and chaotic tumble that followed was a clear signal of that animals demise.
The middle cow was suddenly wreathed in power, with a flash of light, the bovine was towering over her, front hooves raised and already descending to trample her.
They can teleport?!?! Thankfully, her instinctive reactions were faster than her conscious thought, and Flow was transformed into a glaive and cutting upward before her incredulity fully manifested.
In her haste, she dumped more power than necessary into the weapon, and it blazed with power as it struck the bovines chest and the power tore through the animal, bisecting it and cauterizing the two halves in a single blow.
The largest cow stumbled to the side, its attacks faltering before they reached where Tala stood, already panting under the influence of an adrenaline dump, between two smoking sides of beef.
It was dead before it hit the ground.
Tala slowly calmed herself, before clearing her throat. Well. That worked. She swallowed. Im really, really glad I didnt just charge in here like last time. As she looked around at the carnage, she sighed. Well, it could have been better, but progress, not perfection, right? She looked to Terry, as he flickered into being beside her.
He looked around at the red-painted grass and melting snow. He tilted his head in an obvious question.
Yeah I know I said clean.
He squawked.
Tala grimaced. Im working on it, okay?
He trilled happily, giving an almost shrug, before plunging his head into the nearest carcass, skillfully extracting the guts and viscera without contaminating the meat.
Eat up, buddy. You earned it.
Chapter 154: You Earned ItTala had had a rough couple of days, and that didnt even account for her still healing chest. The burns caused by shorting out her crush and restrain inscriptions were taking a lot longer to heal than most injuries shed taken, though they were mostly recovered by this point.Taking everything into account, as the wagons began moving once again, Tala realized that she was mentally and emotionally exhausted.As foreign as it seemed to her, she felt like she should not be training right then. So, going against the habits shed tried to build over the last couple of months, Tala gave herself a bit of a break that afternoon. She simply relaxed on the cargo-wagons roof, watching the rolling plains slide by.She hadnt realized how much shed missed the open air, but it seemed that her time in Makinaven had given her a new appreciation for wide open spaces.The debut release of this chapter happened at Nvl-B1n.Their caravan must have given off more dangerous vibes than usual, because they werent attacked even once as afternoon slid towards evening.Tala did see some arcanous beasts watching them at a couple of points, but none tried their luck.Thankfully. She shook her head at the idea of having to defend the caravan. Were all exhausted.It was nearing evening when Mistress Odera finally joined Tala on the roof, moving slowly and deliberately.When she saw the older woman, Tala rushed to her aid. Mistress Odera! She offered her a hand up, and the other Mage took it.Thank you, Mistress Tala.They moved back to the center of the roof, where Tala left the cushioned central seat for Mistress Odera.Thank you, again. As she settled down, Mistress Odera sighed in relieved weariness. Now, Id love to hear your version of this mornings events. What happened after I passed out? After a moments hesitation, she shook her head. No, go back a bit before that. I only caught snatches, as I was too near my limit at that time to truly pay attention, but I believe you organized some strategies for when the shield came down. Is that correct?Tala nodded, then launched into an abbreviated version of events, not pausing until shed explained Rane and the guards coming to her rescue in the end and their safe departure from the forest and final escape from the Leshkin as a group.Mistress Odera nodded, finally commenting then. It sounds like it went better than we had any right to hope. It also seems blindingly obvious that they were after you, for some reason. Id suspected on our inward journey, but there can always be oddities and anomalies.Tala nodded. Thats what we concluded as well.We? Mistress Odera gave her a searching look.Tala shrugged, glancing away. Master Rane, myself, the guards, and drivers.The older woman gave a small smile. Ahh, good. So, theres nothing tucked away. No building rumors we might need to deal with. That makes things simpler. She regarded Tala for a long moment before nodding. It is almost always better to be forthright about such things. Her eyes narrowed. Did you know that they would target you before we entered the forest?Tala jerked her focus back to Mistress Odera. What? No! Of course not.The Mage clucked her tongue, humming contemplatively around the motion. What about before we departed to head back to Bandfast?Tala hesitated, then. No? I had fears, and wild speculations, but I didnt know for sure.Mistress Odera grunted. Your fears, we discussed. I still dont agree with your anthropomorphizing of the greater Leshkin, and so if that is truly all that you had to go on, I am satisfied that the danger was not fully expectable.Well, and my