Millennial Mage

Chapter 530: Ten Years Free

Tala’s eyes widened, to match her friend’s, even as the single word was still dying on Lyn’s lips.

‘Tali?’

Her ears were ringing, her vision tinted toward white, and even her threefold sight seemed indistinct and hard to focus on. Her breaths were coming in short, quick gasps.

Ten thousand thoughts flashed through Tala’s mind, most of them nonsensical panic. The few that weren’t stood out in stark contrast among the rest.

How does this even make sense?

-Well, someone clearly is trying to find a connection with Tali.-

That name shouldn’t mean anything to anyone out here, and no one that does know it should be out here. Plus, they seemed interested even after it was clear that I am Tala, not Tali.

-Well, they seem to know that Tali and Tala are the same person... or at least they suspect?-

Or they think that I’m really bad at choosing a fake name?

Alat sent a feeling of mirth followed closely by one of negation. -That would be funny, but I doubt it. All it does is emphasize to me how lazy Be-thric was in choosing your other name.-

...Yeah. But the issue at hand? Could the House of Blood have been looking for me all this time?

-That doesn’t seem that likely, even though it hasn’t been that long on the scale of the Major Houses.-

It’s been more than ten years! He’s ten years dead. I’m ten years free. She was mentally pulling out her own hair, even though she was physically frozen in place by her shock while her mind raced. Why? Why is this coming up, now?

Finally, the loud ringing sensation began to fade from her consciousness as she regained mastery over herself, and she felt a gilded resolve settle around her. “Where did the message come from?”

“Is that what you want me to respond? I can message inquiring about who is asking? It might be good to know where they are?”

Tala immediately shook her head. “No, no. Wait. Can’t you tell who? Can’t we detect where they are messaging from?”

Lyn had a patient air about her, clearly sensing Tala’s scattered state. “No, that’s not how this form of communication works. It’s coming through quite a few others who are relaying the messages. Honestly, it could be coming from anywhere in the wandering wilds. I can point toward the closest communication constructs, including the one that is the nearest link in the chain, but that’s about it.”

“It could be from anywhere? Even up near Sunnyvale?”

“Yes.”

Recall the fliers. We need to pack up, now. Whatever we do, we want to have them safely stored.

-They’re on their way back. They’ll be here in less than five. We were still searching within a close circle for any evidence of a cell or moving settlement.- ṟἈΝöbЕŞ

The southern section of the wandering wilds was, understandably, less traveled, given the House lands to the south and the fact that those Houses still often hunted for their vestiges among the towns and villages moving around this region. So their lack of contact was understandable. Thank you, Alat.

-You’re welcome. We need to handle this with caution. Someone seemingly knows something but their words don’t speak of confirmation or true knowledge.-

Tala reoriented on Lyn. “Okay. Then, I want you to respond, ‘Please clarify if there was a misconveyance. We have a Tala here...’ Word it how you need to in order to convey that idea. Even if this goes horribly sideways, chances are we’ll have days before we have to deal with anyone. If we feel things won’t go well, we’ll go north and avoid the confrontation entirely... In case it wasn’t clear, don’t convey the last part.”

Lyn gave a tight smile and nodded. “I’ll handle it. Sending the message, now.”

Less than a minute later, she flinched slightly, then gave a nervous laugh. “Another message. ‘I am coming.’ One or more intermediaries added an apology for the ominous nature of the message, but they felt like it wouldn’t be right to hold back something that could be a forewarning.”

Tala hesitated for only a moment. A statement that they were coming seemed to imply that Tala’s location was known. That made no sense, but she had to assume it wasn’t just bluster, otherwise she couldn’t figure out a way it wouldn’t be counterproductive.@@@@

It was spoken in the immediate sense. They weren’t going to come soon; they wouldn’t like to meet up. No, they were on their way that instant.

She considered further. It was ‘I’ not ‘we.’ So, it’s someone who is willing to come into a potentially hostile situation by themselves. Assuming this has anything to do with us at all, that makes it almost certain to be someone from the House of Blood, likely an Eskau. She grimaced, hoping desperately it wasn’t Pallaun or Meallain. Even De-arg would be preferable to those two, but there would be a simple landscape in the Doman-Imithe before Eskau De-arg came this far afield.

So, one enemy.

One potential enemy, who likely knew of her abilities—at least what she’d been able to do when in Platoiri—and they were still confident in coming after her...

Part of her wanted to face whoever it was, but most of her immediately baulked at the very idea. Even without the political implications of having to kill or otherwise remove someone from the House of Blood, she didn’t feel ready to face any of those people directly.

She didn’t know if she ever would be.

She wanted to leave that part of her life behind forever.

