Chapter 611: The Convoy
Kael crossed the first hill in less than a second.
Celestial Step responded better than it had in the courtyard. There were no nearby walls, pillars, soldiers, or anything else requiring excessive care. Only open terrain, low rocks, scattered trees, and an old road cutting through the region toward the north. He used the first impulse to gain distance, the second to adjust his direction, and the third only when he felt his body completely aligned.
Each movement was short.
Precise.
Controlled.
He was not trying to cross kilometers at once. That was the difference between using the technique and allowing the technique to use him. During training, Kael had pursued maximum speed because he wanted to discover how far he could go. Now he had nothing to prove. He needed to get close enough without being noticed.
Umbra followed through the shadows.
She did not appear beside him at every stop. The open terrain made her movement more difficult, but every tree, rock, and depression in the ground offered some dark space for her to cross. Sometimes Kael saw only her eyes appearing beneath a root before vanishing again.
The mark on his arm pulsed at irregular intervals.
Kael paid attention.
It was not pain. It did not feel like an attempt at control either. It was closer to a reaction. Something ahead was producing a frequency similar to the structure that had touched his arm inside the palace chambers.
He used Celestial Step once more and stopped behind a rock formation.
Umbra appeared beside him.
"They are close."
Kael remained crouched, looking over the stone.
"How many shadows?"
"Many."
"That does not answer the question."
"Six main ones. One for each wagon. But there are others inside them."
Kael looked at the mark on his arm.
"Vessels."
"Perhaps."
"You cannot tell?"
"I can feel that they are holding something. I cannot tell whether it is alive."
Kael did not like that.
"Distance?"
Umbra tilted her head.
"Less than four kilometers."
He took out the small map Irelia had given him and opened it over the stone. The road passed down a long slope before reaching the valley. If they continued in that direction, the wagons would have to slow down at a narrow curve. It was the first point where Kael could observe the cargo without getting too close.
"We will go along the side."
Umbra looked at him.
"You are avoiding the road."
"If the shadows are watching the terrain, they will pay more attention to the direction the agents were following from."
"And ahead."
"Exactly."
Umbra smiled faintly.
"You are thinking."
Kael put the map away.
"Do not spread that around."
He began moving again.
This time, he used Celestial Step across shorter distances, jumping between rock formations and trees. The technique already felt different from what he had completed in the courtyard. There, the objective had been to disappear from sight. Now he needed to control where he reappeared, keep his body low, and reduce the disturbance in the air.
On the fourth movement, he made a mistake.
His right foot touched a slanted stone, and the accumulated pressure nearly threw his body forward. Kael turned his hips, placed one hand on the ground, and transformed the fall into a short roll behind a tree.
Umbra appeared on top of a branch.
"Elegant."
"I did not fall."
"Almost."
"That does not count."
"It counts for Liza."
Kael looked at her.
"You are not going to tell her."
Umbra did not answer.
"Umbra."
She disappeared into the tree’s shadow.
"Betrayal."
Kael took a deep breath and focused again. The technique was still new. Using it across irregular terrain required something the flat courtyard had not taught him. He needed to read the position of the next step before leaving the current one, calculate the slope, distance, resistance of the ground, and space required to stop.
All within a fraction of a second.
Liza had been right.
Fast movement was not fast combat.
And it was not efficient pursuit either.
Kael advanced again, now reducing the impulse slightly and using his own body to absorb the changes in the terrain. When he reached the final elevation before the curve, he lay down behind a broad rock and looked below.
The six wagons were there.
There were no horses.
They moved on their own, guided by dark lines extending from the wheels and attaching themselves to the shadows along the road. The structures were large, covered by black tarps tied down with thick ropes. No crest. No registration number. No commercial identification.
The central wagon emitted a faint glow beneath its tarp.
Leaking mana.
Kael narrowed his eyes.
"Can you get closer without being seen?"
Umbra appeared lying beside him.
"I can."
"Do not touch anything."
She looked at him.
"It is strange hearing that from you."
"I am learning."
Umbra dissolved into her own shadow and slid down the slope. Kael remained still, following the wagons. Their movement was too organized to be the result of a simple automatic enchantment. They maintained exact distances, adjusted their speed before curves, and seemed to react to the terrain.
Something was controlling them.
Kael closed his eyes for several seconds and expanded his mana perception.
At first, he felt only the leak from the central wagon. Then he found six smaller cores near the wheels. The energy was not purely vampiric, although it carried traces of blood. There was driving magic, shadow, and something resembling ritual memory.
Then he sensed people.
Not inside the wagons.
Beneath the road.
Kael opened his eyes.
"Umbra."
She reappeared beside him immediately.
"I felt them."
"How many?"
"Four."
"Underground."
"Yes."
Kael looked back toward the road. The wagons were approaching the curve, but four presences accompanied them through an underground network. Perhaps old mining tunnels. Perhaps a movement technique.
"These are not abandoned wagons."
