We turned to look at the doorway, finding a slim but athletic hegraphene standing in the doorway with a bloodied sword. She had a white, scratch-like mark that spanned across the slit between what would be her forehead and her faceplate, with a small chip taken out of the latter.
"Keraket inen gon baze?" the hegraphene asked through bated breath much more loudly than I would have anticipated their species even could. Her voice wasn't as gravelly as the others, but there was a force to it that even I was taken aback by.
While I had absolutely no clue as to what she said, it felt like she was looking for someone. "Koko baze, Kerra Kalia," I heard Krozz reply as he stood up, gesturing to our table.
That's Lady Kalia? She looks so much smaller than the others, I thought, gauging her height compared to another, likely male, hegraphene standing behind her.
I could feel her gaze piercing my core, but that wasn't what caught me by surprise. By the time I was done blinking, she had, somehow materialized in front of me. There was no movement of the air that I could immediately feel, and even less residual mana.
From what Irun had told me on our first encounter with this civilization, I knew it was a bad idea to look her in the eyes, but something inexplicable coaxed me into looking anyway.
No. Fucking. Way, I thought, staring into what I had originally seen in the doorway to be violet eyes were now glowing a pure and vibrant scarlet.
She bent over to get a better look at me, but I wasn't sure if I was supposed to bow or simply sit still. Before I could even decide what I thought would be the best course of action, she immediately snapped to Ysevel, giving her a similar treatment.
"Keraketeshe gurim inen fiteke Uraizu monoteke baze!" she whispered excitedly as she moved over to Krozz's side. Whatever they said next, I couldn't quite hear, but I leaned in towards Irun, desperately hoping he had an answer to… whatever was happening.
"Irun, care to explain?" I said, nudging my head in the pair's general direction. "If I knew what she meant, I would," he whispered back. "You've spent enough time with them that I figured you could speak their language," I said, somewhat disappointedly. "I can, but that's exactly my point," he trailed off, immediately widening his eyes as he stood as straight as an arrow.
"Spit it out, shit-ass," I hissed anxiously just before feeling the air grow extremely close to my ear.
She's standing right beside me, isn't she? I asked Ysevel, whose face had somehow gone even more pale than it already was.
"It would seem that you two have set something in motion that cannot be undone," Kalia said in almost a whisper before moving between Ysevel and I. "Lady Kalia," Ysevel said as she snapped out of her daze, rising from her seat and bowing. Not knowing what else to do, I followed suit, hoping I wouldn't be killed for not showing her the proper respect initially.
"Arise, Princess of Caegwen. You do not need to bow to me here. As for you," she said, turning towards me. "You are the son of Siraye Fayren, are you not?" she asked. "I am, my lady," I said, feeling her eyes ravenously gazing into the back of my head.
The pause between my answer and her next sentence felt like an eternity as a buildup of mana began to pressurize between us. I did my best to hold on, even going so far as considering drawing dark mana, but I quickly dismissed the idea as it might have been seen as a threat.
After a few moments of enduring the pressure as well as I could without reinforcing my body with mana, she released it and placed her sword back in her scabbard.
Not a sound could be heard throughout the entirety of the tavern.
"You did well not to show any weakness," she said quietly, outstretching her hand. "M-my lady?" I said, desperately resisting the remaining urge to gasp for air as I took the armored hand in mine. "If you could survive that without using mana, then perhaps my mate wasn't wrong after all. Tell me, have you met anyone with red eyes?" she asked, her tone lightening a little.
"I have, but I'm sorry my lady. I don't know what you're talking about, not the red eyes nor your mate," I said humbly, watching her mentally process my answer. "Before Irun brought you down here, your mother went off and fought one of my kind with a large plume, did she not?" Kalia asked plaintively. I thought back on the attack and realized that she was right.
"Y-yes, but how could you have known that, my lady?" I asked curiously. "When hegraphenes mate, they mate for life. One of the traits gained by that conjunction of lives is the ability to see and experience life through the other's eyes," she began, clasping her hands behind her back. "I saw the fight my mate had with your mother. I must admit that my mate died because of his own hubris, but not before he acknowledged both hers and your strength," she said, turning her face away.
Almost everything seemed to click into place, like how they knew my name and how Krozz responded, but why she seemingly came to this place in a rush remained a mystery to me.
Does this have something to do with the pulse of mana? I thought, trying to figure it out as best I could.
I bowed again, this time much lower than before. "I apologize on my mother's behalf. From our perspective, we were merely defending our homeland," I said, trying to justify what I could. "I understand better than anyone in this realm what it takes to defend your homeland. I am not blaming you or your mother, for that matter, as she gave him an end fitting of his caliber as a warrior," she said with little difficulty.
Her attitude towards her own mate's death surprised me, to say the least. I knew this realm was ruled by strength by the way Irun had warned me against looking into someone's eyes, but I had no idea that it was to such a degree.
"Arise, Son of Siraye," she said with authority in her tone, repeating the same gesture from before. "Irun," she said, turning away from me and raising an eyebrow. "Yes, my lady?" Irun answered, evidently surprised to hear her use his real name. "It would seem I now have three disciples," she said wryly.
"Guto, Kalia!" Krozz interjected, catching the three of us completely by surprise at the lack of a title before her name. "Yes, brother?" she asked tiredly, forcing everyone's collective jaws even further towards the hardened floor. "You would train him? The princess, I can understand, but he's the son of Lord Gravar's killer. Don't you think that might make some of the others angry?" he asked bluntly.
"Do I need to remind you that only the strong survive here? Do I need to remind any of you?" she asked, facing the silent crowd. When no one said a word, she turned to face her apparent brother once more.
"I have looked into his core and tested his strength. Even without drawing mana, this man has proven himself twice over. If anyone wants to question my judgment, let them try to land a single blow on me," she said, drawing her sword and holding it straight out to her side in an open-armed, challenging stance in one, fluid motion.
No one dared take a breath in the few tense heartbeats that followed.
Sheathing her sword with a single, fluid motion, she turned to face Krozz and the rest of us again. "I will train him, brother, and when I'm done with him, you too will welcome his strength even more than you have Irun's," she said, turning her head towards me and tilting her head forward ever so slightly as if to tell me that I could breathe easily again. "But I won't be doing it alone," she said, glancing at the other two. "Grab whatever belongings you have, we will leave for my home within the hour. Move," she said.
The command that had been drilled into me since I was only a small boy immediately prompted something in my brain. Without a moment's hesitation, both Ysevel and I went up the stairs to don the rest of our armor.
"Well, that was close," Ysevel said as we walked into the room. "Yeah, and I hate to admit it, but Irun was right about them not being everything we thought they were. At least, as far as the Iron Plume clan goes, can't exactly speak for the rest of them," I added, weaving the leather strap through the buckle and pushing the metal pin through the hole.
"Agreed. Though I feel there's so much more to her story than we realize," she replied, clasping the hooded cloak around her neck. "It'd be a shame if we didn't try to learn more about her," she continued. Deep down, I knew she was right; we had to know more about her if we were going to get along with her during our training.