Chapter 301: Not Quite Out of Sight (Patreon)

Author’s note: Hi guys.

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Thanks so much for the feedback on the last ‘anniversary’ chapter. It was truly heartwarming. Now, here's the first one in a hundred more to come.

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Enjoy the chapter!

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Chapter 301: Not Quite Out of Sight - Link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/92593000

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Chapter 301: Not Quite Out of Sight

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If it wasn’t for the nature of his work here in Castiana, especially Grey, Sah wouldn’t have noticed them so soon. Those two were good at moving out of people’s sight and yet right in front of their eyes. It was not as easy as it might seem, even though it was a basic skill every Imperial agent was taught - blending into the crowd.

It required precise control of body, mind, mana, and presence; knowing how to stay beyond the edge of human consciousness, to remain in its shadow, neither stepping into the light of sight nor creating a haunting darkness at the back of the mind. Great words they have been taught to master in order not to draw attention to themselves, either by exposing themselves too much or by erasing their presence altogether. The human, and not only human, subconscious was complex, working with all the senses of the human body without the individual being aware of it.

Suppose the eyes see a person, but the rest of the body feels nothing but empty space. Then attention is being drawn, whether the individual is aware of it or not.

In the words of common folk, the sixth sense. Especially strong in beasts, diluted in terrans, but extremely accurate in the case of Grey.

Sah watched them enter the back alley, following the crumbs he had left for them, and skillfully swinging up onto the rooftops. Four houses later they reached him.

“”Sir,"" they both nodded respectfully after he raised the silencing barrier around them all. Woman in her 30s, man in his 50s. Quite an age for someone in this line of work. Either you died young because of inexperience or in service due to a mistake, bad intel, or many other reasons. His age spoke of experience, remarkable caution, and perhaps even luck. All of which were necessary in this line of work.

Yet, before anything more could be spoken, identity verification was in order.

Knowing that, they all took out their plates and put them together, being careful not to touch each other’s plates with their fingers, lest they disintegrate. With his other hand on the dagger, ready to act, he watched the plates. Should his remain idle, blood would be shed today. Luckily for the men, the crest of Imperial agents woven into the plates brightened faintly. So did the one on the woman's plate - they were both agents.

“Good to have you both here; you’re a little early, though.”

“The roads were good,” the woman replied.

Sah nodded. “I assume you are familiar with the situation.”

“”Yes, sir."" The answer from both was a clear indication that he’d been given command of the operations in Castiana.

“Then you will have no objection to having your mind checked by the local city guards’ captain.” There it was, the hesitation, the reluctance. Understandable. If he were in their shoes, he’d be doubtful, too. After all, if he and Rayden were working with mind mages . . . well, it could mean their deaths, as falling under mind control might trigger the safeguards he shouldn’t have questioned in the first place.

The nature of the work and his error from the morning were getting to him. Excessive caution; fear of making another mistake.

“Is the former General Sanysia Rayden actually stationed here, sir?” the man asked instead of answering. Information verification. Good. Better to trust your own eyes, though.

“She is indeed.”

“Sanysia Rayden is said to have a mind that burns away the mind of any mage who tries to touch her. If it really is her, I won’t mind, sir.”

“Neither will I . . . sir.”

Sah couldn’t help but swallow a sigh. With everything going on around Grey, he had completely lost sight of the reputation Rayden had built up throughout the Sahal Empire during the Mind Wars.

“Good. For clarification, I work here under the name Sah.”

“I understand. I shall be called Hal for the duration of this operation.”

“Hal’a, sir.”

Sah nodded while a warning crossed his mind. “You are aware of our ward’s bad relationship with that name, are you not?”

“Are you suggesting that we switch to an alternative, sir?” There were other names besides Sah and Hal that the agents used, but he saw no reason for it. If Grey wanted to stand on her own two feet, as she said so often, she couldn’t be afraid of some name.

“No. Just keep that in mind when you deal with our ward.”

“Understood, sir?”