"No."
"They are escorting them from below."
Umbra became serious.
"One of the presences noticed something."
"You?"
"Perhaps."
Kael made the decision before the situation could change.
"We move back fifty meters."
He used Celestial Step to retreat along the slope. Umbra entered a shadow and followed. The two stopped behind a lower formation, outside the direct line of the road.
Less than ten seconds later, a figure emerged from the ground.
He did not dig his way out.
The shadow beneath one of the wagons opened, and a man rose from it as though crossing through water. He wore gray clothing without armor and a smooth mask covering half his face. He remained on the road for several seconds, staring toward the elevation where Kael had been.
Kael watched from a distance.
The man raised one hand.
A small dark creature resembling a featherless bird emerged from his sleeve and flew toward the slope.
Umbra looked at Kael.
"It will search."
"Let it."
"It may find our trail."
"That is what I want."
She narrowed her eyes.
Kael pointed south.
"We will create a false trail. If he believes the agents are still following them, they may maintain the route."
"And if he sends someone after it?"
"Even better. We separate one of them."
Umbra smiled.
"Now this is becoming more interesting."
Kael moved first, deliberately allowing a little more mana to escape from Celestial Step. The air cracked, small stones were thrown backward, and a scarlet line remained for less than a second. He crossed the hill toward the south, imitating a hurried retreat.
Umbra followed through the shadow.
The dark creature saw him.
It turned immediately and followed.
Kael performed two more movements, then stopped inside an area with denser trees. There was enough shadow for Umbra to disappear completely and enough terrain for a brief fight without drawing attention from the road.
The creature flew between the branches.
Kael remained leaning against a trunk, visible.
The bird stopped in the air.
Its red eyes fixed on him.
"You are ugly," Kael said.
The creature opened its beak.
No sound emerged.
But Kael felt a magical communication being sent.
"Now."
Umbra appeared behind the bird and enclosed it between both hands. The creature tried to dissolve, but she closed its shadow around it, cutting off the transmission.
Kael waited.
Thirty seconds later, one underground presence moved away from the wagons.
One.
Coming toward them.
"It worked," Umbra said.
"Stay hidden."
"And you?"
"I am going to talk."
Umbra looked at him.
"You do not talk."
"Sometimes."
"Before or after breaking someone?"
Kael smiled.
"Depends on the answer."
The shadow between the trees opened.
The masked man emerged from the ground with a short blade in each hand. He did not appear surprised to find Kael. Perhaps he had recognized the scarlet mana. Perhaps the bird had transmitted enough before being captured.
"Kael Scarlet."
"Finally, someone uses my name."
The man looked around.
"Where is the umbral entity?"
"I do not know what you are talking about."
"She captured the observer."
Kael shrugged.
"Perhaps it flew into a tree."
The man did not react to the provocation. That already said something. He was not an ordinary mercenary. He had discipline and probably clear instructions.
Kael pointed toward the road.
"What is inside the wagons?"
"Step away."
"That did not answer the question."
"You should not be here."
"I have been hearing that a lot."
The man shifted his right foot slightly.
Kael noticed.
Preparation to enter the shadow.
He used Celestial Step first.
The man barely managed to lower his body. Kael appeared less than a meter away and struck the center of his chest with an open palm. He did not use enough force to kill him, but the pressure sent the masked man flying into a tree.
The trunk cracked.
The man fell to his knees, coughing.
Kael looked at his own hand.
"That worked better."
The enemy rose too quickly for someone struck that way. The shadow beneath his feet climbed along his legs, reinforcing his body. He threw one of the blades, not at Kael, but at the ground.
The weapon pierced Kael’s shadow.
Kael felt his feet lock in place.
The man advanced.
The second blade moved toward his neck.
Kael leaned aside, caught the opponent’s wrist, and realized Celestial Step was not responding. The shadow pinned by the first weapon was interfering with the initial impulse. Instead of forcing it, he twisted the man’s arm, drove his elbow into the masked face, and pulled the enemy closer.
"Good technique."
The man tried to open the shadow behind Kael.
Umbra emerged from it first.
Her hand seized the back of the masked man’s neck and slammed his face into the ground. The mask split in half.
"My shadow," she said.
The man still tried to react. Red lines appeared across his neck and arms, forming a seal similar to the one Kael had seen in the records. Energy began accumulating in his chest.
Kael recognized it.
"He is going to destroy the memory."
Umbra pushed her fingers into the man’s shadow.
"Hold the body."
Kael immobilized him against the ground, pressing one knee into his back. The opponent’s strength increased abruptly, fueled by blood and something trapped inside his mind. Kael had to increase the pressure to prevent him from rising.
"Do not kill him," Kael said.
"I am trying to separate it."
The man screamed.
Not from physical pain.
Umbra was pulling a dark thread attached to the inside of his shadow. Unlike what had been connected to Miren, this one did not seem parasitic. It was voluntary. A security seal connected to his memories.
