SAGE (under edit)

Chapter Eight

As Chase Suragi raced through the streets of a small, ramshackle town he prayed they weren't too late. Images from last night's nightmare were burned against the back of Chase's mind, and even as the stone houses and packed-earth streets flew past him he couldn't stop seeing the night of Dean's death, except it was Sage's body that Raidan stood over.

Shaking it off once more, Chase came to a jarring stop just in time to avoid barrelling into Leah who appeared from the mouth of an intersecting alley.

'Are they here?' Chase demanded, his heart pounding inside his chest.

'This way,' said Leah, and she gestured for him to follow as she broke out into a run again.

By the time the Crest Soldiers had arrived at the site of Sage's abduction the storm had washed away most of what Rhun could have used to track Sage and the Shadow Soldiers. Raven, a tracker as well but through the use of Kyra sensing, had along with Leah picked up remnants of Sage's Kyra that they followed to the unmarked territory between Lion Crest and Sky Expanse. Eventually, though, that trail went cold too.

Raven suspected the Shadow Soldiers had suppressed Sage's Kyra and with their own Markers hidden they had very little to follow. So, instead, Chase and a few others from the squad had been sent to a nearby town within the unmarked territory to find any information about recent Shadow Soldiers sighting in the hope it would give them a clue of which direction they had been heading in after taking Sage.

They had gotten lucky. While Chase and Sydney had scoped out a local tavern, known to have criminal affiliations, one of the patrons had overheard their line of questioning and made a quick exit from the tavern which Chase had noticed.

Chase had caught the man before he could get away, revealing that he was a rogue from Radiant Hills. After some persuasion he declared that the Shadow Soldiers were expected to arrive in a town called Calder further north to meet with one of their information brokers. He had no knowledge of an abducted Crest Soldier, but it was enough of a lead for the rescue squad to follow.

After arriving at Calder the rescue squad had split up, one half scoping out the perimeter of the town while the other half entered to locate the Shadow Soldiers. Or, if they were too late to catch them, find another lead to follow.

'Raven caught Raidan's Kyra marker not too long ago near the centre of the town,' Leah told him as they ran. 'They're at an inn. She's keeping watch in case they come out.'

'They must not feel threatened here if they're revealing their Kyra,' Chase surmised. 'Any sign of Sage?'

Leah shook her head. 'Neither Raven or I have sensed her marker nearby.'

That didn't mean she wasn't here, though. If Sage had been drugged with an inhibitor then her Kyra marker would be undetectable.

Despite Calder being such a small town, it was bustling courtesy of the lunch hour. The alley Chase and Leah sprinted through was wide enough that locals milled about, flitting behind the doors of neighbouring buildings or lingering against the stone walls while they conversed. Since Calder was a town not governed by any of the regions, the locals were quick to stop and gape at two Crest Soldiers sprinting past.

Independent towns like Calder were all over Zone, but only within the unmarked territory that fell outside region boundaries and therefore outside region jurisdiction. They had their own leadership, from mayors to governors and small councils, but being in the unmarked territory meant they didn't have the automatic protection of any region unless they paid for it.

And criminals like the Shadow Soldiers could pass through without much concern.

They reached the town centre, finding Leon at the mouth of the alley. He cast them a brief glance over his shoulder in greeting and then pointed toward a building on the opposite side of the town centre.