Stalking on a Narrow Road

Jack and Erik spent the entire morning perusing various shops. In each and every one Erik was pestered and incited into purchasing their most expensive products. Jack, on the other hand, was somewhat disappointed that they weren't able to come across more treasures. He knew he was being overly greedy, but his expectations had been raised from finding the nine-life sunflower.

Nonetheless, in every shop they went, Erik ended up buying something different (all of which was funded by Jadelere's purse). This was at the behest of Jack who fully understood how the market works. In other words, even though the few herb shops were under the control of the Calles family, they still vied for potential customers amongst themselves to outperform each other and earn better standing in the eyes of the Calles family.

With a scholar having come to Groamburk and who had purchased products from all of their stores, they would work twice as hard to please him and gain his trust when he came back.

This way, Jack was killing two birds with one stone. First, ensuring a stable source of herbs for his alchemical studies. Second, he could conceal the rare herb he'd gotten his hands on.

Despite his befuddlement, Erik made no comment as to the day's activities nor did he try to offer any advice to Jack when choosing herbs. The only thing he did was act as a suitable decoy.

After having scoped every shop in the plaza, Jack determined it was time to go back home. Erik agreed and so they began making their way back to the Hare manor. Jack was an incredibly good mood and so he hummed a song his mother had taught him on the way. Erik found the sight amusing and puzzling at the same time, struggling to reconcile the martial genius that was Jack with the happy boy in front of him.

A few streets away from the plaza, however, Jack suddenly stopped humming and froze in place.

The change was so sudden that Erik kept going forward a few steps before he noticed it. He turned around and looked quizzically at Jack. "Young master Hare, is everything alright?"

Jack turned his head to face Erik and Erik felt his heart skip a beat. Jack's eyes had gone cold, far too cold for a child. "It's alright." He said in an eerily calm voice. "I just noticed something that needs my attention."

"Excuse me?" Erik thought he must have imagined it because Jack quickly regained his usual demeanour.

"Yes." Said Jack as an explanation before turning to walk towards a nearby alley. "Don't worry, I'll see you back at the manor."

With those words as a final farewell, Jack disappeared behind a corner. Erik ran to follow him and was behind the boy by just a few seconds; but it was still too late. By the time he turned the same corner, Jack was nowhere to be seen.

--

Jack was scurrying across the rooftops of Groamburk as best as he could to keep himself from being spotted. Shadow steps was being used at its fullest potential so that he could jump from one rooftop to the next as swiftly and silently as possible, always crouching and moving with the swiftness of a genuine shadow.

The reason he'd darted off so suddenly from Erik and risked exposing himself was because he'd noticed something with his spiritual sense that deeply disturbed him. Something that had almost caused him to burst forth with killing intent.

He felt a man pushing a wheel-barrow between the narrow alleyways of Groamburk. A wheel-barrow which was carrying what could only be described as the mangled corpse of a child.

The marauder was pushing his gruesome cargo very carefully to not attract any prying eyes and he was moving in a manner that showed he was experienced in this activity. At first, Jack had only sighed silently in his heart and cursed fate for that poor child's demise.

But then he noticed that the general shape of the mangled body was familiar to him, and Jack's entire being froze on the spot; a terrible thought birthing in his mind.

That was why Jack was following the man whilst hiding in the shadows of Groamburk's uneven rooftops. That was why he was putting his cover at risk of being blown.

But he didn't care.

If he was exposed because of this, then so be it. He would face whatever came next head-on.

Jack poured his spiritual sense and observed the man in his entirety, taking in every detail and using it to devise an adequate strategy. The marauder was relatively corpulent, but sufficiently thin to nimbly navigate the treacherously confusing alleyways of Groamburk without knocking things over, which he did with admirable efficiency and surprising degree of sneakiness.

He wore a heavy cloak that covered his features completely but Jack saw that he carried a slight bit more of weight on his left leg, a sign he surmised meant that the man carried a weapon on his persona; and his right shoulder seemed burdened by a cumbersome object with a cross-like shape. It was either a war hammer or a crossbow; Jack's guess was on the latter.

The man must have felt something from Jack's probing because he suddenly stopped, darted to the side, and placed his back against the wall whilst he drew a dangerously curved hidden blade from within his clothing, and he looked towards both ends of the alley like a cornered animal.

