Chapter 19: Footprints

Leo had to physically restrain himself from sprinting out of the village. The chaos around him hadn’t died down at all. If anything, the longer that blinding barrier lingered, the greater the panic grew once people realized it wasn’t going to go away anytime soon.

He turned and tugged his cloak closer, slipping between the buildings as quickly as he could without arousing suspicion. As he stepped past the perimeter of the village, he heard someone say, “Sovereign’s skill.”

Even without [Judgement], people were starting to piece things together. Zelyra’s ruler was too much of a known entity, her specific type of magic and skills too famous, for them not to.

The moment the [Fragmentholder] was out of view of the squat buildings, he bolted, feet pounding down the dusty road towards the cluster of trees where he’d told Allan and Spade to wait.

Before he reached it, he nearly crashed straight into Allan, who must’ve stepped back onto the main road to get a better look at the wall of light. A little ways behind him, Spade stood at the edge of the road, her own grey eyes narrowed in contemplation while the rest of her expression remained impassive.

Dark eyes stared down at him, Allan’s shoulders tense and brows furrowed.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s Zelyra’s Sovereign.” The words came out in a rush. His heartbeat hadn’t slowed at all since first seeing it appear, the thrumming energy continuing to course through his veins. “I think she got a fragment, and it gave her enough of a boost to do that.”

Leo could practically see the [Healer] processing the words.

“You mean…?”

“It means we’re going to need to reroute.”

Spade suddenly spoke, the [Executioner] stepping forward at a remarkably calm pace. It seemed she’d managed to take in the presence of the wall of light with an alarming quickness.

She raised a scarred eyebrow. “Am I wrong?”

Leo barked a laugh at that. It was true. No amount of sneaking around would get them around a magical barrier.

“I was thinking we reroute to Ellis,” he said, half to himself. “If we keep heading south and go through Ivalon, we could cross the Ivory Strait into the League and go from there without needing to risk a longer marine route.”

He brushed off his bag, and it landed on the ground with a heavy thud. Leo bent down to open it and pull out the other two bags he’d bought so they could divide the supplies.

“There’ll definitely be fragments along the way. I say we keep heading to Alnwick; I got all the supplies, but we still need to sell off the crests.”

He kept talking without pause.

“There’ll probably be more people going after fragments now, once folks figure out that’s how the Sovereign got the power boost. More regulations too, or at least they’ll try. We have to move fast.”

Leo finally looked up again, the rush of thoughts now released. He paused. Allan was giving him a weird look. The [Fragmentholder] frowned.

“What?”

“You’re smiling.”

Leo reached up, and sure enough, the corners of his mouth were upturned. His hand shook slightly as he moved.

The former thief exhaled, taking a second to try to calm his nerves. Allan’s expression remained confused.

“Is this a good thing?”

The [Fragmentholder] snorted at that and shook his head.

“Nah. If anything it’s really bad.” He squeezed his fingers into a fist, then uncurled them, repeating the action until he felt in control again.

“But I don’t know, I think I’m kind of happy it happened? I was thinking too small,” he muttered. He looked up, peering into that distant light, utterly dwarfing everything in its presence. “I forgot how big this is. How many people’re gonna get involved. And I can’t afford to do that if I want a serious shot.”

“That’s rather brave of you.”

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Leo glanced over at Spade. Even given the circumstances, she was as impossible to read as ever. He might’ve been annoyed at that, if he wasn’t more concerned with other matters right now. He shook his head.

“I wouldn’t call it brave per se. If I had to face Zelyra’s Sovereign or, hell, the Empire’s High General right now, I’d probably piss myself.” He snorted and straightened, handing one of the bags to Allan. “I’m just not letting it stop me.”

Hazel eyes moved to that wall of light again, its towering presence, gleaming like a faraway beacon. Its presence remained difficult to fathom, so distant and yet, if he raised his hand up, it appeared almost close enough to grasp.

His fingers clenched into a fist, still a little stiff from the scarring. Leo exhaled and turned to face Allan and Spade again.

“I got the stuff we were looking for,” he said. Rummaging around his pocket, he pulled out the remaining coins and tossed them at Spade, who caught them with a raised eyebrow.

“Not going to keep it?”

