29 The Chase Part 1 (1/2)
Catalyna scurried about on the rooftops not willing to stay still in one place. She had decided to stay in the inner district where buildings were taller. It was true that the outer district was more populous but the homes there were shabby and they could not hide among the rooftops. She could have opted to hide among the people but this was risky as the people in Bren were loyal to the Lord and would most probably point her out if she was found out that she was with Ezra, plus with magic sensitives looking for her and the lockdown if she was seen roaming around, she would definitely be noticed in a matter of minutes.
She had deduced that Aerwyna would use the guards at the gate to start their inspection from the outside going in as it was more probable that she was looking for a way out of the city gate. In theory, she could jump over the walls and land outside that morning but the guards would automatically spot her in broad daylight and, considering that she did not have a means of transport outside the wall they would just overtake her. From her observation as well, the city wall guards had doubled and this was most definitely troublesome. While she had no problem of disposing of a few guards, human wave tactics would erode her stamina. If she did forcefully exit it was definitely only a matter of time before she was caught. The major problem was actually Aerwyna herself as she is a Duke Ranked mage close to Principality and Primarch Seat level. Thus her only option for the meantime was to stay in the inner district and hide while moving stealthily.
She observed the guards from down below and carefully hid her aura. Then she had felt as if someone was watching.
'Oh my, they have noticed me. I thought that I could buy more time. What terrible luck I have. It seems that they have brought out a few magic sensitives.'
Then suddenly two men sounded an alarm.
”The woman is here! The wet nurse and Lord Ezra have been located!”
Catalyna swiftly moved. Five guards blocked her path. They all bore lances which they pointed toward her.
”Halt! Surrender Lord Ezra now, woman,” bellowed the lead guard.
She did not even flinch or chant. She just condensed her magic and directed her palm toward the blocking guards and released a torrent of flame towards them. The five guards did not even have time to react.
The exposed parts of their flesh were burned black by the steady flowing fire. All that remained was their armour. She madly dashed to the north side of the wall, jumping and skipping on top of the roof.
'Damn it! I'm just biding time at this point. Aerwyna will definitely be on my tail very soon,' Catalyna thought.
Ezra was suddenly tense. This was his chance. He activated AMP the moment that the five guards blocked Catalyna. He was searching for an opening but did not see one at that moment.
'Speed seems like she is going an average of forty kilometres per hour. Potential energy doesn't give me accurate readings due to magical potential is unaccounted for. It seems like it just gets data from all the metrics of my previous life on earth. I can simply see the accurate velocity readings. It looks like I can only use this precisely if a body is in motion,' Ezra thought while concentrating on the silvery white text that was popping up on his vision.
Each jump gave him the data about the force Catalyna used to leap from building to building to. It showed him the direction of forces that were acting on her jump. Wind resistance, gravity, momentum, velocity. He was trying to use every useful equation he could think of.
Suddenly there were two guards chasing Catalyna on the rooftops. They were knights complete with plate mail and visor. They wore magic resistant armour.
'Hmm, what do I do?' Catalyna thought, 'I can't attack these guys, they won't die immediately. They will just swarm all over me if I'm caught.'