Parity

The scene that played before Alexiei's eyes was… inconceivable. One moment, they were negotiating a way to end their conflict in a manner that didn’t involve violence, and even though he wasn't fond of where the conversation was going, it still seemed salvageable with minimal losses. If losing the best enforcer on this side of the desert could even be called a 'minimal loss'.

The next moment Olga just bolts off, with sword in her hand, feot-bent on murdering the nord. He admitted to himself that he didn't anticipate this turn of events, and it would have been a welcome one if it succeeded. Sadly, instead of skewering McKeone well and proper, she just smashed into an invisible wall, and if this wasn't weird enough, she stayed there for a moment, before falling limp to the ground. If it really was an invisible wall, shouldn't she have bounced right off it? Maluk curse these northerners and their trickery…

None of this seemed to impress McKeone in the slightest. He just stood there, impassively looking at Olga, up to the moment she fell to the ground. Then he raised his head and looked… up?

What followed later put the entire spectacle into a more sensible perspective. Alexiei followed McKeone’s gaze and saw a tanai floating down from the edge of the cliff towards the nord, their richly decorated red robe fluttering and flapping in the hot desert air. As far as dramatic entrances go, this one would have ranked quite high.

-”Of-fucking-course!” - cursed Alexiei - “First the boom, then this, this fucker had a hexergist. I’m a dumb.” - he berated himsel, then sighed, gestured at Olga's body with his free hand and shouted at Beorg - “She's all yours. Well done. You won and you’ve gotten what you came here for!” 

The nord didn't respond for some time, prompting the southerner to shout  again.

- “This concludes our negotiations, I think? Or was there anything else you wanted?”

-”Go away.” - replied Beorg in his usual disinterested voice. Alexiei considered this behaviour to be insulting, but acting offended while being caught in a kill zone wasn't going to win him anything. So instead of ordering his men to shoot, he just nodded at them and pointed at the entry to the ravine. They carefully retreated to their hideout, still keeping the bead on the other party. The islander woman had already walked away from the rift, but the man still stood there, a little bit to the side, pulling faces at them. When one of Alexiei's goons passed by, a bit too close for comfort, Niven hissed loudly and rattled his sword, making the brigand jump away.

Novikov just shook his head.

-"Well. What a bunch of fucking weirdos…" - he said to himself under his nose, making sure that the islander didn't hear him. Just in case.