From the speed of his movements and the practiced motion with which he'd drawn the blade, Jack deduced that the marauder was at least in the early Foundation realm. Jack would need to use Absolute Vision to know for certain, but he was still too far away from the man. However, he was certain that he would eventually get close enough.

The marauder's eyes darted from one side to the other of the narrow path, carefully examining the shadows for any sign, any indication, that he was being followed. Jack could only silently praise him for being able to notice that he was being watched but he disdained that the man had looked to either side without bothering to check the rooftops. After all, Jack was directly above him.

Even if the man looked up, though, all he would see would be shadows and bird shit. He would never be able to find Jack.

For a few minutes, the man just stood there, completely immobile. Then, he mumbled something to himself: "Must have been my imagination…" He sheathed the blade and continued to push the wheel-barrow down the dark alley path.

An untrained eye might think that the marauder had genuinely relaxed and was continuing on his way. Jack, on the other hand, noticed the subtle signs that showed that the marauder was still very much on extremely high alert. His movements had become more furtive, restless even, and his head was tilted to the side in a manner that showed he was paying very close attention to any sound around him.

Jack clicked his tongue quietly and accepted the challenge.

He began using shadow steps with even greater frequency, always making sure to land on the next rooftop carefully to not cause any sound, just beneath the bannister and always hidden right above the marauder's head, at an angle which allowed him to keep at completely at the marauder's blind spot. Furthermore, he pulled back his spiritual sense and only used his eyes to follow the man in order to remain completely undetected.

The marauder kept on with his silent trek for another quarter of an hour before he arrived at an intersection of three alleys in the middle of which sat a large drain-like orifice. The man lifted up the metal rail which covered its entrance and carefully placed it to the side.

This was when Jack decided to strike.

The marauder heard a sound from his upper right direction. He had been expecting someone to attack and so he reacted quickly by pulling out a large repeating crossbow from over his shoulder with a fluid motion. He fired three poison coated bolts in the direction of the sound which left the crossbow almost instantly.

The bolts flew out with breath-taking speed and with pristine accuracy towards the origin of the sound in a way that couldn't possibly be dodged by anyone unless they had an awe-inspiring cultivation. The marauder smiled evilly for a fraction of a second before he heard each bolt impale itself in the stone wall with a hard 'thud'.

There was nothing there.

He suddenly felt a chilling sensation behind him and attempted to spin around to attack the person that had just appeared at his back.

But it was already too late.

Jack had been an extremely experienced assassin during his first lifetime and knew instantly that the marauder was still wary of anyone trailing him and would thus be on high alert, particularly when arriving at the drain. As such, he threw a small stone towards the opposite wall, drawing away the man's attention and giving him an opportunity to attack from the marauder's back.

Furthermore, he'd been revolving hi qi charging up the Exploding Fist as he moved across the rooftops in order to have it ready to explode forth when he struck.

Jack kicked at the side of the marauder's knee with a powerful leg sweep. His strike was charged with so much explosive strength, added to his already powerful body, that Jack's kick blasted through the marauder's knee as if it were a taekwondo board and still carried enough power to connect with the man's other leg, splintering its femur in the process.

The marauder toppled to the side as his mind was immediately clouded by pain. His brain couldn't even register the fact that he was falling, nor did he have the time to scream. Jack would never give him the opportunity. As the man fell to the side, he followed by piercing the marauder at the back of the neck with his finger, right were the vertebrae connected with the head.

Jack's finger strike severed the man's life instantly. He died silently and without ever knowing what happened.

Jack let out the breath of air he'd been holding in – not out of nervousness, but because he didn't want his opponent to see through his ruse because of his breathing – and looked down onto the dead body in front of him.

The marauder's hood had fallen back, revealing a slender and malicious looking face which was missing a few teeth and had a strange sinewy scar beneath his chin. All tell-tale signs of a long history struggling with substance-abuse as well as a penchant for violence. The man's way of moving was indicative of him having had experience with gritty brawls and killing.

Besides that, there was a necklace around the body's neck which Jack took for himself. It was a symbol of a winged snake on top of the setting Sun.

He didn't recognise it.

Next, he checked the man's pockets but didn't find anything of value or that could shed some light on the man's identity. Truth be told, Jack didn't care.

Even though it was the first time he'd killed someone in this lifetime of his, it came easily to him; in fact, he didn't feel the slightest discomfort. To Jack, killing was akin to sweeping the dirt on the road, a task that needed to be done. That's all there was to it.

What he did feel strongly about was the final task he had in front of him.