“Is that her . . . sir?” Hal’a asked, motioning with her head to the terraced roof of the building across the street. There, Grey was learning to read and write Standard under the tutelage of Ria Kano. Kid kitsune, daughter of Suru Kano and Jota Kano, guide at the City Hall.

“You tell me?”

“Terran-looking, huge tail the length of a man, a pair of wings spreading from her lower back, antlers and moss on her head. A spirit-like creature frolicking around her. Except for the ears, she fits the description… sir.”

No confirmation or dismissal from Hal’a, just stating the facts and comparing them to the reports he regularly sent to Wagonbrei. No pause over what Grey or Idleaf represented. The higher-ups seemed to take this seriously and didn’t send any rookies.

“She learned how to enlarge them yesterday.” Therefore, there was no need to explain why it was not in the report they read. Much more needed to be said, though.

“Is it just me, or is the ward aware of our presence?” Hal asked, his eyes fixed on Grey’s ears, which seemed to be picking up on their conversation, all the while paying attention to Idleaf and Ria Kano, who seemed more interested in playing than teaching. “Can she hear us?”

“She shouldn’t be able to.”

“Shouldn’t . . . sir?” Hal’a raised an eyebrow. He understood her. Not knowing, not being sure, was the most dangerous thing in their line of work.

“It is not so easy to determine the extent of the ward’s abilities since she does not know them herself. At first, her sixth sense only brought her confusion; now it seems that as long as you keep your focus on her, she will know about you.”

“You mean eye contact?”

“No. Tracking her through your domain is enough to trigger her sixth sense.”

“Impressive,” Hal remarked dryly. But the widened eyes of both spoke volumes. Sure, there were people out there with vast and sensitive domains, dozens here in Castiana alone, Deckard, Grey’s mentor, such an example, but a keen sixth sense like that was seldom to come across.

“Her ears could be the same case. Once she gets used to them . . . this silencing field might not be a hindrance to her.”

The two looked at each other. “Is that admiration . . . sir?”

He knew what Hal’a meant. Admiration would mean he had formed a bond with the ward, a potential weakness for the enemy could exploit.

“In a way,” Sah admitted. It didn’t mean that he had to be taken off the Castiana operation; he just had to be careful that ‘admiration’ didn’t develop into something more.

“Noted - sir,” Hal’a nodded, knowing full well that his admission meant he wanted them to keep an eye on him in case he went too far.

“Take this as a reminder not to be overconfident in your skills as well.”

“There’s always someone out there stronger than you,” Hal quoted the old adage, getting a little more serious. “Is there anything else I should be aware of beyond the report, sir?”

“I have tracked a trace of mage activity in the city, surveillance as far as I could tell; Rayden confirmed it today. I need you, Hal’a, to follow it up. We’ll discuss the details later.”

“And me, sir?”

“You . . .” Sah hesitated, his gaze going to Grey now playing with the tree spirit and Ria Kano. “For one thing, you should be aware that our ward is in heat, and we’re blind to how powerful it can get.”

“You don’t want me to chase away her potential partners, do you, sir?”

“No.” If Liryadon was here for that very reason, they wouldn’t even be able to do so. “What I am going to ask you to do will require absolute caution and discretion.”

“I understand.”

“We shall see. Well, I have two confirmed and three suspected targets in connection with a possible dragon in the city.”

“Fuck!”

“Balls! You’re not pulling our leg, are you . . . sir?”

Sah found it quite entertaining to watch the professional masks of these two crack. Nothing funny about the reason, though.

“I wish I was.”

“They must know in Wagonbrei,” Hal voiced his thoughts, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

“I’ve already sent the report. Although it doesn’t say much more than I just told you.” It didn’t, and yet he hesitated to tell them more. The mistrust that had been instilled in them from the first day of training told him to wait for Rayden to check them out. But time was of the essence. They could not afford to waste it, and so he ultimately took the risk of telling them what little he knew.