defensive magics being based on ending-berry power.She sighed and shook her head. That isnt news, either. She held up her hand before Tala could add anything else. Nor is your iron based protection. We should update the Archive with the possibility of those links, however. Things could have gone much worse. Many caravans would not have held up so well under such an onslaught, and we are nearing the Leshkin surge for this cycle. Only a century and a half or so before the height of that threat.Tala frowned. What do you mean?Surely the Leshkin wars arent unknown to you.No, of course I know of those, at least in part. I meant: What do you mean by many other caravans wouldnt have held up. We are somewhat, but not entirely, uniquely able to survive as we did. I have one of the greatest defensive powers, for caravan protection duty, of any Mage currently working.Tala was about to scoff and roll her eyes at the arrogance but then considered for a moment. She can fully isolate and protect a caravan as it moves, for hours, all while it is under heavy assault. In the end, Tala had to concede that Mistress Odera might actually be right about her abilities relative to other Mage protectors. Go on.The side of the womans mouth pulled up, and she clearly had intuited Talas thinking, but she didnt comment. Second, we have an incredibly high number of guards for our relative size. Thus, we had more defenders per area of the caravan. That is due to you. Your high-capacity cargo-slots, and their proportionally increased cargo, necessitated more guards, and their space efficiency concentrated that defense onto only two wagons.Tala smiled at the compliment, oblique though it was.Master Rane is very destructive of single targets, and he is incredibly efficient in his use of power and inscriptions in that destruction. Mistress Odera shrugged. True, that is no different from any Mage using an artifact as a primary means of attack, but that is still a factor in our favor.So, we were uniquely suited to survive.We were distinctively designed to survive.Tala frowned. Explain.Mistress Odera shrugged. Things like this are always a possibility. So, the Caravan Guild tries to ensure that forest ventures are well suited.Ahh, so you meant that many non-forest route caravans wouldnt have held up well.That is accurate. Yes.Tala shrugged. Thats fair. Though, I suppose, this is close to what well have for other routes, right?Well often have fewer guards, but otherwise, yes. After a moments thought, she shrugged. We probably have about the optimum ratio of guards to wagons, at this point. In truth, we might have more guards for some of the plains routes, if we have sufficient passengers, but then, wed need passenger wagons anyways, which would drastically lower the ratio were discussing. She seemed to consider further. So, like I said. We were in a very good position for the danger that we encountered.The conversation continued as Tala asked some pointed questions about being a lead Mage protector. Her short stint trying to operate with Mistress Odera incapacitated had shown her that she had a lot to learn.Mistress Odera seemed to be ready and even to have been waiting for Tala to show such interest. Thus, they spent the remainder of the afternoons travels, that nights dinner conversation, and their time until first watch, continuing Talas tutelage in the finer points of leading a caravans magical protection.Mistress Odera also gave Tala a list of reference materials to look into, when she had time, and Tala added them to her growing to-read itemization. The Archive tablet is looking more and more appealing.Even though that tablet would be an amazing resource, she doubted that shed ever want to fully give up on physical books.All in all, she had quite a lot to process as she laid down for the first half of the night.She did her best to compartmentalize, as shed have plenty of time to think while on second watch, and she didnt want to keep herself awake through what little time she did have to sleep.Tala landed lightly, thanks to the warning. Thanks. She nodded to Terry.Now Tala groaned. How am I going to kill them?She sighed. I did it again. I was so focused on finding one, and going after it, that I didnt decide how to kill it in advance.She had one, partial answer. She pulled out three tungsten balls, none of which contained her bloodstar and none of which were currently gravitationally altered. Those in hand, she began amplifying their gravitation towards the three biggest animals.If she had to guess, the herd down below was an alpha bull and two betas, each with a mate, and four calves. It was a bit of an odd grouping as she didnt think thunder cattle were monogamous. Maybe theyre all the alphas mates, and the other two bulls are just hangers on?It didnt really matter. She was targeting the massive bulls heads.Even though it wasnt a quick process, she got ready, bracing against the pull that would begin, soon. Now, the others.I assume you want the little ones?Terry crouched a bit lower and bobbed a nod.Thats acceptable. Quick, clean kills, please.He glanced her way, then seemed to roll his eyes before bobbing again.Thank you. That would leave her with three cows to deal