Jade Mouse

Chapter 13

The back streets were nearly empty, likely due to the commotion in the tea shop, and it played in my favor. I cursed the fact that I didn't know these particular streets better, but this was the newer part of my territory. There was a certain sameness about the back streets and spaces between buildings though - rough sandy brick that had been scored and marred by decades of wind and rain.

Turning a corner, I saw the tiniest flutter of cloth disappearing around an uninteresting wall ahead and to my left. He'd definitely been faster when we were on the rooftops, and no longer appeared to possess any of the superhuman speed he'd displayed the night previous.

It occurred to me to wonder if he was still able to jump from rooftops and float softly to the ground.

I continued to run, feeling as though I were catching up.

Turning another corner, I caught a good long look at his quickly retreating form, some twenty yards distant, rags twitching back and forth in time to his frantic footfalls. He didn't have glowing eyes, but the rags were the same. Identical. Even a different color, I knew they were the same. Same rags, same posture, same in every way save for the fact that he didn't look like a wraith so much as a frightened, skinny kid.

But it was him. I had him.

The street we were running down did some creative winding to the left and right before turning abruptly, and he risked a quick wide-eyed look behind him with a flick of his head just as he was turning. His gaunt cheeks were flushed with effort, though blind panic could also have been a contributing factor. He looked scared, terrified..

He disappeared from view once more. Once more, I followed him around the corner and . . .

I stopped.

Chasing someone is very hard work if the person you're chasing is clever, or knows the area you're both running around in better than you do. The one doing the chasing needs to see through whatever deception is being thrown their way every single time an attempt is made to lose them. The one being pursued, on the other hand, only needs to successfully employ a diversion once in order to get away cleanly.

So as I stared down the empty street, I knew that this was the first of what might be many attempts to lose me.

Even considering how fleet-footed he'd seemed last night, the narrow alley was too long for him to have run all the way down it, judging from how far away he'd been moments ago. I quickly looked at the available items nearby.

There were a couple of boxes and some furniture that was past its prime, all huddled up against either side of the corridor as if out of deference, leaving exposed cobbles down the middle. None of the furniture looked sturdy enough to stand on, and nothing was large enough to hide someone, even someone as skinny as him.

A collection of brick fragments that had fallen away from the wall lay in an disorderly pile ahead and to my right, next to a plank that lay propped diagonally against the wall-

There was a hint of noise coming from the second floor ledge there.

Running towards the plank, I leaped up onto it and ran along its length to its highest point before jumping upward. I cleared the edge of the building wall, no more than seven feet high, but kept my arms out before me just in case I fell short and had to grab something. My boots scraped the sandy stone bricks along the very edge, and I pushed forward while keeping my balance, landing on the narrow ledge that served as a precarious walkway between various windows on the second story.

There was a scuffling noise. A fast moving shadow flitted around the corner to my left, catching my attention, and I tore along the wall after it.

As I flew past the windows I noticed they were all closed and of a type that would definitely make noise when closed in a hurry. He hadn't gone inside the building.