“When I heard my transfer orders, I thought the higher-ups had gone nuts stationing three agents in a place like Castiana. After reading the reports, World Tree, Guardian, Labyrinth returnees, Eleaden, it no longer seemed like overkill. Now I wonder if the three of us will be enough.”

“Same, sir.” Hal agreed with Hal’a.

“We’ll have to make do,” Sah said, understanding them both all too well. In the course of their existence, Imperial agents had dealt with things of comparable magnitudes. Well, not really. But those were isolated incidents. “Luckily, the local city guards are more than capable. Don’t underestimate them, and if you feel you could use their help, don’t hold back from contacting Captain Rayden. She has proven not to be shy about working with us.”

“"Understood, sir.”"

Sah nodded back, his eyes falling on Grey. The carefree abandon she was playing with the young kitsune and Idleaf was too nice to take for granted, just a lid on a barrel full of boiling troubles that threatened to blow up in their faces.

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***

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A whimper echoed through the small room I occupied in the barracks. My whimper, a cry of my unwillingness to come out from under the covers and face the world.

So much happened yesterday. And so much was meant to happen today.

“Come on, Korra’leigh,” Idleaf urged, bouncing across the room. “The others are already gone.”

“I’m not them,” I argued, not hiding my morning crankiness.

“No, you’re not. You’re Korra’leigh.”

Her confusion made me feel guilty, but no more willing to leave my warm bed. If I’d stayed, I might have avoided the whole thing of me teaching the others. Stella was capable. Surely she could handle it on her own.

More guilt.

It was such a cowardly thing to do. But . . .

Another whimper, this time into the pillow.

“Is something wrong, Korra’leigh? Do you want me to move you to me?”

I almost agreed. “No, Idleaf. I’m fine-ish.”

The jitters had my stomach in knots. The experiences from Earth, presenting my projects to fellow students my age or telling customers about the flowers they were buying, did not compare to what I was about to face. Honestly, I’d rather confront the dragon.

What an unfortunate turn of thought that was, I realized as soon as the heat flooded my entire body. My body was a complete mess, and I had no idea what to do about it. Well, except to swallow the potion that Rayden - not personally, of course - had arranged for me. For free. She really, really wanted me to teach and really, really didn’t want there to be an ‘incident’ at the training grounds, which I could only agree with, much to the frustration of my inner beasts. In fact, ever since I woke up, I could feel their longing . . . to find a mate.

One of the other reasons I found the bed a much safer place to be right now. I had no idea how I would react if I bumped into a guy in the hallway.

“Korra’leigh, let’s do something. This is boring.”

And annoying. Her whining, that was. She showed up as soon as I woke up and didn’t shut up for a second, except when she was annoying the occupants of the adjacent rooms. But since they were already gone . . .

I just couldn’t stay stuck here with her all day.

“What about Esudein or Zeewet?”

Idleaf stopped, tears forming in her eyes. “You don’t want me to be here? With you?”

“No . . . no, no, no,” I blurted out quickly, actually rolling off the bed. “I was just wondering what they were doing.”

The lie was too obvious, yet Idleaf smiled and giggled. Me getting out of my lair was exactly what the vixen wanted.

“You . . . !” I snarled, only to swallow the words that came to my tongue. This dreadful morning wasn’t her fault, nor was my lack of foresight. I may have had a potion to suppress the heat in my spatial storage. What I didn’t have there, though, was the food supply I so desperately needed right now. Sure, I could take the potion on an empty stomach, but at the risk of half the effect and twice as many trips to the toilets.

Not really willing to risk it when my stomach was already a mess, I had no choice but to grow a pair - Fuck! Naughty thought - and face the dangers of the mess hall.

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Author’s note: A little insight into Sah's life.

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BTW, what I did want to mention is that the next chapter may not come out until Sunday. Something came up and I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish it by Saturday.

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Also, I keep getting the nagging feeling that I wanted to mention something else with the previous chapter, but I can't for the life of me remember what...well, maybe next time. :D

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