with, assuming her spheres were as lethal as she had reason to suspect. She was still a couple hundred feet away, and while she wasnt invisible to the animals they werent paying her too much attention. Thatll change in a few minutes.She would have loved to target more than three with metal meteors, but three was her current limit.She imagined running in, Flow swinging, carving them up, but eventually, she sighed, shaking her head. Ill take the boring way. There was too much chance that theyd be able to kill her with lightning. Or at least deeply cut into my ending-berry power and inscription integrity.Large animals did not handle weight increases well, as a general rule, and while these cattle had magic that gave them benefits well beyond any mundane creature, it wasnt their primary magic, and it wasnt immutable. The cows shouldnt be as robust as the bulls, either.The balls were beginning to pull, if not quite at her limit, but she didnt want one to slip free early. Better on my timing than unexpectedly. So, she signaled Terry and let them go.As soon she released the balls to start their bloody journey, Tala had locked onto the three cows. Increase.The three spheres began rolling downhill, quickly picking up speed until they lifted free of the ground altogether, practically streaking through the air to crack into the three bulls.The first had been facing a bit away, so the ball hit it in the upper back, between the shoulder blades. A loud crack and a panicked bellow were precursors to the beast collapsing in what seemed to be a paralyzed heap.Oops. Ill try to finish him off, quick. No need to be overly cruel.The second was almost exactly broadside to Tala, so the tungsten ball slammed into the side of its head, decapitating it completely and anything but cleanly. The pulped remains of the head painted the nearby bushes a grayish red, even while the beasts heart continued to pump, spraying the grass in front of the slowly tipping, headless corpse.Talas eye twitched. Thisthis is a lot messier than Id anticipated.The third bull had been facing her, more or less. The sphere breached the top of its skull, driving downward and embedding in the neck before slowly pulling back up, causing the bovine to disgorge some of the eviscerated flesh that had followed the ball for the end of its devastating path.That was, unsurprisingly, the cleanest of the three kills. Well, two kills, the first still needs to be properly dispatched.She walked down the slope following her weapons path, if much more slowly.As the bulls were dying, the cows were already beginning to struggle.Tala didnt see the calves die, and when she looked to see how Terry was doing, she saw him crouching on a nearby hill, just waiting and watching. There was no evidence of where the young thunder cattle had gone. Not one drop of blood in evidence.Though, it would be hard to spot anyways, given the ocean Ive unleashed.She began to jog, even as the cows were looking around, stumbling in a way that seemed a bit drunken.Tala reached the first bull and used Flow to end his suffering with a blow from behind.The cows hadnt really paid attention to the small human before that, given the chaos surrounding them and her iron salve making her less visible to their magic sight, but all three oriented on her instantly as the alpha bull died.And they were livid.A raking series of lightning strikes shattered the ground starting halfway between Tala and the largest cow, moving towards her with unnerving steadiness.The smallest cow let out a bellow of fear and rage and tried to charge Tala, only to immediately trip. The loud crack and chaotic tumble that followed was a clear signal of that animals demise.The middle cow was suddenly wreathed in power, with a flash of light, the bovine was towering over her, front hooves raised and already descending to trample her.They can teleport?!?! Thankfully, her instinctive reactions were faster than her conscious thought, and Flow was transformed into a glaive and cutting upward before her incredulity fully manifested.In her haste, she dumped more power than necessary into the weapon, and it blazed with power as it struck the bovines chest and the power tore through the animal, bisecting it and cauterizing the two halves in a single blow.The largest cow stumbled to the side, its attacks faltering before they reached where Tala stood, already panting under the influence of an adrenaline dump, between two smoking sides of beef.It was dead before it hit the ground.Tala slowly calmed herself, before clearing her throat. Well. That worked. She swallowed. Im really, really glad I didnt just charge in here like last time. As she looked around at the carnage, she sighed. Well, it could have been better, but progress, not perfection, right? She looked to Terry, as he flickered into being beside her.He looked around at the red-painted grass and melting snow. He tilted his head in an obvious question.Yeah I know I said clean.He squawked.Tala grimaced. Im working on it, okay?He trilled happily, giving an almost shrug, before plunging his head into the nearest carcass, skillfully extracting the guts and viscera without contaminating the meat.Eat up, buddy. You earned it.
