The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage

[64] Nothing To Say

Tanisha followed as best she could behind Tyr as he used his far superior parkour skills to bypass the crowds in a mad dash back to the Isi estate. Tanisha could feel Bjorn’s emotions through their bond and knew something was wrong. He was scared, not for himself, but for her. As she fearlessly jumped from one building to another a shadow flew overhead. Tanisha’s eyes shot up just in time to see Thyra’s familiar, Magnus, diving towards them.

“Tyr look out!” Tanisha screamed as she dove to the ground.

Tyr turned to look at her, then up to the wyvern only seconds away from catching him with its talons. He only had a moment to react and he used that moment to push his chakra into a Flash Step. Even with the enhanced speed he was nearly clipped by the wyvern. As the beast flew by the wind nearly pushed Tyr off the building. He stood precariously at the edge, waving his arms trying to balance. Tanisha managed to catch onto his waistband before he fell and pulled him back up.

“That was Magnus,” Tyr said. “The Hand just tried to kill us!” 

“Yes and we need to get down before Magnus circles back,” Tanisha said.

“You're right, but we need to get to the estate,” Tyr said. “They’re attacking my family, why?” 

“I don’t know but let’s get moving. Quickly,” Tanisha said.

The two ran, looking for any spot they could safely descend from the rooftops. The flaps of the wyvern’s wings drew closer as it came in for a second pass. A break in the connected building was just in front of them when the screech of the enraged creature resounded. The two dove down right as a talon whistled through the air. The displaced air from the creature blew both of them off course, causing Tanisha to hit the wall of the next building. The pain was minimal but the suddenness disorientated her as she continued to fall. Tyr landed with ease and reached up and caught Tanisha before she hit the ground.

“You okay?” Tyr asked as he set her on her feet.

“Yeah, thanks,” Tanisha responded, shaking her head. “Which way?” 

Tyr looked around. There was panic in the street and people were starting to run. No doubt because of the large wyvern familiar flying closely overhead. 

“That way; we’ll follow the crowd as much as possible. Stay beside me,” Tyr said.

The two took off running into the crowd, quickly pushing their way through the confused masses. At first they thought the crowds were panicked because of the familiar, but the sound of fighting told another story. There were royal soldiers in combat with disciples of the Isi family’s material art. The disciples were outnumbered five to ten and more soldiers were on the way. Apparently everyone associated with the Isi were also being branded as traitors and captured or killed.

“This is tyranny!” one of the disciples said as he deflected a sword strike. “The Isi family has done nothing wrong!”

Tyr stopped at the sight; he obviously recognized some of the men being cornered. He turned to Tanisha, conflicted as to what they should do. If they helped they would give away their position, but if they didn't help those men were going to die. Tanisha summoned the twin daggers from her necklace inventory.

“I’m with you,” Tanisha said.

“It’s not your fight,” Tyr told her.

“I’m not going to just leave the Isi to fend for themselves,” Tanisha stated.

Tyr nodded and unsheathed his sword. She could feel the air drop in temperature as Tyr focused his chakra. Lines of power traced from his body into the weapon as he charged forward, using Flash Step several times. Tanisha had never wanted a power as much as she wanted an ability like Flash Step, or Maya Blink or even just regular Blink. She still hadn’t been able to figure out how she managed to do it accidentally, even with instruction from Helina and the Isi disciples.

Tyr was able to join the fight in a few seconds and parried the blade of a surprised soldier. He then followed the momentum, jumping and kicking the man in the face to knock him out cold. The disciples were excited to see Tyr join the battle, especially as he managed to take out one of the soldiers. Time was running out and they needed to defeat the other soldiers before more showed up.

Tanisha took the time she had running to use Hydromancy, resummoning her water construct using the daggers as wands to direct her power. The daggers she’d received as part of a gift from the Isi were beautifully constructed, each one designed to be used as a magical implement as well as a deadly weapon. Once the orb formed she immediately used Water Missiles, aiming for joints to disable the opponents. She was able to hit two of the soldiers in the legs. Their armor mitigated some of the damage but failed to protect completely as water sliced through flesh and bone. 

One of the soldiers turned to face Tanisha; he had a long fauchard polearm which he focused mana into, causing the weapon to spark with electricity. It was obvious the man was a wizard, he struggled to use the little mana he had. The effect of the weapon most likely came from the runes on the weapon and not the man himself. Still, the man was trained. Whether he was a mage or not didn’t matter if Tanisha couldn’t defend herself. 

