Chapter 3594 Misdirection (Part 1) Nalrond and the others left Gabash the following morning after thanking Jinx for her hospitality. Lith also offered the village head his contact rune in case the Awakened apprentices caused trouble. "I can't afford one of those communicator thingies, and our village is too small for the Kingdom to give me one for free. I'm sorry." Bor scratched his head in embarrassment. "I'll be back here in a couple of days, then." Lith said. "If these guys are still here or have interfered with your livelihood, I'll deal with them." "Thank you very much, Magus Verhen." Bor shook Lith's hand while glaring at the crowd of Awakened. "Your visit has been short, but it has been a blessing to Gabash. If you ever decide to return here for any reason, you and your friends will be our honored guests." "Don't mention it, and thank you for your offer." Lith nodded in reply. He and the rest of his group took flight, moving toward the closest medium-sized city. 'I don't like leaving those poor villagers alone.' Friya said via a mind link. 'What if the Awakened bully them in our absence?' 'Unlikely.' Protector replied. 'We reached Gabash over one week after the hunt began, and the village is still in one piece. If the Awakened wanted to use violence to interrogate the witnesses, they would have already done it. 'Remember that the Awakened have no solid evidence there was a real Rezar in Gabash. They are treating the issue like a wild goose chase.' 'Indeed.' Nalrond shuddered. 'The Awakened wouldn't have been so nice if they knew Salman lived in the village. Anyone who found a clue to find Salaman wouldn't have left behind anything that might help their competition. 'We wouldn't have found a single survivor, and Gabash would have been wiped out of the maps. What's our next move?' 'You are our resident Rezar, so that was supposed to be our question.' Solus replied. 'You should tell us what you would have done in Salman's shoes. Yet before that, we have to get rid of our tail.' 'Are they still following us?' Lith was unpleasantly surprised. 'How?' 'I don't have an answer.' Solus shrugged. 'No one left a mystical mark on us nor did the Awakened put something in our food, or the Eyes would have spotted it. Either one of the Awakened can smell us even from a great distance or they have a tracking device as well. 'They probably collected a hair, a bit of spit, or anything from one of us and use it as a medium for their artifact.' 'Ryman?' Lith asked. 'They can't track us by smell.' He telepathically shook his head. 'We are too distant and travelling this fast leaves behind a faint trace that fades in seconds. I've talked with many Emperor Beasts while working for Faluel, yet I've never met someone capable of doing something like this. It must be an artifact.' 'I agree.' Solus replied. 'The good news is that it should be much worse than the Eyes. Our tail always keeps about a kilometer between us. Enough to evade even your Tiamat eyes.' 'I wouldn't be so sure.' Friya pondered. 'Mages can use Warp Steps, and a tracking device that loses its mark after a single dimensional spell would be useless. I bet its range is much greater than one kilometer. 'That must be the minimum safe distance that also covers a Steps' average range.' 'Let's test your hypothesis.' Lith opened a Warp Steps leading toward their official destination. The group didn't rush in and kept flying forward as if they suspected nothing. 'Friya's right.' Solus said after a couple of seconds. 'They are still behind us. They Warped to our old position first and then opened a second Steps a kilometer behind us.' 'Can tracking devices have such range?' Lith's eyes narrowed. 'It's the first time I've encountered one, so I have no idea.' Friya telepathically shrugged. 'Yet consider this. While our Steps was open, our tail could follow our position through the spatial distortion. Maybe we could have lost them if we closed the Steps and quickly opened another…' 'But that would have revealed the Awakened we knew they are following us and triggered a full-blown chase.' Lith completed the phrase for her. 'Fine. Let's keep our façade.' Lith followed his 'plan' from the previous day and booked four rooms in the best hotel in Khidem. "Verhen really is a slacker!" Shala dared getting close to her marks only after their position remained fixed for half an hour. "According to a busboy I tipped, they ate half the restaurant and then went to the spa." "Can you blame him?" The handsome man asked. "There is nothing for him even if he succeeds, and Verhen found no trace of the alleged Rezar. Do you want to go in and take a closer look?" "No, Taren." She shook her head. "The Singing Dryad Hotel is almost empty. This is not like yesterday's restaurant. All Verhen needs is one look with Life Vision to recognize us and demand to know why we are following him." "How long do we have to stand here?" "Until lunch." She grunted. "I'm not going to stay in this stinky alley the whole day while they have the time of their lives." *** After another tip provided the two Awakened with the information that Lith's group had moved to their rooms for a nap and Shala's tracking device confirmed they hadn't moved for over an hour, she lost her patience. "This does it!" She snarled. "Fuck lunch. We're leaving now." "Now? Isn't that a bit soon?" Taren asked. "Yes, but so what?" Shala shrugged. "Are we really going to watch them sleep for hours? What if they don't wake up in time? What if they just order room service? Why should we starve while they feast?" "Calm down, Shala, and think." Taren grabbed her shoulders. "What if this is a trick? Maybe Verhen suspects someone is following him, and this is just a ruse to get rid of us." "How should he know?" She scoffed. "We are the ones with my master's tracking device and it's one of a kind. Only a handful of Awakened on the entire Mogar have one. Verhen probably doesn't even know they exist. "On top of that, after we collected one of his hairs yesterday, we always followed him from a safe distance and wore cloaking devices while tailing him. There's no way he could have noticed our presence." Taren had no answer and Shala's next line of reasoning sealed the deal. "Also, consider this. Everyone knows how stingy Verhen is. Would he go to a four star hotel just to get rid of us? You heard the busboys. He's paying for himself, his hot cousin, and his Skoll friend." "Yeah. Just the restaurant bill almost gave him a stroke." Taren chuckled at the memory of the busboy's shocked expression as he recounted the event. "And now he booked three Royal Suites and spa treatments for the next two days." Shala nodded. "He's here to stay, which means we have to leave." Taren opened a Warp Steps leading toward Gabash. *** "They just left." Friya wore one of the Monocles of Menadion as she stared in the direction of the two Awakened. "They are headed back to Gabash."