Chapter 317: Mada Oracle
Salem’s first instinct was to peek into thor mind to see what was going on. Not a very friendly thing to do, but it appears that Salem had already pissed off the locals enough that they were pointing their guns at her. Even if she had no idea what she had done.
But they were talking to her like they had t before. That was bothering her. She had never been here before. She most certainly never would have openly insulted a place. Not to ntion it was not just the people in this saloon. The townspeople had recognized her on sight, even running away with the fear of being shot.
Salem flinched in pain as she hit a ntal trap in the shotgun wielding man’s mind. He flinched in pain and shook his head, trying to throw off the disorientation. anwhile Salem was blinking in surprise even more.
The man himself was not a telepath, she could tell that much. It was more like soone had gone in and set up ntal defenses. Not normal ones either but ntal traps. Those were complex ntal constructs. Not sothing a large group of people would be able to do without soone willingly poking in their mind.
She knew most of them had it because she poked the others’ minds and was rejected by the sa ntal trap. They were all similar so they had to have been set up by the sa person. Hopefully that person would be able to tell her what was going on. But going by the tightening of their hands on their guns it seems like she might not get a chance.
Clack Clack Clack
The saloon people’s grips loosened and their expressions softened at the sound of wood on wood. Salem looked toward the source and saw an older woman with a wooden cane walking down the stairs. She was darker skinned and had a number of tribal clothing and mystical objects on her body. While her eyes were wrapped in a white bandage.
"Salem do you need backup?" Atlas asked over the communication channel.
Salem silently mumbled her reply, "hold off for now."
"Mada Oracle, that woman ca back-" The person behind the counter started while partially lowering his weapon.
"I know." The woman’s voice croaked as she spoke. Interrupting the shotgun wielding man behind the counter. "But sothing is different. I can tell that much." She turned her attention specifically to Salem while she accepted one of the miners’ help in descending the stairs, "Tell , is your na Salem Wintry?"
Salem frowned, "Yes my na is Salem Witry. But I have definitely not told anyone that yet." Salem pointed out as so of them tightened their grips on their weapons. Getting ready to fire at her.
"Hmmm... curious..." The woman mumbled as she moved right toward her. Her cane kept tapping against the floor and was making up the ambient noise of the saloon. Along with the occupants breathing and the sound of wind whistling through an open window.
"Mada, can we shoot her now. She may look a bit different. But she just confird herself that she is the sa woman!" The shotgun wielding man behind the bar yelled. The woman slowly turned her face to him. Then with a movent that she barely saw, the cane smacked into the side of the man’s body. "Ow! Sorry! Sorry!" The cane smacking caused several of the saloon occupants to back off and move away from the older woman. "What did I do wrong?" The man asked as he was hit a few more tis.
"Well for one you stupidly went and scared a poor and young woman. How dare you go and try and pick a fight with them again. I specifically told you not to do that." The woman cawed as she gave the man a loud smack on the rear that had him squealing and falling down behind the bar. Once he was out of sight she turned to Salem. "As for you!" Salem was sure she would be getting glared at if the woman still had eyes. Her facial expression then softened. "Sweetie, raise your voice the next ti you realize that sothing is wrong. I can see from your companion’s mind that you were several systems away when all this business with your doppelganger occurred."
That caused confusion among the occupants. But they were not the only ones as Salem tilted her head, "you are a telepath?" Salem asked lowering her hands now that the majority of them were no longer pointing their weapons at her.
"Telepath...hahaha... I suppose you more technologically advanced people do call it telepathy and similar things. Myself and my people far prefer the word ’Mystic’ to describe us." The woman answered as she walked past Salem and toward the bar. Smacking a few people with her stick as she went. "I must say your ntal defenses are impressive. If you were just a normal telepath the ntal traps would have knocked you right out."
"Yeah... but they still gave
a headache." Salem pointed out with a grumble she was then flinching in pain as the cane smacked her leg. "Ow! What was that for!"
"Speak up! I am an old woman. My hearing is not as good as it used to be." The woman reminded her as they arrived at the bar. She then with a surprising amount of agility threw herself onto a barstool using her cane to launch herself up. The barstool tilted for a mont and Salem saw the nearby people move slightly forward like they were ready to catch her. But it tilted and then slamd down and stopped swaying.
Salem’s eyes twitched as she realized what she had just seen. "Telekinesis too... okay, I am curious what has you all bent out of shape about." Salem inford her as she sat next to the woman. "But I can also just leave if I get the information I need." Salem told the woman as she pulled out the picture.
"Ask away, mystery girl." The man behind the bar quickly prepared a drink for the old woman. Then he began preparing one for Salem once the lavish margarita was in front of the older woman. "What? I can’t have myself so fun?"
Salem smirked and shook her head, "it just caught
off guard. I apologize." She then raised the photo and showed it to the bartender. "Have you seen this person?"
"Why are you showing it to ?" The bartender asked as he finished preparing Salem’s drink.
"Because she knows I can just look through your eyes. Which I am doing." Mada Oracle pointed out with a chuckle and then frowned. "I most certainly have seen him that is-"
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
A loud bell noise rang out through the area. The bell rang four tis before stopping. Mada Oracle frowned at the noise and nodded her head. "Co on, we are going upstairs. You and your companion can watch from one of the windows. It looks like they ca back."
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