Tanisha used her agility thanks to her buffs to avoid the spear. The blade flashed through the air, nearly cutting her tiara. In another two steps she managed to enter the spearman’s personal space, avoiding a desperate two-handed push with the polearm. She stabbed the man in the elbow joint then used the Water Missile to shoot out his knee. She then kicked him to the ground, disarming him in the process.

Tanisha recalled her water, which formed back into an orb. By the time all of her liquid had been gathered the soldiers were all defeated, but the street had cleared considerably. She could see more soldiers pushing through the remaining crowd and decided it was time to make a hasty retreat. Tanisha couldn’t help but look up, and to her surprise Magnus was nowhere to be seen. 

Tyr and Tanisha ran into another alley with the disciples, a shortcut one of them suggested. They hid for a little while, hearing the sound of armored footsteps run past. They let out a collective sigh of relief, finally having a moment to catch their breaths. Tanisha decided to use her Identify on each of the five disciples.

Identify

Name: Svan Loe
Race: Wendigo
Level: 54
Vocation: Mystic Swordsman

Identify

Name: Invalid Target
Race: N/A
Level: N/A
Vocation: N/A

Identify

Name: Olaf Blastwel
Race: Wendigo
Level: 11
Vocation: Chakra Bladedancer

Identify

Name: Ingvar Hamile
Race: Wendigo
Level: 7
Vocation: Mystic Swordsman

Identify

Name: Hakan Osoi
Race: Wendigo
Level: 14
Vocation: Mystic Spearman

Tanisha rubbed her eyes when she saw the Invalid Target name on one of the men. She looked at him again, and the same message came up. Was she doing something wrong? The man seemed normal; they were all crouched down and tense as they waited for an opportunity to move. Tanisha wasn’t sure if she was just stressed out, but that couldn’t be the case as she was allowing the maya to block out distracting emotions at the moment. So something was definitely not right but she couldn’t put her finger on what.

The silence was broken by Olaf. He was in normal clothing. “Master Tyr, Kolbien is dead.”

“He’s what?” Tyr asked breathlessly. “No, no that can’t be right.”

“I am sorry,” Svan, the largest of the group, said as he clasped onto Tyr’s shoulder. “We were at the execution. I was one of the ones that went with him. When we were seen in the crowd they singled us out. Soldiers and Salstar Knights came after us. They targeted him before we even had a chance to defend. I was the only one of that group who survived…”

Tyr grabbed the man by the collar. “Then why didn’t you defend him?” he screamed. “He was the patriarch, you were supposed to defend him, Svan!” 

“Tyr…” Tanisha said as she reached out for him to stop.

“No, he is right,” Svan said defeatedly. “I failed him.”

“Right now can you all shut the fuck up or did you forget we’re still being hunted,” Ingvar whispered. “I am trying to not die today because I joined a bunch of traitors.”

“What in the Infernal Planes did you say?” Tyr said as he pulled out his sword. “The Isi are not traitors to the kingdom.”

“Look, we’re the ones hiding in an alleyway. I just joined the training because it was required to become a town guard,” Ingvar said, his attitude was obvious. “Now because I was wearing this damn outfit I’m a traitor, too.” The man pulled out his own sword. “I say we turn in the little traitor’s spawn and his girl back there and then we can go free.”

“You son of a bitch,” Tyr said as he took another step towards the man.

Hakan pointed the end of his spear at Tyr to keep him from getting any closer to Ingvar.

“He’s right,” Hakan said. “I ain’t trying to die for you Tyr and I damn sure am not going to make the First Prince my enemy.”

“What about you, Svan? Whose side are you on?” Tyr took a step back, away from the men.

“Sorry, Tyr,” Olaf said as he pulled out his twin shortswords.

“That’s another one that’s seeing reason. Svan, Leif, what do you say?” Hakan questioned.

“We just saved you all,” Tanisha said.

“And you’re about to do so again,” Hakan retorted.

Leif the man that Tanisha couldn’t Identify pulled out his sword. He had a wide smile across his face that seemed so unnatural. Something about the man wasn’t right, but Tanisha couldn’t put her finger on what exactly it was. Hakan patted the man on the back in celebration for choosing the right side.

“That just leaves you Svan, what’s it going to be? You don’t have to die for those people. He’s our ticket out of this mess,” Hakan said.

“Shame,” Svan said with a sigh. “Your loyalty was so fickle. I stand with the Isi.”

***Author Note***

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