Kael saw the moment the enemy realized he was going to lose.
"First Blood," he murmured.
The seal on his chest glowed.
Kael placed his marked hand over the symbol.
The reaction was immediate.
The mark on his arm ignited, but this time Kael did not pull back. He pushed his scarlet mana against the structure before it could close. The man’s energy tried to recognize Kael as part of the network, found the incomplete mark, and hesitated.
That was enough.
Umbra tore out the thread.
The seal went dark.
The man lost all strength and fell unconscious.
Kael took a deep breath, still kneeling over him.
"We did it."
Umbra looked at the dark thread in her hand.
"We obtained a key."
Kael stood.
"For what?"
"The wagons."
He looked toward the distant road.
The cargo remained in motion.
The other three underground presences had not left the formation. That meant they still did not know exactly what had happened.
Kael took out the crystal.
"Amelia."
The response came immediately.
"I am listening."
"We captured an escort. Alive. We found a voluntary seal connected to his memories, and Umbra tore a key from his shadow."
There was a brief silence.
"You attacked."
"He came to me."
"Kael."
"It was a clean capture."
Umbra looked at the unconscious man and the cracked tree.
"Almost clean."
Kael looked at her.
Amelia heard.
"Status of the wagons?"
"They are still heading toward the valley. Three escorts are moving beneath the road. The central cargo is leaking mana. Umbra believes the key may open or interrupt the shadow command."
Liza entered the communication.
"Do not touch the wagons."
"I know."
"We need the destination."
"I know that too."
Kael looked at the man on the ground.
"Send two agents through the portal to retrieve the prisoner. No vampiric symbols, and use memory containment. We are continuing."
Amelia replied:
"Position."
Kael gave her the coordinates using the points marked on Irelia’s map.
"You are taking control of the operation," Amelia observed.
"You told me to let loose."
This time, he heard a brief laugh from Irelia in the background.
Amelia exhaled.
"Continue following them. No direct attack until we have the destination."
"Understood."
Kael deactivated the crystal.
Umbra placed the dark key inside her own shadow, separate from the parasitic fragment she already carried. Then she looked at the unconscious man.
"Two minutes until the agents arrive."
Kael watched the road.
The wagons had entered the valley.
The glow of mana inside the central cargo was increasing.
"Something changed."
Umbra felt it as well.
"The cargo is waking up."
Kael narrowed his eyes.
Inside the central wagon, several points of mana began to appear. It was not merely one large object. There were dozens of vessels activating at the same time.
The mark on his arm pulsed violently.
An image crossed his mind.
Faces.
People trapped inside crystal surfaces.
Eyes open.
Mouths trying to speak without sound.
Kael gripped his own arm.
Umbra turned immediately.
"What did you see?"
"The vessels are not empty."
Her expression changed.
Kael took the crystal again.
"Amelia."
"Speak."
"They have already been filled."
The silence on the other side was complete.
Kael looked toward the valley, where the six wagons moved in a line while the mana beneath the tarps continued growing.
"There are people inside."
Liza answered first.
"Are you certain?"
"I saw through the mark. Memories or spirits. Perhaps the missing people."
Amelia needed only a second to change the plan.
"If the vessels are activated during transport, they may be preparing to destroy the cargo."
Kael agreed.
"Or use the victims as fuel."
He saw the shadows beneath the wagons expand.
The three underground presences began to rise.
They had noticed the loss of the fourth escort.
The time for silent pursuit was over.
Kael put away the crystal and looked at Umbra.
"Take the prisoner to the agents."
"No."
"Umbra."
"You are not going to face three of them and protect the wagons alone."
"I do not need to protect the wagons. I need to stop them from destroying them."
"That is the same thing."
Kael felt mana circulate through his body.
Celestial Step responded without delay.
"Then stay close."
Umbra smiled.
"Now that is better."
On the road below, three figures emerged from the shadows at the same time. One climbed onto the first wagon, another landed on the last, and the third appeared directly over the central cargo. The man in the middle raised both hands, and every seal on the tarps began glowing red.
Kael understood what he intended to do.
"They are going to erase everything."
The distance to the road was great. More than five hundred meters, descending an irregular slope and crossing part of the valley.
During training, he would have used several steps.
This time, Kael decided to trust the technique.
He lowered his center of gravity.
Aligned his hips.
Allowed the mana to reach his muscles, tendons, bones, and breathing at the same time.
No visible preparation.
No explosion.
Only intent.
"Umbra."
"I am here."
Kael disappeared.
The air opened in a line over the slope. Stones and leaves moved only after he had already crossed the valley. The first thing the man on top of the central wagon noticed was a hand closing around his wrist.
Kael appeared in front of him, perfectly balanced on the roof of the moving wagon.
The enemy’s eyes widened behind the mask.
Kael tightened his grip on the man’s arm before the seal could be activated.
"I found you."
Then he threw him off the wagon.