Chương 140: Apparently, They Were the Bait

By the end of their second day beyond the ruined fortress, the landscape had become unfamiliar enough that Sieghart stopped relying upon roads entirely. Ronan guided them through wooded ridges, dry streambeds, and narrow ravines where Chimerian patrols could not easily see movement from the settlements scattered across the valleys.

Sieghart maintained Phantom Image whenever they crossed exposed ground, while Enhanced Smell remained active at low intensity whenever the wind threatened to carry something dangerous toward them. The spell had become increasingly useful during the journey, although Sieghart still disliked discovering exactly how many unpleasant things existed within smelling distance.

Late in the afternoon, Sieghart stopped beside a moss-covered boulder and raised one hand toward Ronan, signaling him to remain still before the agent could ask anything. Another scent lingered beneath the forest, faint enough to resemble an unfamiliar animal at first, yet lacking fur, blood, alchemical chemicals, and the Chimerian musk surrounding everything else.

More importantly, it smelled comparatively clean and unmistakably human, something increasingly unusual after two days spent traveling through territory saturated with modified bodies and biological waste. Sieghart strengthened Enhanced Smell carefully and turned toward the northern slope, separating damp leaves, stone, Ronan, distant smoke, old animal traces, and several unpleasant things better ignored.

The unfamiliar scent appeared again, reminding Sieghart of something he had noticed inside Lunar Arc whenever entering Mira's office after she spent hours buried beneath paperwork.

"I think Mira is nearby." Ronan immediately stopped scanning the trail and looked toward him, his casual expression disappearing beneath the focused seriousness he used whenever something actually mattered.

"You're sure?"

"Not completely." Sieghart inhaled again while controlling the spell carefully enough that the forest did not become an overwhelming mixture of dirt, insects, plants, and old animal waste.

"It smells human, and it's familiar." Ronan crouched beside the trail and examined several broken branches while Sieghart continued following the faint scent through the shifting wind. After several seconds, Ronan nodded and pointed toward a narrow valley beyond the trees, where smoke occasionally appeared between distant branches before disappearing again.

"She should be somewhere around here."

"You knew?"

"I knew her last position." Ronan kept pointing toward the valley while studying the wind, clearly more concerned by Mira's continued silence than relieved by confirmation that she remained nearby.

"If she's still here, something is keeping her from contacting us." Sieghart considered the statement while following the faint human scent again, noticing that it disappeared whenever the wind shifted toward the same valley. That pattern suggested Mira was intentionally remaining downwind from whatever occupied the area ahead instead of simply wandering through the surrounding territory.

"There's probably another camp."

"That would be my guess." They continued more slowly, abandoning the trail and moving through dense undergrowth where poor visibility allowed them to reduce Phantom Image without exposing themselves immediately. Sieghart detected Chimerian scents before seeing anyone, forcing them to wait several times while patrols crossed unseen through trees somewhere beyond their position.

Alchemical odors gradually strengthened as well, mixing smoke, blood, cooked food, medicinal herbs, preservatives, and something acidic enough to irritate Sieghart's enhanced nose. Eventually, Ronan climbed a low ridge and lowered himself behind several bushes, motioning for Sieghart to join him without allowing either silhouette above the leaves. The settlement spread across the valley below, much larger than any temporary camp but still too small and poorly fortified to qualify as a proper town.

Hundreds of structures surrounded broad dirt roads, including wooden houses, stone workshops, bone-supported shelters, animal pens, warehouses, laboratories, and several buildings made from materials Sieghart could not identify. Chimerians moved throughout the settlement performing ordinary work despite their abnormal bodies, carrying water, repairing roofs, preparing food, sharpening weapons, and moving crates between buildings.

One four-legged woman pulled a cart while arguing with a scaled man carrying baskets, their conversation looking completely ordinary despite both resembling rejected laboratory experiments. Children ran between structures as well, some mostly human while others possessed tails, horns, claws, additional eyes, patches of fur, or inherited alterations Sieghart could not name.

The strongest buildings stood near the settlement center instead of its perimeter, suggesting the Chimerians trusted modified inhabitants more than walls to stop serious attackers. Enhanced Smell revealed something worse beneath the ordinary activity, because concentrated decay saturated the valley underneath preservatives, smoke, herbs, chemicals, and the metallic odor of alchemical work.

Sieghart weakened the spell before nausea became another tactical problem, yet the smell of death remained strong enough that ordinary senses still noticed it.

"There's a lot of death down there." Ronan studied the central buildings through a small collapsible lens, moving slowly enough that reflected light would not reveal their position from the valley.

"Operations."

"That much?"

"Probably failures, harvested parts, preserved donors, and whatever they keep for experiments." Several structures near the settlement center released thick white smoke carrying enough chemical odor that Sieghart could detect them even after weakening Enhanced Smell considerably. Those buildings were probably laboratories, slaughterhouses, or some unpleasant combination of both, since the Chimerians did not appear interested in separating research from harvesting bodies.

Sieghart searched the settlement for Mira but saw nobody resembling her, even after watching roads, rooftops, alleys, and nearby hills for several minutes. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Can you contact her?"

"Only if she wants contact."

"You can't send anything?"

"I can try." Ronan touched two fingers against his temple and closed his eyes, remaining completely still while several seconds passed without any visible magical reaction. When nothing happened, he lowered his hand and continued watching the settlement, his expression making it clear that silence itself had provided information.

"She's not answering."

"Why?" Ronan remained quiet long enough that Sieghart dismissed ordinary distance as the explanation, because the agent clearly possessed a less comfortable possibility.

"She doesn't want them finding her."

"Through Telepathy?"