“I don’t like owing people favors.” Leo pointedly didn’t mention that he already owed the [Executioner] enough from the prison break. He bent down to grab his own bag, significantly lighter now that all the purchases had been distributed.

“So we’re going to Ellis now?” Allan’s brows were still a little wrinkled, and he kept glancing at the wall of light, but he seemed more at ease than before.

Leo took a second to double check they were alone on the road, then nodded. He leaned a little closer, lowering his voice.

“Listen, while I was in the village, the shopkeeper talked about the Hounds passing through. Said they were hunting fragments.”

Dark eyes widened slightly, and Leo continued.

“Last I heard they were up north, but if they’re moving south to hunt fragments, I’m betting they’ve got some way to track them—else they would’ve stayed north to look.”

“You want to follow them.”

It was less a question than it was a statement. Leo nodded.

“So far they’re the only lead we’ve got on a fragment. We can’t afford to let any chances slip by.”

Allan hummed in agreement. Leo’s eyes flickered over to Spade.

“What about you?” He paused, a thought suddenly rising. “Hang on, you don’t know the Hounds, do you?”

Based on the amount of scars the [Executioner] had and her own anecdotes about traveling, he highly doubted she’d been an executioner her whole life. It would make sense for her to have taken on some bounties or mercenary work for extra cash along the way.

“I don’t know them personally.” She cocked her head. “I’ve heard plenty though. A straight fight against them certainly wouldn’t be to your advantage.”

“I know.” Leo frowned. “The way I see it, best case scenario we find the fragment first, take it, and run before the Hounds even know we’re there.” Of course, knowing his luck, he doubted it would be that easy. But avoiding a direct confrontation would be at the top of their priority list.

“Do you know where they went?” Allan asked. Leo turned, peering out into the dusty road.

Compared to the area leading away from Sindrey, the path here widened significantly, a few crossing roads intersecting it while it branched out further in the distance. He guessed the Hounds had crossed through the village from a side path before entering the main road.

Leo strode forward, moving around the village while Allan and Spade followed. Even from a distance, he could still hear yells emanating from within. Zelyra’s Sovereign had really made a mess of things.

The [Fragmentholder] slowed his pace. Up ahead, he could make out faint hoof marks denting the hard ground. A lot of them.

“Looks like this is the way,” he muttered. Leo crouched down, running a hand over the marks. “They seem pretty fresh.”

The footprints trailed further south, and he could see them curve closer towards the Glass Lake at the next bend in the road.

Leo stood again. He was about to continue to trace the tracks, but paused. He glanced back, eyeing the prints critically.

“Is something wrong?” Allan asked.

“If someone else hears about the Hounds, they might follow their trail too.” Leo shifted his foot, smoothing out one of the hoof prints. “If we could find a way to cover them up without slowing us down too much, that’d be best.”

“Oh, is that all?”

Leo blinked as Allan stepped forward. The man bent down, placing a single hand flat against the ground. His brows furrowed slightly, a minute movement that Leo recognized from every time the [Healer] used a skill. He turned on [Judgement].

[Allan has activated the [Even Path] skill]

Originating from Allan’s palm, the path rippled outwards. Clouds of dust rose as rocks and dirt shifted. A wave ran down the road, overturning little indents and footprints until the section smoothed and flattened, leaving behind only the most subtle of dips.

Allan straightened, studying the road now free of any footprints, and nodded in satisfaction. Leo stared.

“Did you get that during the prison break?”

Allan nodded. “It was my last rickshaw puller skill.” He hummed. “It doesn’t use too much mana. I should be able to keep it up while we move, I think. If the skill was higher level I could probably get the road even flatter.”

“It’s perfect.” Leo grinned, and Allan looked about as close to smug as he could get. If the road was any flatter, it would look unnatural, but like this they could cover up the most egregious footprints without clueing people into the use of a skill.

They wouldn’t be able to catch up to the Hounds, not when they were on horseback, but they’d have to bank on them not knowing the exact location of the fragment and simply beating them to it.

Leo squinted. The light of the barrier was a constant presence, and it only made the crisp horizon line even more apparent. Based on his estimations, they should reach the Glass Lake’s shore fairly quickly if they kept following this route.

Whether or not they could successfully avoid running into the Hounds would remain to be seen.