The Clan of Outcasts (Seasons 1 and 2)

Part 14: "Upgrades"

At the edge of the Wilderness...

Velora pulled up a corner of her cape to mop the sweat pouring down  her forehead. The sun beaming down from the clear sky heated the armor  she wore, creating an effect very similar to sticking a tin of sardines  in the fire. She glared at Korsan, striding evenly before her.

"Take the Wilderness Route, he says," she grumbled. "It'll be faster, he says."

The  mage wagged his head without turning around. "You know, you could take  off that armor, if you're uncomfortable!" The portends delivered to him  via his talisman troubled him. Something no one expected or wanted had  happened at the White Castle, and things did not bode well for the  Gifted outcasts.

Velora frowned and watched the way the sun  glinted off her gauntlets. "I like it!" She insisted. "Even though it is  better suited for forest travel and shadows, rather than rocky cliffs  in broad daylight!"

Korsan stopped abruptly, and Velora nearly collided with him. Her lip curled in a snarl. "What now?"

Korsan waved her to silence and hissed.

Velora  blinked, and in the same space of time it took her to refocus,  a man  appeared. One moment, she and the Mage were the only two living souls in  sight, and the next, a young man in light chain mail stood in the  center of the path, turning round in dizzy circles. He seemed to be  mumbling to himself as he spun, and with only a few paces, Velora's keen  ears could distinguish his words:

"... Then I  was alone in the woods with a message she said I needed to deliver." He  stumbled around. She was close enough now to see the utter confusion on  his face. "Now where am I?" He whimpered.

Korsan had already consulted his talisman and deemed this man as no threat to them. He held up a salutary hand.

"Well met, friend!"

"Don't!"

The  man stared at them with wide eyes, and instantly brought up his hands  in front of him. Velora felt it like a powerful gust of wind pushing  against her. Try as she might, she could advance no further down the path.

He trembled now. "Stop!" He said again.

"We mean you no harm," Korsan assured him.

The stranger blinked, and Velora felt the pressure pushing against her lift ever so slightly.

"I  know," said the man. He carefully balled his hands into fists and  brought them stiffly to rest at his sides. He shrugged his shoulders.  "You're probably the ones I am supposed to find."

He didn't  have time to so much as draw a breath before Velora struck. She rammed  him with her whole body, her armored claws digging into his shoulders,  drawing blood.

"Who sent you?" She snarled in his face. "Who is looking for us?"

"Hey!"  The stranger scowled right back, and opened his hands again. One slight  motion of his arms, and Velora felt the strange force lifting her off  him—but she didn't sail through the air and crash to the ground.  Instead, the mysterious pressure left her dangling eight feet in the  air, utterly helpless. She tensed and curled her legs under her, bracing  her knees for impact.

"What—are you doing this?" She eyed the stranger. 

He dropped his hands, but she remained hanging in thin air. "Yes; If you would just let me explain—"

"Do  so quickly," Korsan prompted, ignoring both the furious glares from  Velora, and the warning glance from the telekinetic stranger that said  he was one wrong word away from joining her. "We are in a bit of a  hurry, and—"