“This spell wouldn’t even work if I couldn’t feel on my own the exact point where the original Steps had been opened. Get in.” Xenagrosh said.
Once on the other side, both her nose and the Eyes lost track of their mark. Five months had passed and without the energy-preserving arrays, the energy signature had completely faded over time.
“Shit!” Rhuta studied their surroundings, discovering they were in the middle of nowhere. “Another dead end.”
“No, not at all.” Zoreth took a map out of her pocket dimension and found their new position in the Wegan Region by using the visible landmarks and her knowledge of the Kingdom. “The hunt has just begun and we are getting closer.”
“What do you mean?” Solus set the Eyes to full-range scan, seeking only their mark’s energy signature yet it found nothing. “The guy was panicking but he still had the common sense to Warp in a random direction. He could be anywhere by now.”
“Wrong. Just by calculating the distance between the entry and exit points, we can estimate how strong he is and the distance we can expect him to cover on average with a single Steps.” The Shadow Dragon explained.
“Also, everyone uses the term ‘random direction’ because it has a nice ring and makes them feel safe, but there is no such thing as a random place. You can’t Warp to an unknown house just by pointing your finger.
“You must remember their dimensional coordinates by heart and no one bothers remembering the place they sneezed, unless they did it in the King’s face. When people Warps in a ‘random direction’ it’s actually just the wrong direction but still in the ballpark of their real destination.
“You can’t go in the opposite direction or you’d just waste time and mana by moving back and forth in a straight line. If we could retrace all of his ‘random Steps’ we could narrow the area of search.”
Everyone took notes while Lith also discovered that her reasoning applied to him as well and changed his Warping routine accordingly.
“Even if you are right, how are we supposed to find him?” He asked.
“That’s why you are still green as a manhunter, little brother.” Zoreth tutted, booping Lith’s nose with her finger. “You have yet to learn how to think like a predator. What do we know about him?”
Lith narrowed his eyes in confusion but answered the question.
“Our mark is young by Awakened standards and panicked after killing his master. Wherever he lives, he tries to pass himself for a self-taught mage, most likely a Forgemaster.”
“Go on.” Zoreth twirled her fingers in the air.
“He has no name for himself, little money, and with the death of his master, he has lost access to the supply line of ingredients he was used to. Also, after five months, he must be thinking he has gotten away with it and has lowered his guard.” Lith said.
“Which means?”
“That even if he has lived holed up in his hideout, by now he must have run out of food and magical resources. We must look for a mage who moved into the area recently and is looking for Forgemastering ingredients.” Lith concluded.
“Correct, but that would be the right course of action only if we were like them.” Zoreth pointed at the Hand of Fate. “We don’t need a precise who, where, or when. Just to be close enough to perceive him.
“If he has stopped hiding, the places he hangs around are bound to be filled with his smell. He thinks to be just a face in the crowd. The secret of his existence is allegedly paying off. He doesn’t know he can be found so he won’t bother covering his tracks.”
She pointed at the cities and villages on the map in the range of at least another Warp Steps covering the same distance as the first.
“True. Where do we start?” Lith asked.
“What do you think?” The Shadow Dragon smiled at him.
“Villages.” He replied. “Sure, cities are crowded but you have to constantly show your ID and have a connection with the Mage Association if you want to deal in magical resources.
“Also, if for some reason someone notices you, they have no qualms about reporting you to the local authorities. In a village, instead, no one asks for IDs and a mage offering his services as a healer is always welcome.
“On top of that, villagers are distrustful of strangers. After five months they’ll consider him one of their own and lie for him. Losing your healer means losing your family at the first cough.”
“Excellent job, little brother.” She ruffled Lith’s hair giving him the opportunity to open a mind link.
‘Zoreth, are you sure you want to give your spells and techniques out like this?’ He asked. ‘The members of the Hand of Fate are not our allies and Strider hates our guts. He could use everything you are teaching us against you.’
‘Let him try.’ She telepathically chuckled. ‘This is nothing groundbreaking. Just things you learn with age and experience. These runts have no idea how our respective tracking abilities work so as long as we play it close to the vest they won’t be able to jam our senses even if they try.
‘On top of that, how can you ask a big sister to pass up the opportunity to look cool in front of her little brother?’
Those words made Lith feel weird inside. Zoreth treated him like Rena would, if only she had something to teach him. Zoreth looked out for Lith like family whereas he was on the lookout for her like a liability.
He believed her affection was sincere but he couldn’t shake off the suspicions that her involvement in Vastor’s plans entailed. He would have loved to trust her, but the consequences of underestimating the Organization’s resources were still hanging at her neck.
***
Village of Haroq, Vomar barony.
A few hours and several Warps later Lith could put into practice Zoreth’s teachings. There was no need to enter a village or ask questions. They would get close enough to a settlement to scan it without entering its borders.
The Eyes’ range extended way farther than what a medium or large village covered. As soon as the reading came back negative, he informed the Shadow Dragon who would confirm his findings or ask for a small tour of the village.
Lith wondered if her accuracy was greater than the Eyes’ or if she was just doing it to hide the limits of their abilities but he said nothing and followed her lead.
‘She seems to pick up traces as well as us.’ Solus said. ‘That and Dragon Eyes truly make up for her limits. Too bad that there’s no such thing as the Nose of Menadion.’
‘And what should it do, exactly?’ Lith scoffed. ‘All the tools we’ve found so far were related to Forgemastery. You don’t sniff metals or mana crystals so there’s no point in having a Nose of Menadion.’
‘Then what are the Ears supposed to do, smartass? We don’t listen to metals or mana crystals either.’ She retorted.
