Following Telvin, he tracked the Gremlins to a nearby factory. As they had approached, they were suddenly swarmed by the whole group of them. All told it must have been about forty to fifty of them. Despite being such a large group, they were surprisingly easy to dispatch.

All told Carol gained four levels after all the fighting. After splitting up with the others, she headed back to the mansion. She had alerted Armandias to what had happened, and he had arranged to have a pair of guards stand guard beneath her window to prevent more of those gremlins. When she entered the mansion he asked "Did you take care of them?"

She nodded and said "Yes, they should no longer bother Lady Mianda anymore. Have you alerted Lord Adam yet?"

"Lord Adam is currently at the Castle. He should return in a few hours."

Saying goodnight to the butler, she headed up and checked on her charge. Mianda was sleeping peacefully looking like she had calmed down after the fright with the gremlins. Going in, she pulled her blankets up, and then headed to the servants quarters where her room was.

Entering her small room, she undressed and put on a night shift. Sitting down onto the bed, Carol began to think about what she needed to improve in herself. Especially since she was planning to take Mianda away from here. Perhaps when the Empire was no longer a threat, she could bring Mianda back. For now, she could do little but run with her charge.

In order to do that though, there were several things that she needed. First she needed a ranged combat skill. While Telekinesis did work as one a bit, it had some severe limitations. It lost strength the farther it was from her. Carol could pick up objects and launch them at enemies, but it was a bit too slow to be overly reliable. If she was surrounded, it would be easy to keep her distracted enough that it would be hard to use Telekinesis. She still had yet to get a handle on the other feature of telekinesis which allowed her to control fire.

After she went through the skill list, she picked three skills that caught her eye. Psionic skills were cheap, in part due to her natural affinity to them, and because they typically started off really weak. It would take time and practice to make them grow in strength, they were only limited by the strength of one's mind.

For four skill points, she picked up the skill mind bullet. She picked it becasue it had two forms, and the description hinted that it had more at higher levels. The first form would coalesce her power into a sphere and fire it at the enemy. It would cause some damage, though at it's level it would be minimal. The second form would fire off a sphere of mental energy into the mind of the target. That would cause the target to feel pain in their mind, causing them to lose focus.

The next skill she also chose because it covered one of her weaknesses. When she escaped with Mianda, she would need some way to protect Mianda if Carol needed to fight. So she decided to pick up the skill Mental Shield. It allows Carol to focus her power into a shield to protect Mianda. While not nearly as strong as the one Veronica showed her, it would be enough to keep Mianda safe briefly.

For the final skill she needed some way to heal herself and Mianda in case either of them ever got hurt. This cost more than the others at eight skill points, which was still relatively cheap. While it could not heal quickly, it could heal a wide amount of injuries, and could even purge a body of diseases and poisons. The down side was that she would need to spend a while just concentrating on healing. So it could not be used in battle.

Now empty of skill points, Carol turned her attention to her attributes. Carol decided to put three points into strength, two into constitution, two into dexterity, and one into intelligence. The reason why she mainly focused on her physical attributes despite her class being more of a mental one, was the clue she had from her feat Mind, Body, Soul. In order for her to be able to pull more power into her mind, her body and soul needed to be stronger. Her soul would grow in strength as she leveled, and she needed to increase her physical attributes as well.

In fact, after she had finished putting in those points, she could feel a strong difference in her mind. While her body was adjusting to the new strength, she activated telekinesis. Reaching out with it, she focused on the dresser lifting it slightly off the floor. While it was easier than before, she could feel that she still had limitations with it. Setting it back down, she thought about what she still needed to accomplish.

She was done for now with her status, so she started to plan. While she was doing that, she started to practice her skills to get a better grasp on them. She had asked Jack for help escaping the city, while he had agreed to help hide them they still needed to find a way out of the city. There were several hurdles, first she needed to get Mianda past the Empire Spies, then she also needed to figure out who was aiming for Mianda's life. Finally the one she needed the most help with was to steal the modipod that Mandi needed from the temple of Alacanar.

The best option they had was to escape without the Empire realizing that Mianda was gone until the last moment. That would give them more time to flee. Once they were out, she had three places where they could go. They could go overseas which would be the safest until the empire was dealt with. They could also go into the Kingdom of the Elves. While they preferred Elves, humans still lived within their borders. The final option would be to go into the north, past the mountains. 

