I grinned from the shadows of the narrow alley where I’d stopped to watch the killer quartet try to rally themselves and muttered. “There’s four of them. And I doubt they’ll stick together since they specialize in stealth and will likely do whatever it takes to make sure at least one of them escapes to report to their boss. That means we’re doing this one at a time, so let’s get Calden moving.”

I closed my eyes and concentrated on the kid. ~Hey, I’m ready to start the hunt, so I want you to gather the Barronette’s knights or guards or whoever you can get and get ready to move. I’ll be driving the four apart, and cornering them separately, so make sure you station the bulk of your forces at the locations I tell you, got it?~

I felt a wave of surprise which was followed by shock and then a surge of steadily growing anxiety and determination rise up within him. ~Y–yes, Great One. I will do as you will.~

I chuckled under my breath. ~And don’t stress so much. This might be your first step to prominence, but there’s no way you’ll fail.~

He didn’t respond vocally, but considering I felt his nerves get quashed under an overwhelming tide of faith I took it that he was good to go, and returned my focus to the four conniving chuckleheads.

They hadn’t moved much, Whisper was still quivering under the desk though he had suppressed his shakes somewhat, Veil had stopped pacing and now simply stood in discussion with the rest, Thread still stalled where he was halfway between the front door and the table where Shade still sat, and Shade no longer drummed his fingers but rather pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation.

For whatever reason they all had short black hair, especially so in Thread’s case, with eyes just as dark. Their skin tones varied from extremely pale on Whisper’s end to extremely dark on Shade’s, but they were all distinctly human without a trace of any fantastical feature on them.

Now that I think about it, that Sorren guy had dark hair and eyes too. And the fact that they all work for the same dude makes me curious about the conditions for employment. Does he only like humans? For that matter, this town is mostly human too. Is that the case for the rest of the empire as well? I should probably look into the myths and legends of this world, that might help me understand things better going forward.

Anyway, I watched and waited a while longer. It didn’t sound like they were going to try anything until well after sunset, so I had time, I just needed to make sure I didn’t lose track of them after they split.

And since I can’t quite stretch my senses over the whole town, I’m gonna need to make up a spell for that. But what discipline should it be? I guess order magic makes sense.

I tweaked and simulated the details in my head, and the sun soon moved to set before Calden’s voice re-entered my noggin. ~Great One, we’re in position, and the outer gates have all been shut tight.~

Oooh! Fantastic forethought kiddo! Oops, forgot to send that.

~Hey, excellent work! If that’s the case I’ll start the round up!~

At that, I finished touching up my new spell, and snapped my fingers in time with my mental chant to make it go. And now, Trace!

A spark of blue light flashed from my fingers as they clicked, and in that moment, four blue marks appeared on the foreheads of my targets.

Hol’ up. That wasn’t part of the plan.

Basic? Basic?! I thought I reached the adept level for Order essence? And how come I can use more powerful Fire essence magic, but not Order? My Order level is higher! And of course stealth couldn’t be one of the features it retained! Ugh. I sighed. Oh well, it’s not like I wasn’t about to chase them off in a minute anyway… But now I don’t get my grand entrance.

Naturally, the four all freaked at the unnatural sigils that had appeared on the center of their foreheads, and wasting no time at all, they dashed from the house in four different directions, one even on the rooftops!

Not quite as planned, but good enough. After all, they headed out where I expected them too, since, ya’know, a building can only have so many good escape routes. And since the spell is working, I needn’t fear losing track of them!

Three split into the town, while the last gunned it for the nearby wall. I started in that direction first since it wouldn’t do to let him escape so easily. And before long the edge of my stretched senses caught a glimpse of Veil’s boots.

The end of the day’s tide of foot traffic slowed him down immensely, especially considering he wasn’t calm enough to use his nonchalant stealth at the moment. And since I was using just a touch of my ‘intimidate’ ability to clear the people from the path in front of me, I gained on him in no time.

Obviously, Mr.Superspy #1 noticed that someone was closing in on him, so he tried to make diversions by knocking people over or by taking a more roundabout course down side alleys.

But I ignored his feeble attempts to flee and started using the secondary function of my new spell to mess with him and the others, since they too were making to leave Ariadholme asap.

Ward.

Veil grinded to a halt to avoid a collision with the bluish barrier that had suddenly appeared in his chosen path.

Ward. Ward. Ward. Ward. Ward.

Barriers blocked all their chosen routes all over the city. Shade was the only one who managed to elude them by timely use of his shadow walking ability, while Whisper started having a panic induced mental breakdown leading him to run off in an unexpected direction. Poor Thread was running on the roofs and took a barrier to the face right as he was about to jump, leaving him rolling around on the wooden shingles with what I could only guess was a broken nose.

