Published at 6th of May 2026 6:48 am

Chapter 149: Pursuit

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

I hesitate for about a second before I come up with a plan and dash in the opposite direction from her, all the while keeping track with my birds.

She doesnt seem to be aware of my avian spies, but her efforts to avoid a general pursuit make things difficult for them. Twisting and turning through random streets and alleys, stopping only to toss a bundle of short, marked sticks on the ground, which she rapidly reads and retrieves.

I recognize the divination method. It has about the same potency as my rod method, but is less good for physical divinations in exchange for very good and quick abstract ones. Though it is still fairly potent either way. Itd at least be a challenge to track her if all I had was my divining rod. Though I think Id have a good chance of pulling it off.

Of course, she casts her own concealment spell as she runs, and I nearly lose her. But, while her clothes do somewhat match the general drabness of the section, they lack any colour changing properties, and I am already very aware of her. So, with great focus, I manage to keep track via the remote sensing spells even while directing my birds to maintain a safe distance.

As said birds are chasing after her, I run back to the warren, stopping by where Jack and several Hares are gathered in case I needed reinforcements, and tell them to run back and fortify the base. Naturally, I get back well ahead of them. Klar is there, having been left in charge of a half dozen Hares guarding the place. She tries to ask whats going on, but I just rush past her to the top floor. My foot goes through a step as I leap up the stairs, but I regain my balance without issue.

Getting to the top, I go to the room which they repurposed into an armoury. The door is locked, but flimsy, so I just kick it open. Ill pay for a more secure door later. The room is sparse, mostly having only the few crossbows they bought through Greg, plus a few spare melee weapons. I scan through them and quickly find the enchanted heavy crossbow I gave them, then take it and its ammo to the roof and aim.

The guidance effect is still active on her, but shes nearly a mile away at this point, and any shot I make will have to go through at least a couple of walls. Still, the warren is taller than most buildings in the section, and shes about to come to a widish intersection. I time the shot as best I can, then pull the lever, trusting the spell to take care of the rest.

I hold my breath, heart pounding as the bolt disappears from my sight, and I switch to a birds view. A second after I shoot, a cloud of dust bursts from a nearby wall. A blur of the bolt hits and shatters her shield, then rips into her chest and heart. She tumbles to the ground mid-stride, rolling several times with blood spraying all around and shouting out in a single cry of pain before fully collapsing.

I stare silently at her motionless form, trying to catch my breath from the sprint back here. Though I think the strain is more from the panic than exertion. I look down and see my hands shaking. Huh. I guess I guess maybe some part of me still thinks of her as family. Maybe I didnt think Id manage to Did I?

I jerk out my diving rod and chant Heat! Shes still alive! Frantically, I attach the winch and work it to speed the auto-cocking feature, but its too late. She stumbles to her feet and, smirking at the hole in the wall where the bolt came from, raises some sort of black ceramic palm-sized ball over her head, then smashes it on the ground. Theres a cracking, crackling sound as she and fifty feet around her is covered in complete darkness.

Shit! How many of that mages minions did she sacrifice to heal a shot to the heart? Did they have extra qualities or What can I do? I dont know what sort of item she just used, whether alchemical or enchanted, but the effect is clear. Total darkness. Which, given that my guidance spell needs to emit light to function, that connection abruptly ends. I wont get a second shot.

Did she know about the details of my spell somehow, or was it just chance that her escape item so perfectly countered my best means of ranged attack?

Okay, dont panic. The hunt isnt over yet. No time for speculation.

I pass Klar again on the way down. She asks again whats going on, but I only manage a Found the cultist, as I rush by.

My mind whirls through minute steps in a plan thats beginning to form. First, Allan. I recall a bird whos familiar with his manor. While Im waiting, I pull out a seed for a potent smelling herb and plant it in the courtyard, casting fast growth on it while I write a quick message to tie to the bird, detailing the location of the warren and an urgent need for him to come.

Withdraw everyone and fortify the warren. A man will hopefully be coming asking about me. The most annoyingly charming person youve ever met though I guess maybe not in this circumstance. Anyways, hes an ally. Direct him to this plant, I say to Klar before I rip a flower from the rapidly grown bush and, after disabling the cleaning function on my boot, stomp it into the ground.

She looks utterly baffled, but I dont have time to explain things to her before rushing out towards where I last saw Similce.

Okay, I need to get to the cults hideout before her. Kill them while shes away, or else itll be a lot harder. There are several assumptions that need to be correct, but if they are, Ill have a chance.

