I Was Reborn as a Daddy in Another World

Katya - Part 2

Katya moved through the streets quickly and discreetly, managing to avoid the small groups of Terminus members who were seeking her. She ducked out of sight as a group of four sprinted across the street she was on, a few blocks down, and wondered if Vasson had awoken the entire guild to track her down.

He certainly wouldn't want to broadcast the nature of her sudden exit to the general populace, it was certainly not the kind of thing you'd want being spoken about your guild around town, so she was fairly certain he wouldn't involve the city guards. With that in mind, though she wasn't close with any of them, she still didn't relish the thought of having to cut down any of her guildmates, so she thought it best to keep to the shadows until she could reach her destination.

There was one place she knew that they could not follow her, at least not immediately, but getting there was a whole different story. Still, she had to keep moving.

She was only a few blocks from the plaza when she turned a corner and almost stumbled into a small group wearing the black and gold tabards that marked them as Terminus warriors, but managed to duck back around the corner before they'd realised she was there. She pressed her back to the wall as two of them spun around. Seeing nothing, they turned to one another.

"Did you hear something?" asked a tall man with a silver half-staff and forked beard.

"I thought so," replied his off-sider, a lean woman with bright red hair.

Katya recognised their voices, but couldn't remember their names. They were seasoned, though, senior members of the guild, sure to have been deep in preparation for the expedition the following morning when they were summoned to search for her.

"I can't believe this," sneered the woman, "we've got six hours until we're supposed to be heading down and we're hunting a big-noting child who's run away from home."

"She's done more than that," came the tall man's reply, "Way I heard it, if we can't find her we're not going anywhere tomorrow morning."

The woman spat on the ground and started to approach the corner, drawing a dagger from her belt and taking careful steps.

"Hey!"

Someone else called to them from off down the street, and the two searchers turned back to the others, spread out along the road.

"Any sign?" the voice enquired.

"Nah," the man replied, "Nothing down here."

"Alright," the voice came back, "Well let's keep moving, check any inns or taverns that are still open, she's got to have gone to ground somewhere."

The bearded man and the lean woman glanced at each other.

"Aye," chuckled the man, "I could check a tavern. Want to check a tavern?"

"I'm surprised we're not checking a tavern right now," the woman replied.

The two hurried off toward the rest of their group, and Katya breathed out a sigh of relief.

Good, she thought, if they're checking the inns, there'll be less of them on the streets.

With a quick glance around the corner, she ran across the street and continued along her way.

—

Katya started to relax as she cleared the last abandoned street before her goal. The groups had seemingly vanished, re-targeting their searches elsewhere, and she had a clear run to the plaza that held the entrance to the labyrinth.

She just had to make it around the next corner and the gates above the entrance would come into view. There were guards posted, but unless Vasson had alerted the entire city she wasn't expecting any trouble from them. She picked up speed, but only made it a few steps before sliding to a halt.