I winced at my terrible timing and was glad I hadn’t stopped him mid-air. After all, I’m not trying to kill the guy, just make him regret his decisions… Though, on second thought maybe I just accomplished that.

Anyway, I continued to place barriers around to guide them off in a wild path around the city both to prevent their escape and to slowly corral them to where Calden and co were waiting. My biggest problem however, was that I didn’t want them to reach their final destinations without me at least nearby. It’d be too dangerous to assume all their skills lie in stealth only for them to spring the trap and massacre everyone lying in wait.

And that goes double for the limits of my new spell since I can only target the, well, target, or the area close to them. That means if they injure someone and keep moving like I know they will, I won’t be able to help very easily.

I swallowed down my discomfort at the worst possible scenario and cut the distance to Veil. One look over his shoulder at me was all he needed to speed up, and a few well placed barriers were all it took to get him right where we wanted him.

The buildings opened up around us as we stepped into a small plaza with a statue in the center depicting some important figure or another. It wasn’t located off the main road, but was near enough that the outer gate was just beyond the next few houses.

I suppose that was his intended escape point though he probably never imagined the gate would already be shut tight.

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At my appearance, the old ranger dude and Ysdra stepped out of hiding, and with them came an outpouring of armed guards dressed in chainmail and brandishing everything from barbed iron link nets, to chains, to bows and spears.

Veil muttered “Son of a scornweaver.” under his breath, and wheeled around to charge at me, a thin dagger in one hand.

I arched an eyebrow. They were just talking about me a few hours ago, but does he not know my appearance? Did he not think I’d get directly involved?

He readied his knife to stab beneath the cover of his billowing cloak, and then, just before he reached me, he flicked his other hand and a pellet flew out, hit the ground, and burst into a thick cloud of all obscuring fog.

Well, all obscuring for everybody else, but isn’t it overkill to conceal your attack twice?

Unsurprisingly, he tried to stab me, but my ‘Way of the One’ fighting style had me restrain his wrist as if on instinct, and from there, a quick bonk of Witness to his skull had him down and out before I’d even fully grasped what I’d done.

“After him!”

“Don’t let him escape!”

“All together lads! Put yer backs into it!”

I heard many frantic shouts from the eager guards and what sounded like a sailor lookin’ to raise the mainsail, but that all stopped when I emerged from the smoke, dragging a crumpled Veil behind me.

“Lord Anon! You did it!”

Ysdra ran up to me, all smiles and sunshine, though I was a bit more conflicted. I was trying to make Calden look good, not myself. Though I guess there wasn’t much of a choice given he came at me like that. I’ll have to be more careful going forward.

I turned over the currently concussed killer to the guards, and patted the tiger girl on the head while doing my best to ignore the strangely sparkly stare the old hunter was giving me. “Sure I did, but not without all your help. You might not have had to fight, but if you weren’t here to take care of the rest, I’d be in a tight spot.”

She grinned up at me. “And I don’t want to imagine where we’d be if you weren’t here.”

I gently brushed the beginnings of a tear from her bright blue eye, whispered. “And you won’t have to.” And turned in the direction of my next quarry before dashing off with that strangely sobering thought to fuel me.

I mean, if they hadn’t met me then Calden would’ve died in that forest, and she might’ve gone with him given the spell she was about to cast before I stopped her.

A chill ran down my spine, and when I checked the three remaining goons. I found that Shade was getting too far too fast, so I slowed him by using Paralyze on one of his legs. Thread was still stuck on the same roof, struggling to get past the selfsame wall that had initially stopped him as I refreshed it each time he attempted to get a run up, and Whisper was now, for some reason, taking hostages.

I changed course to find him, while taking a second to ensure Shade was still manageable, and deciding to mess with Thread by creating walkways with the barriers to other roofs all in an effort to get him to trust me so that I could drop him into the trap. For added efficiency I also continued to block him any time he looked like he’d deviate course, or try to jump over the walkways.

While waiting for my efforts there to pay off, I used the spells Strength release, and speed release. That Larissa had used during our fight to leap onto a building and race toward Whisper.

See? What the heck? I’m pretty sure this is more advanced magic than I’m used to, so why is it working when my ability level is lower?

Then, of course, the stupid system spoke.

I sighed. So I need to make them in advance if I want more potent effects. Great. Good to know. But then why was that lightning bolt spell so powerful right away? Huh? Huh?

I waited, and shook my head at the system’s stubborn silence. Hyporacy! And you had the gall to label me the biggest hypocrite when it’s really you! I huffed and hopped to a stop now that Whisper was in sight in a small thoroughfare below me; visible just past the white canopies of the assorted street stalls. But that is irrelevant. It’s time to focus.