First assumption: The main cults lair is under the same concealment effect that the beastkins lair was.

Second assumption: My finding the beastkins lair was not a fluke, but because the statistical anomaly from my method was indeed significant enough to be noticeable. Therefore, the real hideout is in one of the remaining three gaps.

Third assumption: She was heading back to the lair when I shot her.

Fourth assumption: Her efforts to avoid divination, combined with her blood loss, will delay her arrival to the lair until after I can find it.

Unfortunately, assumptions three and four are in conflict, but not contradiction. Fortunately, the three gaps I already checked out were selected because they were the closest together. So, even if she was taking a circuitous route, she should still have been headed in the general direction of the right gap. Since she doesnt know that Ive already narrowed down a list of possible locations, and would need to know what they are to deliberately mislead me as to which one shes headed to.

I of course send birds to scout the location, which happens to be the one closest to the sections centre, but fail to find anything concrete. Though that was expected. Its much harder to detect an absence via remote sense, since doing so requires a spatial awareness that just doesnt translate to a purely visual stimulus stream.

I near the spot after ten minutes of hard running under concealment and camouflage through darkened alleys. Things get twisted around a few times, but the empires obsession with orderly streets, even in their poorest sections, means I find it quickly.

Climbing to the top of a nearby roof, I wait and catch my breath, watching as my messenger bird arrives at Allans house. Despite resting in a comfortable prone position, my heartrate only increases as the bird alights on the box I had installed for my messengers, and rings the bell to receive its food.

A servant quickly comes out, gives it a handful of grain as promised, which it eats ravenously as they deftly untie the message from its leg and take it in.

I curse. They could at least have conveniently exclaimed, Oh my, a message from Master Monhal. Id best take this to Lord Linhal straight away, who is presently working hard in his study, as they would in those plays Allan is always trying to take me to. As it is, I dont even know if Allan is home. I have the bird fly to various windows to see if it can spot him, but n luck, and the servants wont let it in. I try to use the rod to divine him, but its not precise enough by itself to tell if hes home, or with one of his nearby lovers. Or rather, my interpretation of it isnt precise enough to determine his relative distance from a location other than my own, and I dont know whether the servants will go find him even if hes as little as two houses away.

So, what do I do? The decision I was going to make is dependent on whether Allan got my message in the minimum time possible. If hes home right now, then he may get to the warren and track the plants scent to me in time. If hes someplace else, such as with a lover, then theres simply no chance hed arrive before Similce.

I curse again. Why didnt I just give him a sense token? Well, because Im still paranoid about people finding out I have them. I suppose I trusted Jack with it, but if he decides to betray me, then that bit of information is the least of my worries Same for Allan, I suppose. I guess this is just another lingering indecision about trusting him. Something I should have thought to remedy days ago.

Well, its not like theres nothing I can do while I wait. I can at least try to figure out which of the dozens of buildings is the lair, or if its even here. Im under concealment, so that should be safe at least.

I creep down to the street and start searching in a grid pattern, assessing my awareness of each spot in the area. Its tedious work. Why are they all so similar?! Just row after row of the same dull blocky buildings. I understand that the low section has less variance than other places, but this place is worse than even other areas in the section. I suppose as tedious as this makes my search, it does add evidence that Im in the right place, as its the perfect place for a building to go unnoticed.

Hey! Whats that smell?! Someone shouts as I slip into a deserted back street.

I look over to see a trio of darkly clad figures emerge from some shadows. Beastkin. I curse as I realize my mistake. I smeared the flower on my boot so Allan could track me, but forgot to reactivate the cleaning function when it was time to go in. It wouldnt be an issue for mundane, or even moderately enhanced defenders, but I already knew that the cult brought in beastkin for some job. It was stupid of me.

Hey, you! Why you smell so fancy? I dont think you belong here! One of them points to me, my scent tearing through the concealment effect for them, which allows them to point me out to the others.

Just passing through. I dont want any trouble, I reply meekly, raising my empty hands to head level, palms out. Its a lie, of course. Theres no way this isnt going to end in a fight, so better to let them think that Im scared so they underestimate me.

Yeah, well, you dont decide if theres trouble. Maybe we want the trouble. Look, he got magic clothes. What a fancy folk like you doing here anyway?

I shrug. What fancy folk usually do here. I pretend as if Im pretending to have confident bravado. I dont want them all to rush me at once, so they need to keep on underestimating me.

