His grin widened despite himself at the woman's ingenuity and quick thinking, Cade found himself proud of the woman's escape for some odd reason.
Curious at the strange emotion for a complete stranger, hee filed it away for later introspection as he continued his memory viewing.
After the pursuit had faded into the jungle he watched Mina reappear and gingerly rise from her impromptu fox hole.
She grimaced in pain as she looked around her cautiously before she continued into the jungle.
Moving to the next memory that looked to be happening hours to a day later hee watched as Mina sat against a large tree applying a paste to her arrow wounds, a grimace on her face as she applied the salve around the protruding shafts.
Even he was startled as the only warning he got was a soft growl that escaped her mouth.
Mina suddenly froze as rope flashed around the tree and jerked her head back into it with a less than gentle thunk.
Cade suspected with trepidation that she had been caught by the slavers but was proven wrong as the mismatched group from earlier came into view.
Their swagger and bluster causing him to snort as he held back his mirth, as they clearly had no idea who they were messing with.
Walking up to the restrained Mina who still had the rope around her neck and two of the bandits restraining her arms the large man from the bottom of the pile began to monolog.
Cade rolled his eyes hard enough to pull a muscle as the idiot began his spiel.
"You must be who Ristas fellas were after earlier she will be tickled when we bring you to her, could use a little spending money ehh boys?"
Dark chuckles answered the question as Mina let out a choked growl.
"Let's get her back to camp for the night and we will give Rista her prized tomorrow."
Cade watched as they bound Mina's hands inside of a thick leather bag one of the bandits provided.
Another tied her ankles together hobbling her feet, while another tied a rope around her neck.
"Don't want to forget this mouth of hers if we leave it free those lips of hers will be flapping all night."
Bound and muzzled Mina was led out of the cover of the trees to stand across from a familiar beach.
Cade watched his attention rapt as the group of ten men lead her to a rickety raft where five of them pulled her aboard and forced her into a seated position.
Cade, engrossed as he was he still noticed the difference in the number of bandits.
"Looks like she missed a few" he groused as he watched the memory play out.
Crossing his arms he began to contemplate how far he was going to dive into Mina's memories, as he watched the group on the raft with Mina toss a length of rope attached to the small raft to the remaining bandits and shove them off to the other side of the river.
As he moved on to the final memory of last night finding a possible ally in Mina, Rista's attack on her village clearly a good motivation for her to join him.
Not only was Rista a horrible person in general, but she also ran most of this part of the jungle's slave trade.
Her removal would not go unnoticed but he wasn't going to let the attacks and enslavement continue.
Cade watched on wishing for a fast forward button as the afternoon drug by, the only thing of note that happened was a runner being sent to notify Rista of Mina's capture.
He was about ready to call it quits, the bandits clearly the bad guys and Mina the heroine of this story.
The only reason he had waited was less than honorable.
He wanted to see the gorgeous woman in motion once more, the memory of the earlier fight a feast for his eyes.
Finding himself in a moral quandary he groaned as he decided to be a good guy and not a letcher that watched wounded women fight just to watch their wonderful curves in motion.
Sticking to his decision Cade backed out of Mina's memories to once again lay eyes on the beautiful woman in her mindscape.
"I see you are back" said Mina.
Cade took a moment to process that, evidently he disappeared from the mindscape when he was in someone's memories.
Storing away that for later he passed his judgment.
"You and I have a common enemy, this Rista needs to die. Six of her crew tried, and failed horribly, by the way, to capture me a couple of days ago. I pulled the location of their camp from the minds of those idiots and I plan on paying them a visit, do you want to come with?" Cade said as he laid out his admittedly sparse plan.
Mina's eyebrows rose as Cade spoke.
"Why should I trust you?" Mina replied as she looked at him through suspicious golden eyes.
Cade thought on that for a moment, "if I heal you and help you retrieve your family would you swear to help me remove the threat to my home?"
"I have seen you in action and would be glad to partner up,, even doing a decent pincushion impression you are still plenty dangerous."