She honestly thought she had.

“Let’s assume the worst. What if it’s Meallain or Pallaun?”

Tala shuddered. She couldn’t even consider that unlikely possibility. “Don’t wish that upon us...”

Rane frowned. “As I said, I assumed that would be the worst outcome. That’s why I’m asking about it.”

She shook her head. “Pallaun wouldn’t be so far from Platoiri... probably. As to Meallain? ...I’m not ready to face her yet, Rane. I’m not ready for her to know I’m alive. From the words, I don’t think whoever it was does know, but they might... I... I can’t have them know. I can’t have the House of Blood be sure of my survival. No matter who it is, I can’t meet with them unless it is to kill them. I just can’t.”

She turned and looked into his compassionate eyes. After a long moment, he nodded. “Then if it comes to it, I’ll face them.”

Tala’s eyes widened, but Rane held up a hand.

“It won’t be to fight them, not if there’s another choice. We’ll talk. I’ll try to find out what’s going on.” He grunted. “That would probably be the best option, no matter who it is, if they catch us before we get back to the cycling cities.”

She thought for a long moment, then turned to regard Lyn. The older woman shrugged. “He has a point. He’s a lot harder to pin down than you are, and if they are more powerful than a Paragon, he might actually have greater initial survivability than you, simply by dint of disengagement. That will give time for us to reinforce him or get him out.”

Tala felt like grinding her teeth, but even a moment’s thought confirmed that they were right.

Rane was a much better person to engage with a random arcane. She could watch on, and communicate with him through Alat and Enar.

More than that, so long as Kit was nearby, Tala could will herself to the superficial to interfere if necessary. Though, as she’d already emphasized, if she did that, she’d likely have to kill the arcane, as she didn’t want to consider the possibility that news of her could reach the House of Blood. I could capture them, but that’s just killing them with more work, from a repercussions standpoint. I’d need to cut them off from the House, and the House would assume that meant they were dead. Again, the results would be the same.

“Alright. I agree with that plan.”

Rane rested his hand atop hers, giving her a light squeeze. “That’s only if we don’t get back to Alefast, Waning, before they catch up. If we do?” He chuckled. “There isn’t a higher concentration of Paragons and Refined in the cycling cities than the currently waning region. Any arcane will be entirely outclassed, unless they brought an army.”

Or unless it’s Meallain... But she didn’t voice that thought out loud. “Yeah... I guess you’re right.”

The following hours passed with excruciating slowness—Tala feeling utterly unable to distract herself, her threefold sight constantly straining to see just a bit further—until the forest finally came into view.

They entered it north of where Tala had so many years ago, being sure to pass through the wolf side of the dividing line.

It wasn’t one of active conflict, thankfully. The Leshkin stuck to their side and killed anything that came into what they considered theirs. Similarly, when Leshkin tried to expand that claim every so often, the wolves came down on them with tooth and claw.

At least that’s what had been conveyed to them by the Pack member, Lerra, when they’d been there.

The trip became more interesting over the next two hours as the flier had to dodge around trees rather than simply flying at the maximum safe speed in a straight line. They didn’t go over the top in order to prevent themselves from becoming an obvious thing to spot in the sky for anyone looking.

Lyn was reading a book, and Rane was alternating between using his power to carve tiny pieces of something and watching the massive, moving image that Alat was maintaining of the flier moving through the forest.

Finally, they broke out of the trees on the northwest side.

They had reached the human wilds, the region of the cycling cities.

They were home.

Alat set a straight course toward Alefast, Waning, and accelerated up to just above the maximum safe speed, as they’d discussed.

They would take a bit more wear on Reality over being overtaken so close to home.

It was frustrating. If they didn’t have to worry about damaging Reality, they could be to the waning city in less than two hours. As it was, they’d be lucky to make it in less than ten.

They were an hour out from the forest—barely more than thirty miles—when a flash of indigo power appeared in Tala’s threefold sight at the treeline behind them to the southeast.

She gasped, and Alat instantly oriented the displayed view back that way.

It took little effort to focus in and show an elven woman standing just past the trunks.

It was one that Tala instantly recognized.

“It is Meallain?” Tala hadn’t actually believed that was possible.

There was no reason for the woman to have been in the wandering wilds. There was no reason for any House of Blood member to have been that far from the House lands.

“...and she’s Hallowed?” That was... well not unexpected. Tala had known that the woman always hid her true power—displaying the very bottom of Revered with her aura—but Tala hadn’t expected that Meallain was so advanced. At the top end of Revered rather than the bottom? Yes. Actually Hallowed? No.

As they watched, Meallain glanced down at something in her hand, then she lifted her gaze, eyes almost instantly locking on the flier.