"Possibly." Ronan explained that some Chimerians deliberately modified brains, sensory organs, and mana pathways to detect mental contact, magical communication, or unusual psychic activity nearby. A single message could reveal direction, distance, or enough magical signature for specialized trackers to begin searching surrounding terrain for whoever transmitted it.

"So she stays silent."

"If she's hidden nearby, yes." Sieghart crossed his arms beneath the ridge and looked toward hundreds of Chimerians below, suddenly finding Mira's refusal to communicate considerably less mysterious.

"Then how are we supposed to know what she's planning?"

"We aren't." That answer made Sieghart stare at Ronan, whose uncomfortable expression immediately suggested another part of the situation had remained deliberately unmentioned until now.

"She knows I would follow."

"That doesn't answer anything."

"She also knows how I work." Sieghart glanced toward the camp again, where several patrols regularly departed the settlement and vanished into surrounding hills before different groups replaced them. If Mira remained nearby while refusing communication, then she preserved one advantage the Chimerians could not easily remove through capture, interrogation, or magical surveillance.

The enemy might know she was somewhere nearby, yet nobody could predict her exact location, route, objective, or intended moment of attack.

"So we act independently." Ronan nodded while continuing to study the settlement through his small lens, apparently having reached the same conclusion long before Sieghart.

"As long as we don't know what she's planning, nobody can pull that information from us either." Sieghart's expression flattened as the obvious consequence finally became impossible to phrase politely, especially once he considered why Mira had given Ronan coordinates.

"So she wants to use us as bait." Ronan winced and glanced toward the settlement, as though hoping the distant Chimerians might somehow provide a better description for their role.

"When you say it like that…"

"How else should I say it?"

"Independent distraction force?"

"Bait with extra words." Ronan released a long sigh and returned his attention toward the settlement, apparently deciding there was no respectable wording capable of improving the arrangement. If they caused trouble openly, Chimerian attention would move south toward them while Mira remained hidden somewhere beyond the settlement with her intentions completely unknown.

The Chimerians could capture Ronan, interrogate him, probe his thoughts somehow, or dissect Sieghart, yet neither could reveal a plan they genuinely did not know. Sieghart understood why Mira would use the approach, especially when the captive mattered personally enough that she could not afford enemies predicting her movements. Still, sending coordinates while refusing contact meant she had probably expected Ronan to recognize the situation and create an opportunity without additional instructions.

"She must be against the wall."

"That sounds dramatic." Ronan explained that Mira normally preferred several layers of information, multiple escape routes, and enough preparation to avoid depending upon unpredictable people improvising near her objective. If she accepted Ronan creating chaos while she operated independently, safer plans had probably already failed or become impossible without endangering the captive.

"She wants him back badly."

"He's family."

"Distant family."

"That apparently doesn't matter." Ronan nodded slowly while watching the central buildings, explaining that Mira took responsibility for Seraphina's descendants even when they barely interacted with Lunar Arc. Sieghart understood that more than he wanted to admit, because the kidnapped man represented family, responsibility, and another living connection to everything Seraphina left behind.

Allowing Chimerians to cut him apart for inherited traits would become more than political failure or military danger; for Mira, it would become personal. Sieghart studied the settlement's central buildings again, searching for structures guarded heavily enough to contain someone whose body might change Chimerian experimentation permanently. One broad stone building stood out because armed Chimerians guarded every entrance while winged scouts crossed above its roof at regular intervals.

Another nearby structure resembled a laboratory, with reinforced windows, ventilation pipes, sealed side entrances, and workers carrying containers between guarded doors. The captive could occupy either structure or somewhere underground, which Sieghart disliked because underground facilities possessed an unfortunate tendency to contain additional problems.

"Any idea where he is?"

"Not yet." Sieghart activated Enhanced Smell carefully and searched for another clean human scent beneath the overwhelming mixture drifting upward from the settlement. Nothing distinct reached him, suggesting distance, chemical masking, buildings, or hundreds of competing biological odors prevented him from isolating one unfamiliar human.

"Can't smell him."

"That would have been convenient."

"Convenience seems banned here." They remained hidden until the light weakened, counting patrols, identifying laboratories, marking roads, and watching which buildings received the most guarded traffic. Mira never contacted them, although her faint scent appeared twice whenever the wind shifted from the northwest, confirming that she remained somewhere beyond the settlement.

Sieghart gradually understood the geometry: Mira waited northwest, Ronan and Sieghart occupied the southern ridge, and heavily guarded structures filled the center between them. If they attracted enough attention from the south, Mira would gain a clearer approach toward whichever building actually contained her kidnapped relative.

"That's definitely bait." Ronan ignored him and continued counting guards, apparently believing acknowledgment would encourage Sieghart to repeat the accusation for the remainder of the mission. Whether Mira planned this before leaving or adapted after realizing Ronan followed her, the situation demonstrated how desperate circumstances had become. The guild master who usually buried risks beneath preparation was relying upon one annoying agent and a ten-year-old hermit to improvise inside hostile territory.

Sieghart almost found that flattering until remembering the Chimerians below harvested organs from people they considered useful, giving usefulness significant disadvantages here. As darkness spread across the valley, Ronan finally lowered the lens and checked the wind once more before shifting away from the ridge.

"We wait until full night."

"And then?"

"We make enough trouble that everyone watches us instead of whatever Mira is doing."

"That sounds exactly like bait."

"Yes." Sieghart nodded once, strangely satisfied that Ronan had finally abandoned euphemisms and accepted the obvious description of their role without further argument. The settlement continued operating peacefully below, unaware Mira waited beyond its northern edge while two additional intruders watched from the south. Sieghart rested one hand against the ground and considered Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Ice, Poison, illusions, constructs, Telekinesis, and every other available option.

If Mira needed a distraction, Sieghart could certainly provide one; the difficult part was causing enough chaos without becoming more valuable than the prisoner they were rescuing.