He bellowed. “Stay back! Stay back, or she’s dead!”

It was hard to discern the people’s expressions in the gathering gloom of evening, but given that his declaration was met with muted mutterings from the onlookers it clearly wasn’t his first threat.

That, or people really don’t value each other, but I’ma just give them the benefit of the doubt.

I sighed as I glanced around, then murmured. “He’s a bit off from the trap location in the main market square, but it looks like the comotion has tipped off the guards that something’s going down so they should get here soon. Thankfully, it also appears that the Baronette was in charge of this location, so once he arrives I should be able to leave everything up to him. So all I gotta do is buy time and save that poor lady.”

Whisper was a wreck. His eyes were bulging and bloodshot, he frantically looked this way and that as if he were surrounded by enemies, and he clutched what appeared to be some type of mole lady with a serrated bowie knife to her neck. Based on the thickness of the spectacles at her feet and how much she’s squinting I’d wager that poor eyesight was the largest reason she got grabbed.

The rest of the people had retreated to form a wide circle around our hostile hostage holder, which inevitably attracted more attention, which created more congestion that the Baronette and company would have to barge through.

But that at least gives me a moment to think about how to resolve this without direct intervention. After all, I need Calden’s commands to mean something here sooo… Hey! If new spells are being difficult, can’t I just reverse a pre-existing one?

I snapped my fingers and thought. Release strength. While focusing on Whisper.

And ooh boy did I have to suppress a chuckle after that.

Because without warning, flashes, sounds, or anything, he just up and half-slumped half-flopped to the ground, knife clattering down at the now freed lady’s feet. He struggled and squirmed and all he got out of his body was senseless flailing that more often than not resulted with him limp arm slapping himself rather than making even a lick of progress.

His face burned a bright red, and was only further inflamed by the fact that his would-be victim now ignored him as she felt around on the ground for her missing glasses.

All in all, the whole thing lasted several minutes until she got her specs and ran off. That’s when I released the poor guy from the spell, and right into the eager arms of the Barronette and his guards.

I grinned in satisfaction as they subdued him, and wheeled around to head toward the Ornery Owl where we’d trap Shade, while waiting for Thread to reach his final destination at the northern fountain square.

To my surprise, they’d both gotten further than I’d expected as Thread had thrown all resistance away and was now readily running north along whatever path I dictated, whereas Shade had somehow broken free of my paralysis and started sprinting whichever way he pleased since his ability let him circumvent my barriers.

Well. I’ll take the good with the bad.

I’d made some decent progress along the rooftops myself when Thread reached the center of a barrier poised right above the fountain’s basin.

And of course what happens next should be obvious.

I unceremoniously dropped him right into the water, attracting the attention of Calden and Ysdra’s knights and the contingent of guards accompanying them.

Naturally, Thread hit pretty hard, and the water wasn’t deep enough to spare him much, but he wasn’t dead, and by the time he’d righted himself he was at the business end of about a dozen spears.

I pouted when he got a defiant glint in his eye, so I paralyzed him before he could do anything stupid. And since it looked like he just froze up, I’ll call that a win.

With that I was finally able to focus all of my attention on a certain obstinate assassin.

Immediately, I unleashed a barrage of barriers to foil his frequent flailing and slow him down, but to my growing irritation he continued to evade by ducking into shadows and popping up in an entirely different alley.

If I had to guess based solely on his current performance then he’s limited to a several dozen feet per jump, but the worst part was that the sun’s light dimmed with every passing moment which pushed the terrain advantage ever further into his favor.

But there’s something else. Something I don’t get.

“Why is he headed toward the trap?”

It was beyond strange.

How could he know where I wanted him to go when it was all planned today? There’s no way he could’ve found out what we’re doing. So what was he after? Don’t tell me he just gave up!

I wasn’t right behind him or anything, but my course would soon intersect with his at the front of the Ornery Owl. However, given his head start, and our current speeds, he was going to make it there first.

Right into the trap headed by Carmella and Calden, and–

“Oh.” My eyes widened. “Oh no.”

Then I heard Shade growl, “Finally got you, you brat.”, through the mark I’d placed on him and did everything I could do to pick up the pace.

I even threw several barriers into his path, Carmella joined in with some flashy arcane bullet looking things she called “Arrow of Order.” but he shifted through the shadows to the side, escaping both of us, and launched some really pointy, and not at all safe looking, needles straight at Calden’s face.

The young lord however, just closed his eyes and let them come.

I crested the last roof between me and my destination, finally able to see the scene through my own eyes and time seemed to slow as my mind shot into overtime. What do I do? What should I do? He’s resisted paralysis so should I try to cast? Just leap and hope to intercept it? Or should I just trust Calden and see how this plays out?