Mina's eyebrows rose higher then dropped as a smile bloomed on her face, "just a partner?"
He was thrown for a loop by the question.
Was the attractive woman flirting with him?
He certainly hoped she was.
"I would love to be anything you want me to be" Cade said in a rush before he realized the words had actually came out of his mouth.
Mortified at what he had said Cade chastised himself "smooth move ex-lax now she thinks we are going to be a little puppy following her around everywhere. Woman hate clingy men, the only way that could have gone worse was if we had drooled as we said it."
As his internal tirade ended he noted barley suppressed laughter on Mina's face.
"Sounds like a deal" she replied, her shoulders shaking as she held her laughter back.
"May I ask what is so funny, and can I call you Mina." Cade asked wondering what had her ready to bust a gut.
"Yes cassanova you can call me whatever you want but Mina is my name." Mina answered as she won the battle against her mirth.
Cade shook his head as what he thought was an earth tone slipped out of Mina's mouth, not wanting to make any assumptions he pushed his curiosity to the back of his mind.
Walking forward past the now purring guardians he extended his hand to Mina who grasped it in her lightly furred one.
After they shook on it Cade stepped back looking at the gorgeous woman in her golden eyes he smiled.
"See you soon." He said with a grin as he left Mina's mind.
Cleaning up shop
Coming back to himself in the physical world Cade looked down to the woman whose mind he had just left.
A pained smirk crossed her face as Cade released her trapped arm.
"Let's get you up and running."
"My name is Cade, by the way, Cade Willmartin."
He cautiously looked around for any new surprises before he got to work finishing what Kaz had rudely interrupted earlier.
Looking back at the dead man he was surprised to find him still freshly dead.
Blood still ran down his face from his eyes and nose not having had time to congeal.
He was thrown off by the still liquid blood, the time he had spent in Mina's head had felt like hours but had evidently only taken seconds.
Finding no immediate threats Cade got to work getting Mina back on her feet.
Looking down he found the panther woman looking at him quizzically.
"The asshole who I brought with me decided he was going to commit suicide by Cade. I was just making sure he hadn't attracted any new guests."
Mina's expression cleared with understanding.
"I only wish I could have killed him myself. Now if you could follow through with your promise Casanova."
"I will do as I promised but I would like to know where you learned that word when you have a moment." He said as again Mina used what he thought was an earth term.
"Y...Yes as soon as I have a moment Cade."
As she stumbled on her words he raised an eyebrow at her from his kneeling positi
on.
Clearing the remaining bacteria from where they weren't supposed to be in her body took the longest, she had been shot two days ago and sepsis had just barely started to overwhelm her immune system thankfully.
"That paste probably saved your life."
He said to the gorgeous woman as her face cleared of pain and the pallor Cade had assumed was her natural skin tone darkened to a black tone that did nothing to diminish her beauty.
"I'm glad it did, it would have been a shame to miss out on meeting such a talented man as you Cade."
There it was again the flirting, he wasn't sure if he liked it or not.
He could definitely appreciate the attention she was giving him but it seemed way too familiar for someone who he had just met.
"Well, it is nice to finally meet you in the flesh too Mina." He said, trying to keep some sort of professionalism after his declaration made in lust during their last conversation.
As the embarrassment burned through him he decided to distract them both by taking a moment to heal the few cuts and bruises that the woman had gained during her flight and subsequent capture.
After healing the cuts and bruises that he assumed were caused by the bandits he stood up brushing off his hands on his gator skin pants and leaned down to offer Mina a hand up.
A knowing smile crossed her face as she delicately placed her hand in his, but not before she rolled onto her back and gave him a view of her clothed assets.
Cade forgot to breathe for a few moments as the view Mina gave him short-circuited his brain.
"Like what you see Cade?" Mina said as her knowing smile grew three sizes as she glanced down from Cade's blank face to his slowly stiffening dick.
"Yes." He said softly, his brain still rebooting.
