SAGE (under edit)

Chapter Thirteen

'This is getting ridiculous!'

'Well done, Rhun,' Theo drawled, 'I do believe all of Zone heard you that time.'

Rhun, his arms in the air with frustration, glowered at Theo.

It had been almost two weeks since the rescue squad had left Lion Crest in search of Sage, and four days since they witnessed the confrontation between Raidan Suragi and Blain Lexor. Rhun didn't know how long the Renark would let them continue searching for Sage, because eventually the Renark would have to call the mission off and order them back to Lion Crest for other duties. He felt the clock ticking at his back, counting down the moments until the Renark's order came through.

The Shadow Soldiers had obviously known the Crest squad would follow them, so it seemed as though they had taken a deliberate path through areas of dense, unmarked territory to throw them off.

And it was working.

Not only were the areas thick with forestry and hindering, uneven land, but they were regular travelling grounds for rogues and criminal syndicates. The road which civilians used to travel between regions was leagues away, and given it was unmarked territory Soldiers who might be travelling also didn't stray far from the road either unless their mission called for it; entering such areas was only asking for trouble, and while the Shadow Soldiers didn't have to worry about other gangs and rogues trying to hassle them the Crest Soldiers weren't so lucky.

They had been stalled incessantly, and though the rogues who engaged them were easy enough to handle it only added to their delay. On top of that, tracking the Shadow Soldiers through such territory with so many lingering Kyra markers was almost impossible. Rhun considered himself a pretty damn good tracker even without relying on Kyra markers, but with so much activity passing through the territory it was getting hard to distinguish which trail, which tread marks, belonged to the ones they were chasing.

'They passed through here on purpose,' Theo said, voicing Rhun's thoughts. 'They knew we would lose Sage's trail.'

'Bastards,' Rhun muttered.

'We're wasting time,' Chase declared, looking as exhausted as the rest of the squad felt. His tense expression only made his exhaustion more prominent.

Sydney, who was on her last thread of patience with Chase's moods, turned to him with hands on hips and said, 'So what do you propose we do?'

'Anything,' Chase snapped. 'We should go to the nearest town and ask around, like we've done before. It is better than standing here waiting for the next group of rogues to come across us.'

Sydney was about to snap right back, but Theo put a hand on her shoulder on said, 'As much as I hate to say this, but Suragi is right. We'll send a group to the nearest town once—'

Movement in the trees caught Theo off, and the squad instinctively braced for another rogue ambush.

'Calm down, it's just us!' came Calin's voice, right before he and Leah came into view.

Rhun blew out a breath with relief.

'We didn't think signalling you with our Kyra was a good idea, considering where we are,' Calin explained, picking a twig out of his hair.

'And sneaking up on us was a better idea?' Raven countered, brow quirking.

Calin shrugged in response.

'Please tell me you found something?' Rhun asked.

Leah and Calin had been sent out to scan a wider area of the territory, which Raven had done the same but from the other direction. She had returned with no success, so Rhun was trying not to get his hopes up.