Before that, she needed to discover where the Empire Spy was located. She could only project her mental powers up to two hundred feet, which made it hard for her to keep an eye out for a spy that was hidden. After thinking about it, she came to the decision the easiest way to find them was to force them to move. To do that, she would take Mianda out into the city tomorrow. For the girls safety she would take the highest leveled guards that Adam employed.

If she was in luck, the spy would choose to follow them. In the tighter areas of the city, she could use her telepathy to help identify them. Once she identified the spy she could focus on the next task. The stealing of the Modipod, which she would need the help of the other Users. 

Finally Carol came to the decision that she needed to do all of this within one week. While Adam said they had about two weeks before the Empire took Mianda, she had a feeling that they could take her sooner. Done with her plans for the moment, she sat cross legged and entered into her meditative state letting her mind drift into the mental storm.

Through the storm, various images began to appear to her. A city cloaked in darkness, above it was a massive bird that was fighting a figure as a tower glowed ominously red. The vision shifted to a golden temple, along it's glorious walls dripping gore was plastered to them. Going through a crowd of worshipers with their eyes cut out, she saw a child entering a malformed modipod.

Once again the storm shifted and she saw a woman entering Duke Adams mansion, her form twisted as if several of her were in the same space. Carol recognized the woman's face as being Michelles. The storm shifted again, and she found herself looking into a throne room. On one throne was an old tired looking man wearing a crown of rust upon his head. Beside him on the othe throne was a woman wearing a blank mask. Behind them stood a figure in the dark pulling a set of strings that were attached to the pair.

Once again the storm shifted and seemed to grow in strength. It plowed down into the ground of the world travelling thousands of feet down into a vast chamber bathed in a grey foul mist. Deep within the mist, a red eye opened and to Carol's horror it looked directly at her. She snapped awake at that, a cold sweat pouring off her body. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, looking at the window she could hear some birds chirping and deduced it was approaching morning.

During her short stay with Petele, he had taught her a meditation technique to help her fall asleep. It had helped her deal with the nightmares she had from the assault from the goblins. But at times it gave her strange visions, though none of them had ever been as intense as the ones she had just seen. While the images were distorted by the fantastical, they felt like some sort of premonitions for the future.

Getting up she dropped the shift off and went into the small attached bathroom and took a shower getting ready for the day. When she was clean, she dressed herself in the maid uniform and went to the kitchen to get Mianda's breakfast ready. While she was doing that she considered several reasons to take Mianda out into the city. Entering the kitchen she decided to take Mianda clothes shopping.

While distracted with her thoughts, Carol nearly bumped into Michelle who looked exhausted. The woman glared at her and rudely shoved past Carol without speaking a word. Shaking her head, Carol greeted the chef who was currently making breakfast. "Good Morning Freedy, How is Breakfast coming along?"

"Great, we got good fresh eggs this morning. I'll have her ladyship's portion in about ten minutes. You can grab a bite from over there." Freddy pointed to the servant's meals. "Will Lady Mianda be in for lunch or dinner?"

"She will be having lunch in the city. We should be back for dinner." Carol said.

"Good, the Lady needs to get out more. It's not healthy for a child to stay in so long. So I see you're having issues with that Michelle girl?"

"Yes, she wants to take over my position. She is of the opinion that I'm not qualified for it."

Freddy shook his head. "Nonsense. You're doing a great job at it. That Michelle doesn't know what she's talking about. A strange one that girl is. A bit too antagonistic with others, the only reason Armandias really keeps her on staff is how well she cleans rooms. She is the best cleaner around, and does her work diligently. The only problem is her attitude towards others. In fact I thought she prefers to work alone. Strange to find out that she wants your position."

After having a small breakfast, Carol got a plate of freshly cooked eggs and ham with some biscuits on the side from Freddy. Grabbing a glass she filled it with fresh juice, and carried the plate and glass on a serving table to Mianda's room. Knocking and letting herself into the girls room, she saw Mianda waking up stretching. "Good morning, How are you feeling Mianda?"

"Better, Good morning Carol. The potion you gave me got rid of all those scratches. Did you get rid of all those monsters?" Mianda asked.

"Yeah, we managed to get rid of all of them. They won't harm you anymore. Speaking of the gremlins, why didn't you let anyone know a strange creature had climbed into your room?"

The girl looked down and said "It looked harmless, and I was bored and I wanted to play with it."

