SAGE (under edit)

Chapter Twenty

Rhun was restless. He tapped his foot against the cobblestone streets while he waited with Chase and Leon, the bland buildings of Sky Expanse's Sector Four surrounding them. Leah and Theo had gone ahead to investigate the town, Leah using her Kyra to track Sage and the Shadow Soldiers.

There was an anxiousness in Rhun's gut, the sort of anxiousness that could only be caused by a strong sense of time running out. Rhun wasn't sure which made him more nervous, if it was the fear of coming all this way only to find Sage wasn't here, or that any moment the Renark could order them to abandon the rescue mission and return home. But he could feel time ticking away, each beat bringing them closer to a conclusion Rhun wasn't sure he wanted. Why couldn't he shake this dread?

A hand pressed into Rhun's shoulder, pulling him from his thoughts. He looked back to find Leon standing behind him, a knowing look in his eyes. Leon squeezed Rhun's shoulder briefly, as if he could offer some wordless reassurance, and Rhun felt a little guilty.

Of everyone on this rescue mission, it was Leon who was suffering the moment.

Rhun offered a tight smile to Leon in response right before Chase grabbed their attention with a quick whistle. Rhun and Leon turned to where Chase stood at the opposite end of the short laneway they had been waiting in and found Theo and Leah had returned, though their expressions were unreadable. Rhun had silently hoped he would see something on their faces that offered encouragement.

'The Shadow Soldiers are definitely here,' Leah said softly. 'Two of them, anyway. If the others are here they're concealing their Kyra.'

'Which two?' Leon asked.

'Blain Lexor and Karus Dorohan,' answered Theo. 'Leah noticed hints of many Kyra markers entering and exiting one particular building, too. It seems industrial so it doesn't make sense why there would be so much Kyra lingering but if there are Soldiers currently inside then their markers are being concealed as well.'

'Anyone else find this place a little unsettling?' Rhun asked, trying to instil some humour into his voice.

He had sensed a strangeness to Sector Four the moment they entered its streets. Why were the streets so quiet? It wasn't even dusk yet, but Rhun had only spotted a few factory workers moving between buildings. Rhun knew Sector Four didn't have a high residential population, but the industrial workers still had families who lived with them. Shouldn't there at least be restaurants opening in readiness for a dinner rush? Or students returning home from school?

'This is not the Sector Four I remember,' Leon said in agreement.

Theo pinched the bridge of his nose, loosing a weary sigh. 'Why do I feel like we're about to get involved in something well above my paygrade?'

Leon's lopsided smile wasn't as wide or as easy as it usually was, but it offered the same reassurance as his hand on Rhun's shoulder had.

'Let's just focus on finding Sage,' Leon suggested. 'The rest we can let the Renark deal with.'

Under the normal circumstances of a retrieval mission for a missing Soldier, Rhun knew Theo would have sought assistance from Sky Soldiers or, at the very least, whoever was in Sector Four as a representative to Sky Expanse's Renark. But as they had approached Sky Expanse, Theo's instinct was to enter Sector Four without announcing their presence to the Sky Soldier patrols.

Now, Rhun knew Theo's instincts had been right. But whatever may have been going on with Sector Four was secondary to rescuing Sage.

'All right,' Theo started decisively, 'we need a plan. The factory Leah found is our only option at this point, which means we need to get a better look at it. Chase and Leon, you two—'