Technomancer: Genesis Chapter 28: Lead

Ezra quietly watched his surroundings carefully looking for an opening, he was looking for any misstep Catalyna did. It was a taxing task. Even though it did not require physical work it still made him very drowsy. His body was still a baby's and though he could take punches from a full grown male adult, his endurance was limited. Every so often he was forced to sleep due to drowsiness because of bodily requirements. Sleep after all promoted growth and his body demanded it of him, metabolizing food and fully processing it.

'This is such a drag, I need to get back immediately. Thankfully, Catalyna does not seem to be hostile else I would have been dead already. That still begs the question why would she kidnap a lordling?'

Catalyna and Ezra were located on the rooftop away from the eyes of the people below.

'Ezra, we are going to spend our time here in the rooftops till nightfall, then we shall flee from here.'

Ezra just looked at her as he was planning his escape. Over the course of two hours, he tried to condense his magic in various parts of his body but it the aura seemingly did not bend to his will. He tried and tried multiple times but it did not work. His plan was to try to condense as much magic as he could at a single point in order to tear the cloth that was wrapped around him. It was really strange when he tried to condense it was like mixing up the controls of your hand and feet with your neck and back. He tried to study if there was a pattern to this mixing of magic aura. He felt that it was static noise amidst the frequencies of a radio.

'Trial 3: Gather toward my left arm, right leg and navel all at the same time. Result: Magic concentrates in the bottom left of my left ankle '

'Trial 4: Gather toward my right arm, right leg and navel all at the same time. Result: Magic concentrates in the bottom left of my left shin then dissipates. . . '

'Trial 26: Gather toward my left pinky, left leg and navel all at the same time. Result: Magic concentrates in the bottom left of my right elbow then dissipates. '

'This isn't working I can't decipher the pattern fast enough so that I can break free before dark. I have to think of another plan.'

'Hmm, every part of my body is wrapped around the cloth. Why don't I use AMP since my face isn't covered? Will this work?'

Ezra tested and tried to activate AMP and see what would happen.

'Success. AMP works. Now how do I utilize this to my advantage? AMP can see the trajectories of different vector forces and I can use the normal distribution for possible alterations to movement. If I add chaos theory maybe the outcome will become more accurate.'

'I will only have a short window for this though, and I can't be too sure about the magic consumption of this. My previous tests have shown me that this would yield too high magic consumption but the most annoying this is that this body itself isn't stable so I can only hope for a more efficient magic consumption rate when I activate AMP later. I hate gambles. Well going by the normal distribution there is 42% chance of high magic efficiency so I just better try my luck.'

A concrete plan had started to form inside Ezra's mind that he could utilize at the next time they were on the move.

Catalyna noticed Ezra's struggling but did not really pay attention. In her mind, he was fulfilling his end of the bargain as he was not shouting or making any commotion. She still couldn't get over the fact that Ezra was so powerful. Even though she saw it with her eyes she still could not believe that an infant such as Ezra had the ability to control magic at an astounding level she had seen barons who had magic control much worse than this child also, his magic purity was on par with some Fire viscounts as well. But what really made her shudder was this little baby's magic capacity. When Ezra's magic was fully displayed, it was like standing in front of a Primarch though unlike the Primarch's it was much less overbearing. Ezra's aura was gentle and pure untainted by the greed for power, unlike those men. She couldn't even bear the thought of him maturing. He was definitely be going to be a Primarch in the future or even the Rex Imperia. His potential was more than enough to break the three-hundred-year reign of house Regaledeus.

'Good thing this kid can't do actual conjuring and incantations or else I'd be in trouble if he was awake. I would make sure that he was unconscious if that happened,' she thought as she involuntarily shuddered.

There was a loud bang. A door had burst open. Four guards lined up and the Captain had escorted Aerwyna inside the tavern.

"Listen, Citizens of Bren, Pardon us for this slight aberration from normal activities, " Sir Evan's voice was heard by everyone in a three-hundred-foot radius as it was amplified by magic,"This pertains to the abduction of our Lord Ezra Blackfyre. The little lord was kidnapped just before sunrise today. If anyone has information on his whereabouts he shall be duly rewarded. Normal activities shall commence upon finding Lord Ezra. "

There was murmuring everywhere. It was first thought that there were spies of arcanists in Bren that's why there was a lockdown and the Lady was determined to rat them out. The people did not expect that it was a much larger problem than that.

Aerwyna's stare was icy. She had a bad temperament at the moment. She was feeling a complex set of emotions. She was both outraged at Catalyna and angry at her self for not being by his side. She was also guilty that she could not protect Ezra, she had promised him this much. She loved her little boy from the very bottom of her heart and wished that she would be the one to be hurt in his stead if anything awful had happened.

The room was full of whispers

"Someone kidnapped the lordling? Are they sick in the head? I already pity the knave who dares lay his hands on Ashbringer's son, " a crooked-nosed man commented on the statement.

"Well, he ain't here ain't he. It's just Lady Aerwyna that's overseer, for now, Wayne" replied another fellow who had shabby clothes and reeked of strong alcohol.

"I reckon the bastard planned this. Oh, damn him. I wanted to drink a lot today," replied Wayne.

"I wish I knew something. I could use the money tomorrow. Anyway did you hear besides being a looker the Lady actually was a rival of Lord Reitz before?"

"What "

"Has anyone of you heard anything suspicious at all or seen a woman carrying a baby?" said Sir Evan as the conversation was drowned out by the volume of the question.

Aerwyna scrunched her eyebrows, this was the fourth tavern they had gone to. The first one where the information was found led to a dead end and nothing was suspicious was reported other than a woman exiting the castle. As for the exact position or general direction no one knew.

"M-milord, I just noticed as I was going to the tavern. I heard footsteps from the rooftops. This is was odd because I normally walk by that shop and I know that particular shop does not a have a way to get to the roof. "

Aerwyna's face suddenly brightened. This was a genuine lead. It was not the direction but the idea. She was so caught up in Ezra's predicament that she forgot to search the rooftops as well

"Where did you hear the footsteps?" Aerwyna asked.

"30 paces hence northeast of the tavern the shop is called Ablahega."

"Reward him. Let us set out immediately."

"Milady are you sure this lead seems vague? "

"It's not the location itself. He told us information we had overlooked. Catalyna is still in the inner city. It seems she will make a dash for the gates at night. "

"Hurry. I'll show that knave her place," Aerwyna declared as they stormed out of the tavern.

Chapter end