Jennifer Jones
Stories
4
Chapters
1,292
Words
687.3 K
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0
Reading
2 d, 9 h
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Tala and Rane walked back toward the caravan, Rane leading his horse, Terry riding on Tala’s shoulder. She had slipped on her shoes, because even though her feet didn’t generally sink into the cold, wet mixture of snow and toppled grass, it was a little bit more comfortable to have the footwear on, and she saw no need to choose discomfort with no upside. Tala had given Terry a large amount of jerky as she’d laid on the ground and continued to flick it out for him at regular intervals. She and…-
211 •
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Tala continued cursing herself as she was whipped backwards. She did, however, pause her inner tirade for an instant chuckle. She jerked to a stop, and back to the matter at hand, and immediately began moving forward after Terry, her anchor preventing her from getting any further from her partner’s collar and the dimensional anchor affixed there. The strain was too great on the juggernaut’s weapon, and the woven length of vines frayed and shattered behind her, just leaving the length wrapped around…
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211 •
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Tala was surprisingly well rested, despite the stressful circumstances. The long day had turned into a long night, but everyone aside from Mistress Odera and the drivers had gotten more than a full night’s sleep, at the Mage’s insistence. Even the drivers had been switched out to get the rest that they needed, even if less than would have been ideal. As morning passed and drew ever closer to noon, Tala knew that Mistress Odera couldn’t hold on much longer. They still weren’t out of the forest…
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211 •
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Tala was completely surrounded, barely fending off the Leshkin that swarmed around her. However, swarmed wasn’t exactly accurate. They were like a pack of dogs, circling and lunging at her, whenever they thought they perceived an opening. The empty eyes of the lessers, fixed on her with a cold detachment, added a creepiness to the situation, underlying the terror and desperation that Tala already felt. She’d been able to keep her focus off their eyes for most of the battle, but now, surrounded and…
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211 •
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Tala spat out a weird collection of dirt, leaves, and other detritus as she vaulted back to her feet. “You lied to me!” Rane grinned as he kept his relatively short training-sword up and on guard between them. “How so?” “You’re better with a bastard-sword, than with a greatsword. Why the rust is your main weapon a greatsword?” “Better reach? Even this has better reach, though.” He shrugged. “Skill doesn’t come into play as much when fighting beasts, and the greater range is useful.…
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211 •
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Tala hoped to the rusting stars that Mistress Noelle was going to get good use out of this data. The Archon had asked them to sit still, stretch, chat randomly, argue about a topic of her choice, and a few other odd things. In the end, she seemed satisfied with her data “And that does it. Thank you!” Tala and Rane both slumped a bit, stepping away from the spell-forms and moving to stools near where they’d been standing. It was dark outside, easily seen through the opening in the ceiling above.…
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211 •
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Tala kept up with the diminutive woman leading her and Rane each by an arm. Rane, for his part, was quite confused as to what was going on. “Mistress Noelle-” The Archon spun on Rane, briefly releasing Tala’s arm as she thrust her finger into his face, cutting him off. “You get one warning, Rane. I am Noelle. Use your universal moniker on others, but I’ll have none of it.” Rane pulled back, looking cross-eyed at the finger still aimed his way. Tala briefly reflected that the gesture was a…
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211 •
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Tala looked around the inside of the chuckwagon, taking in the disks of wood, subtly affixed at regular intervals around the part of the chuckwagon’s interior that she could see. Each radiated power that just barely registered to her incredibly sensitive mage-sight. She shook her head. What was the core issue, here? She nodded. “How do you even know Conceptual inscriptions? You aren’t a Mage you’re not even-” She’d been about to say that Amnin wasn’t inscribed, but as Tala focused on the…
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211 •
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Tala, Rane, and Mistress Odera sat around a table, in the fading, late afternoon light of the forest campsite. Dinner was done, and the guards were bringing out the light constructs as the Mages continued to study Tala’s inverted Archon star. Rane scratched the side of his head. “Every test I’ve run seems to indicate that it’s identical in use.” Mistress Odera nodded. “I have to concur with Master Rane.” Tala found herself nodding. “Well, the only thing I can still reasonably test is…
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211 •
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Tala spent the remainder of the day working on her bloodstar orbits. She had a breakthrough when she realized that, like she’d learned with Flow, she could have the bloodstars pull themselves towards her, instead of the other way around. It was still a drain on her soul, meaning that she couldn’t do other soul exercises to the extent that she normally could, but it didn’t take any active thought, and the strain was small enough that she thought she could probably do it nearly constantly. Now,…
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