Another of the Island’s streets had a row of trees planted down the middle of the two-lane thoroughfare. Sophie had been hidden in the upper branches of one of the trees since before dawn. She was dressed in shades of dark green to blend into the foliage. The clothing was the ideal balance of fitted and loose to provide optimum mobility, but their protective value suffered somewhat.
When she saw the flare rise into the sky, Sophie took off the spectacles that allowed her to see it and put them in a case, which she returned to a pocket. Shortly after, a wagon passed under the branch she was perched on and she dropped down behind it, barely making a sound as she landed in a crouch on the street. She moved swiftly, clambering over the back of the covered wagon. It was filled with metal crates, just as promised, and she quickly found the one with the markings she was looking for. When she grabbed it, though, a rune appeared and explosive force blasted her out the back of the wagon as it activated.
She rolled on the ground, head spinning. By the time she recovered, the wagon had stopped and the two men on it had gotten off and were rushing towards her. She hopped quickly to her feet just as the first one reached her. She lashed out with a series of attacks but every move in her flurry of blows was blocked. He looked as surprised as she felt.
“You fight like me,” he said.
She didn't respond and resumed her attack. She had never met anyone who knew her father's fighting style before, but she adapted quickly. After a rapid exchange, she winded him with a palm strike to the torso and sent him tumbling with a kick to the side of the head.
She was moving before he hit the ground, sprinting for the wall of a nearby property. She zigzagged her movement, not presenting an easy shot, which proved wise as a bolt of magic shot past her. A glowing rune appeared in her path and she neatly side-stepped it, almost having reached the wall. Behind her, she heard a spell being chanted.
“Carry the mark of your transgressions.”
Sophie felt a burning on the side of her face but didn't let it slow her down. She reached the wall and ran up it as if it were flat ground. Reaching the top, she pulled herself over and out of sight.
103
Silver Hair
Sophie vaulted a wall from one private residence into another, sprinting across the grounds. She did this twice more, avoiding public streets and the people on them. Finally, she ducked into a large brick shed full of landscaping supplies.
Jason chased after Sophie, relying not on his eyes but his aura sense. One of the afflictions he marked her with made her aura radiate like a beacon.
[Mark of Sin] (affliction, holy): Prevents aura retraction. Cannot be cleansed while target retains any instances of [Sin] or [Legacy of Sin].
Using weight-reduction to vault walls, he pursued until her aura suddenly vanished. He didn’t have an exact lock on her location, so was forced to start searching around.
“Excuse me!” an affronted voice came in Jason’s direction. He flashed his adventurer badge to the angry resident.
“Adventure Society business, sir.”
“Is this to do with the person who just ran across my lawn?”
“It certainly is,” Jason said. “I don’t suppose you could point out the direction they went?”
“Gladly,” the man said.
“What’s that on your face?” Belinda asked. She had cleared a space on a bench in the shed, now covered in magical tools.
“Not sure,” Sophie said. “Some kind of tracking magic, probably.”
Belinda moved close to examine it. It looked like a word from a symbolic language she didn’t know. She picked up a thin metal rod, waving it in front of Sophie's face.
“Not tracking,” she said, swapping the rod for a small plate made up of crystal fragments. She looked at what appeared when she held it in front of Sophie.
“It looks like it forcibly projects your aura,” Belinda said. “Not as bad as a tracker, but I don't have anything here that can deal with it, the way I could with tracking magic. With this, aura masking won’t work and disguises won’t be much better. You’ll stick out like a turd in a punch bowl to anyone with aura sense.”
“Good thing we’re here on the Island, where all the people with aura senses are.”
“The protection I set up in here will hide your aura so long as you’re in this shed, but you can’t stay here. The usual trick of blending into the crowd won’t work with your aura like that.”
“Any good news?” Sophie asked.
“Unlike a tracker, you can only be followed so long as you remain within their aura sense. If you can outrun them and get to our fallback point, we can take our time with whatever that thing is affecting your aura. And no one can run like you.”
Sophie nodded, regret on her face.
“I didn’t get it,” she said.
Belinda put a reassuring hand on Sophie’s shoulder.
“One step at a time. We can work on what comes next after we get ourselves out of this mess. Now, you need to go.”
“You need to be careful too.”
“My aura isn't shining like a beacon in the night, remember? You play distraction and I’ll slip away.”
“Bloody hell, she’s fast.”
Jason had sensed it the moment the thief’s aura re-emerged, and he immediately gave chase. He caught sight of her sprinting through other people’s properties. They were in the north marina district, which had the Broadstreet Bridge to Old City, marinas on the Island’s eastern shore and was otherwise mostly private residences.
The thief moved incredibly fast on the ground, the walls and hedges barely slowing her down. Her mottled green clothing covered her entirely, with even her head wrapped up like a ninja. If he didn’t have her aura to track, she could probably vanish into one of the gardens she was passing through.
He was unable to match her speed. It the end he resorted to a desperation move. The bright sun cast large shadows from the uniformly big houses. This allowed Jason to shadow jump into the air, three storeys up, next to a wall. Spotting the thief, he teleported to the shadow of the next building, then the next. With the combination of weight reduced-floating and shadow teleporting, he pursued in something of an awkward flight.
The thief was making a beeline for the marina. She crossed the busy esplanade at a sprint, startling passers-by. Jason teleported onto the covered balcony of the yacht club, but it was the last of the easy shadows. He watched the thief pelt down the pier faster than he could match, until she reached the end and vaulted onto the water. She landed on the surface like it was solid ground and kept running.
Jason could likewise walk on water, but by the time he chased her across to Old City, her speed would have left him behind. He ran to the edge of the balcony and looked around for options.
“Well, there’s that,” he told himself.
Using the parkour skills Gary had taught him, he jumped out to grab the edge of the roof and pull himself on top of the building. He was grateful for the ostentatious size of the four-story yacht club, which gave him a high vantage. He glanced down at the figure sprinting across the water, then up at the opposite shore, some two kilometres distant.
When he was still training, he had conducted various long-distance teleporting experiments. The key seemed to be seeing a shadow to teleport to. Teleporting to the shadow of a large, distant object didn't work, as his ability required a more discreet shadow to use as a portal. He tried magnifying items to pick out a distant shadow, but viewing through these magical devices made him unable to form a connection with the distant shadow.