Yeah, well, you need to do it someplace else. Were watching this place. Nobody in and out.

Conspicuous. Why would the cultists give them such obvious orders? No matter. Ah, well, thank you for your kind warning. Ill just be on my way then. I take a step to leave.

Hold it! The speaker shouts. You forgot to pay your toll.

Ah, how silly of me, of course. I slap the top of my head in a comical manner, then take a single small gold coin from the purse at my side and offer it to them. Is this enough?

They, naturally, stare greedily at the purse that produced the coin, and the leader tells two of them to come take it from me. I wait until they get to about ten feet, then target them with guidance and impale both of their throats with simultaneously thrown daggers, dropping them instantly by triggering their death trances. The leader screams in rage and moves to pounce, but I target him too and skewer a heart with an invisible throwing knife before he can act.

Well, that was easier than I spin around to find five more emerging from a door, all rushing at me. I drop the first one with another thrown dagger, but hesitate to use my last throwing knife. I might need it shortly I really need more, dont I?

Again, while theyre all strong and fast, theyre not skilled fighters. Or rather, theyre unreserved fighters, with their primary action being to just rush at me to pin me down. But they do have tactical considerations, manoeuvring around so they can attack me from multiple sides and forcing me to charge forward to avoid simultaneous attack.

I chop into the next ones throat, then grab their outstretched arm and step back while twisting my body to throw them, or rather redirect their momentum into the one charging me from behind. The flanking one is unharmed, but it buys me time to rush forward and skewer another one in one of their two hearts.

Which is when the last one tackles me from the side, pinning me to the ground and knocking my sword from my grip. I grab their hair, trying to push their snapping mouth away from my throat as they frantically try to claw through my enchanted clothes, or at the very least try to find an opening. My arm strength is quickly overwhelmed, with the maw inches closer, but my efforts gives me just enough time to draw my last knife with a flick of the wrist and slam it into their exposed throat before cutting out, spraying my face with a geyser of warm, coppery blood.

Kicking them off me, I dive for my sword, grabbing it just in time to turn back and stab the final one in the groin as they try to leap on me.

They keep coming, forcing the blade through themself to get at me until I twist my body around to put a foot between us and kick them off me, sending them flying far enough for me to leap after them and chop down through their clavicle, cutting deeply enough for the blood loss to drop them.

Panting victorious over my vanquished foes, I catch my breath and more show up. More than a dozen.

Groaning, I glance at the nearby windows and dont spot anyone. Likely, the beastkin cleared the buildings around the back street to keep the operation private. So, with no witnesses, or at least none that are likely to talk, I just cast firestream as they charge.

They scream as the blue flame of the advanced version engulfs them. Odd, the smell is slightly different than with mundane flesh. Still pork-like, but noticeably different. I didnt expect that.

Two get past the flames with only severe burns, but only by rushing blindly into them, making it easy to cut them down. The second one does, however, force me to drop the spell, revealing that three have hung back, and look like theyre trying to cajole each other to attack.

Enough! I shout, propping up one of the fallen and pressing the tip of my sword under their armpit, angled so that a thrust would pierce both of their twin hearts overcoming their death trance healing and killing them. A memory flashes of Gebal showing me the method, which I thought absurd at the time, since it required getting so close to a deadly enemy. Its a pleasant memory, when he was in a good mood, but I shake out of it to focus on the present.

The remaining beastkin freeze in fear, realizing that death is on the line. Doubtlessly, the only reason they were willing to throw themselves at me is because they knew they were unlikely to actually die, but my threat changes that.

I dont want to make bodies any more than they do, since the increased scrutiny on the section means theyll be divined before I can likely do anything. But I also do not want to just keep on fighting them indefinitely.

The two biggest ones glance at the third and says Get Tallow. The third nods and runs off to a building.

I recognize the word as a name, vaguely. The Biblio recommends taking ne names when being inducted, and Tallow is the sort of name that would be in keeping with the suggested themes. Something that can be used for lighting, but with class indications to be broadly appealing. A name that a cult leader might take.

Not wanting to lose my initiative, I drop the hostage and meet the remaining twos charge, cutting them down with smooth and efficient swipes of my sword. Then I run after the fleeing one, catching them in the back of the neck with my last throwing knife as theyre about to enter a building, which very much is hard to find again when I look away from it.

Theres no way those inside didnt hear the commotion howling beastkin and the like. I dont have time to wait for Allan. I need to act now.

Share