"It's okay sweetie. Just if next time a strange creature climbs into your room, I would like you to tell me okay?"

"Yes."

Placing the platter in front of the girl. "Eat up. We have a big day ahead of us."

"We do?" Mianda perked up at that.

"Yeah, we are going out into the city to get you some new clothes. If we have time we will stop by a toy shop to pick you up a new toy. Would you like that?"

Mianda nodded and Carol went to her closet and began to pick out suitable clothes for Mianda. Picking out a yellow summer dress, as she could tell it would be a hot day she asked Mianda "Is this set of clothes okay Mianda?"

"Yeah, it's been hot the last few days. I hope it rains soon."

Without pause Carol responded "It will rain tomorrow." Carol stopped and thought how did she know that. It was just a strong feeling she got from her psychic self. Putting aside the matter she set the clothes on a chair near the bed. "Alright while you are eating, I will go and get the carriage ready."

Leaving Mianda, she headed downstairs. As she reached the entrance, she met Adam who was headed out. Glancing at her, he asked "Where are you taking Mianda?"

"She needs some new clothes, her Ladyship has grown a bit so she needs a few new clothes. Would you like to come with us, Lord?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm afraid today will be a long day of negotiations. I hear you took care of those monsters which assaulted my daughter. Thank you."

"I'm grateful that I could be of service to Lady Mianda." Carol bowed. 

"Make sure Mianda get's a suitable cloak for travelling. Get one for yourself as well." With that, he swung himself onto a horse. "I will not be back tonight. I will be at the castle."

After he was gone, she had the estates carriage readied. In addition Carol called in the guards of the estate and examined each of them. She chose three out of them to help guard Mianda. They were each fairly high leveled each being at least twelve to fourteen. She also made sure to glance into their minds to make sure that they were loyal to the Evercral Family. 

When that was finished, she headed back up the stairs to the second floor. As she neared the top, she had a sudden feeling of danger. In an instant she had thrown up the mental shield, and not a moment too late, as the stairs beneath her collapsed. It happened too fast to use her telekinesis to slow her descent and she landed hard onto the floor. While she was a little banged up, the mental shield had taken the brunt of the damage. 

Standing up from the wreck, she surmised had she not had the shield, she would have likely broken a bone or two. Several servant's came running when they heard the noise. They looked stunned at the damage, and Armandias came running quickly and said sternly "What happened here?"

"I'm not sure. I was walking up the stairs to go to Mianda's room, when they collapsed beneath me. I was lucky to not get seriously injured." Carol told him.

He frowned and nodded "This is strange. There are no signs of rot in this wood. I'll have to get the builder's to come in and fix this up." Armandias turned to one of the servants and said "Sam I need you to go and take a look at the other staircases in the mansion and make sure they are safe." 

Sam nodded and moved off. "Thomas get the others and start cleaning this mess up." Armandias then turned to her and said "Are you sure you are okay?"

Carol nodded and said "Just a little bumped up, I will be fine."

"Alright."

While Armandias went over to the others and spoke to them, Carol took a look at the remains of the staircase. The wood was in a mess, but she noticed a location where the wood seemed to have been cut. It looked like it was part of the support. Frowning she left the group and made her way up another set of stairs to Mianda's room. 

When she got into the room, Carol saw that she had finished with her breakfast. She helped Mianda change clothes and when she was ready, she led her down to the outside. She made sure the stairs they took down were safe to use. Once outside, with the three guards she had the driver take them to the more prestigious clothing shops of the city.

As they were driving, Carol kept her senses out looking for anyone that seemed to be following them. Not catching anyone yet, they stopped at the front of one of these shops. Exiting the carriage, she led Mianda into the shop and greeted the shop clerk. "Hello, this is Lady Mianda Evercral. She is here to get some clothes picked out for her."

"Certainly we can help with that. Does the Lady have any specific needs?"

"We need three dresses, one a formal gown, the two are normal. She also needs a set of traveling clothes, along with a sturdy travelling cloak. I will need a traveling cloak as well"

The clerk nodded and said "That we can do. Is it needed soon?" 

"The dresses can wait, but we need the traveling clothes within a week."

"We can do that. Lady Mianda is it alright if I measure you?"

Mianda nodded and the clerk said "Great. Once I measure you we can go over the various fabrics and styles."