Blinking his eyes as his brain finally came back online, Cade cleared his throat and pulled the little tease up.
Coming up with a fair bit of grace Mina stumbled into him, her arms around his waist would have been a wonderful turn on if not for the shaking he felt in her weak grip.
As she held on to him, he saw Mina's eyes squeezed tightly shut.
"Are you ok? Everything should be healed up just fine."
"Yes, everything is fine Cade just a little woozy from going to a little more than half dead to not I think. Thank you for that by the way."
Shifting her grip from his waist to his arms Mina stepped back and blew out a shaky breath into Cades bare chest as she slowly recovered.
Cade gagged at the smell, any amorous thoughts blown away by the stench.
Turning his head to the side to inhale some air not tainted by the smell of rotten meat, he decided before they talked that bad breath had to go.
"Hold still one second for me please?"
Pulling on his power he scoured all germs from her mouth, a little trick he thought up while making his bathroom back home had proven to come in handy.
"Not minty fresh but it does the job," Cade thought with a grin.
A confused look and a pair of perked ears, he had missed before as they must have been laid to her skull blending in with her long black locks, greeted him as he looked back at the panther woman.
"Are you finished and why are you grinning?"
He decided if this partnership was going to work out then honesty was going to be the first step, no white lies from him.
"You breath stank so I removed the germs from your mouth."
There honesty, now to wait for the blowup. Cade was surprised when all he received was a "thank you" from Mina.
"Your very welcome Mina."
Blowing out a germ-free breath of his own, Cade took Mina in.
Cade was glad to see clear golden Irises looking back at him, her bought of weakness and dizziness thankfully passed.
"Are you ready to get out of here?"
He was more than ready himself to get out of the increasingly rancid camp he gestured to the path that led out.
Mina held up one finger, "I would like to collect some of their weapons before we go mine were left behind and most likely stolen by the slavers who attacked my village."
Mina finished the statement with bared teeth and a short growl.
Glad that ire wasn't directed at him Cade swept his arm out in invitation, "well welcome to my shop I have a 100 percent discount for badass ladies today. Have a look at my wares and let me know when you are ready to check out."
Mina let out a small chuckle followed by a large grin. "I think I would enjoy your wares, Cade."
Finishing her statement she locked eyes with the tall man.
"Well, let's go shopping then."
As they both turned to start the long process of collecting any salvageable gear and food they could find Cade found he was beginning to enjoyed the fierce woman's presence.
The Love Boat
Finishing their shopping trip, Cade and Mina had made their way to the beached slaver boat.
Setting the two full long chests of gear and supplies they had gathered from the bandit camp onto the barge he turned to his new traveling companion.
"I am going to go back and destroy those bodies. You can stay on the boat while I do it." He said before he started back towards the camp.
He almost fell backward as a deceptively strong hand latched onto his shoulder before he had made it two feet.
"I will come with you, Cade." She said firmly but pleasantly.
"I will only be a few minutes." He said a little more gruffly than he intended, as he turned to look at the short woman who had almost sat him on his ass.
"I am no damsel who would faint at the sight of blood or any other nastiness Cade" Mina fiercely stated with one of her fingers pressed to his now clothed chest.
"I in no way shape or form am implying that you are not up to the task of disposing of the bodies. I am just going to cremate them and that doesn't require you to be there, that is all." Hee replied with his hands up in surrender.
"I would still like to come with you and observe, I had no clue you were a fire mage in addition to being a mind mage though," Mina replied with a mollified expression that slowly shifted to a thoughtful one.
"Quite rare," Mina said in a rhetorical tone as she looked Cade in the eyes speculatively.
Shrugging he decided the discussion about his range of magic could wait for the few minutes it would take to burn the bodies down to ash.
Cade followed by Mina made their way back to the camp and he proceeded to scan all the bodies, stacking them in a pile in the center of the clearing and burning them down to ash.
A look of wonder had grown on Mina's face as he went through the motions of destroying the bodies.
Atomic Mage Page 8