Carol took a seat and watched the clerk Measure Mianda. As she watched, she cast out her senses into the surrounding area. She could just barely reach the other side of the street where a cafe was. There were several dozen people moving about in the area she was watching. Focusing on scanning the top thoughts of the people around them, she slowly worked her way through them.

Most of the people seemed to be just going about their business. She noted a pickpocket team working the street. There was another man who seemed to be thinking of divorcing his wife and pursuing his lover. She finally caught what she was looking for in the cafe across from them. It was a man, sitting and watching the clothing store intently. 

She collected her focus and brought it to bear on this man's mind. While her telepathy strained at the range, she was able to probe a bit into his mind. Carol was alarmed to find that this man was not the empire spy she was looking for, was instead an assassin intending to kill Mianda.

Taking a step back, she considered the best method to deal with him. As she didn't have proof she couldn't go to the city guards, they might look into him but at the same time alert him. Which might cause him to hide in the shadows and strike when she was least ready for it.

Right now his thoughts are about looking for a good opportunity to kill Mianda. His very thoughts felt like oil, and she hated the feel of it. While part of her was focusing on his thoughts, she was helping Mianda choose various styles and fabrics for her clothes. The assassin had come with various horrific plans, most that she was now aware of would prove no threat to her charge. But he had three that concerned Carol greatly.

He considered using a poison bomb in their carriage. While he didn't have it on him, it was stored nearby. While her new healing skill could deal with various poisons, this poison that the assassin had seemed to be fast acting. She might not be able to fend of the poison while saving Mianda at the same time. The grotesque images of people he had used it on made her sick to her stomach. 

The next fiendish option was to use a crossbow to snipe at Mianda. Carol felt that while her mental shield could slow the bolt, she could not fully stop it. Especially since the assassin seemed to have a repeating crossbow. What worried her the most about this though, was the range at which he could deploy it. It was at least three hundred feet making her unable to detect him if he was hidden from view. At least he seemed to be afraid of using it in public, which meant he had to find a place to hide to use it.

The final plan was the most concerning, as he was thinking of calling in his mage friend. His brief thoughts of his friend displaying his power, suggested a mage of quite a lot of power. Carol was sure she was not ready to fight such a strong mage. 

All these plans would be far more deadly should she let him go. So she needed to deal with him. Using her mental senses she surveyed the cafe he was sitting in. She noticed that there was a group of city guards currently on break eating pastries with holes in the center of them. There was also a noble woman currently having a meal, with her maid. 

The maid was holding onto the woman's purse. She suddenly got an idea after thinking of the pickpockets she had seen earlier. The assassin was not too far from the maid. Being careful she extended her telekinesis out. It struggled with the distance, she could barely lift a pound this far out. It was enough though to slowly open the purse without the maid noticing. She slipped out a coin bag from the purse and placed it half hidden in the assassins bag.

The strain of it hurt her mind, but she continued on. Focusing on the noble's mind she sent the suggestion of wanting to buy a pastry to her. The noble looked around and said to the maid to give her the purse. When the noble woman opened the purse she was surprised that the coin bag was missing and yelled that she had been robbed.

The city guards took notice of this and stood up and walked towards the noble woman. The assassin dismissed it and focused back on the clothes shop. She directed the maid's vision to the assassin's bag where she saw the coin bag. She called out to the guards that the Assassin was the thief.

Startled, the Assassin attempted to dash out of the shop only for Carol to hit him with a mental bullet in his mind. He tripped and fell. The Guards pounced on him and tied him up.  As the guards patted him down, they found numerous weapons, and vials of poison. Enough for him to get locked up for a while. Still there was always the risk of him getting free later and continuing to hunt Mianda.

While she wanted to find out who had hired him, it was more imperative that she deal with the threat right now. While the assassin was still dazed, Carol used Telekinesis on his arms to make him grab for one of the guards weapons. The guards, surprised, quickly attacked the Assassin. Carol fought the guards with the assassins arms, eventually the guards had no choice but to stab their swords into the assassin killing him. With that, she ran out of energy and her mind snapped back to her body.

Mianda looked over at her and said "Carol, are you alright, your nose is bleeding." 

Carol took out a handkerchief and held it to her nose. "Yes, I'm fine. Must be the dry air."  She smiled at the girl to let her know she was alright. 

Mianda nodded and turned back to the style book. Carol had dealt with one problem, but the Empire spy was still out there. Not to mention whoever wanted Mianda dead. The assassin did not think of who had hired him, only vague thoughts of getting paid were in his mind.