Chapter 17) Cats and Mice
The creak of the stairs faded, and the last two strangers disappeared below.
Vey exhaled, slow, like he was afraid even air might give them away. "They're gone," he whispered.
Cael didn't move. His eyes stayed fixed on the shadows stretching across the far wall. "No," he murmured. "Listen."
The building was too quiet.
Then… footsteps. Multiple sets. Fast.
From below came the scrape of boots and the clatter of something metallic. A voice barked an order, low and sharp. Cael's stomach dropped.
"They're coming back," he said, almost too softly for even Vey to hear.
Six of them this time.
The upper floor trembled as they climbed together. No more casual wandering, this was a hunt.
Vey's jaw tightened. "They know we're up here."
"Not who, just that," Cael corrected, but his mind was already racing. If they truly wanted them dead, the search would be loud, wild, smashing crates, burning shadows out. But their movements were controlled, deliberate. They want us alive.
The thought chilled him more than any blade.
"They're not trying to flush us," he whispered to Vey, "they're trying to catch us intact."
Vey gave him a sharp look. "Why?!"
Cael's eyes narrowed. "That's the part I don't like."
The strangers spread out, boots clicking against the catwalk's metal ribs. They moved in pairs, sweeping each cluster of crates and pillars. One set of footsteps approached from the left, another from the right.
"Move," Cael mouthed.
They slipped deeper into the shadows, crouching low, weaving between columns and piles of warped wood. The air smelled of rust and mold. Every movement threatened to betray them with a groan of metal or a crunch of glass.
A faint beam of light, someone's lantern, cut across the floor inches from Cael's boots. He froze.
"They're splitting us," one of the strangers muttered in a voice rough with confidence. "Block the ends."
Cael's heart pounded. They're closing the net.
Vey pointed toward a narrow service walkway that ran along the far wall, half-hidden by hanging tarps. Cael nodded. They slipped under the heavy fabric, holding it still to keep from swaying.
From somewhere behind them, a voice: "Check behind the tarps."
Cael's blood turned to ice.
Vey mouthed, Now.
They darted low and silent along the walkway, boots whispering on the rusted mesh. Below them, another stranger's shadow swept past, scanning.
Then the metallic clang of someone jumping onto the same walkway echoed down the length of it.
"They're here!" a voice shouted.
Cael and Vey ran.
The mesh rattled under their steps, every footfall a giveaway. Behind them, pounding boots closed the gap, the sound multiplying as others joined the chase.
Cael's mind was a storm, routes, cover, bottlenecks, calculating in real time. If we get cornered here, it's over.
A burst of wind tore through the broken windows, rattling the tarps like warning flags. The hunt was on, and the walls of the abandoned building had just become their cage.
---
The walkway buckled under Cael's boots, every step a gamble.
"Left!" Vey hissed, pointing toward a rusted catwalk that veered deeper into the building.
They sprinted, ducking low as a steel beam groaned overhead. Behind them, boots thundered, closer, faster.
A voice barked, "Cut them off at the next junction!"
Cael's lungs burned. He spun mid-run, flinging his hand out, jagged spears of ice shot toward the nearest pursuer, shattering into glittering shards as they hit… nothing.
The stranger's blade had flicked once, almost lazily, swatting the magic aside like an annoying fly.
Vey's face twisted. "They just…?"
"Don't stop!" Cael barked, shoving him forward.
They tore through a doorway into another section of the upper floor, this one half-collapsed, the floor tilting dangerously toward an open drop. Rusted railings trembled as they passed, the whole place complaining under their combined weight.
From above, a crash, two more strangers had vaulted onto an overhead beam, moving with impossible balance.
"They're circling us," Cael growled.
Vey swept his arm, sending a burst of frost across the floor. The wood iced over instantly, slick and treacherous.
One of the pursuers hit it at full speed, his boots skidded out, and he slammed shoulder-first into a railing. It bent under the impact but didn't break.
Vey grinned for half a second. "That buys us…"
"...nothing! Move!" Cael cut him off as another pursuer vaulted clean over the frozen patch, landing in front of them.
Cael didn't hesitate, he slammed his palm into the floor, sending a spike of ice erupting upward. The stranger sidestepped effortlessly, the tip of his cloak brushing the frozen blade.
"Cute tricks," the man sneered, advancing.
Vey snarled and fired another volley of frost, forcing the stranger to pivot back. They slipped past him, but the way ahead shook violently.
A support beam cracked, the floor sagging.
"The Hell…" Vey shouted.
The wood gave way behind them, sending two of their hunters crashing into the room below. For a heartbeat, silence.
Then, more boots. They just kept coming.
"We can't shake them," Cael said between ragged breaths.
"We can if you freeze the…"
A blur passed Vey's vision, a hook-like blade catching the corner of his cloak. He tore it free, stumbling into Cael.
They spun into a narrow corridor, the walls pressing close, echoing every step. Lantern light flared at the far end, more shadows rushing to block the exit.
"Other way!" Cael snapped.
They doubled back, but now the strangers were everywhere, closing from all sides.
One voice cut through the chaos: "Alive… remember. Don't break them."
That was all Cael needed to confirm it, they were the prey, not the target of slaughter.
Vey's eyes darted wildly. "We're boxed, "
Something slammed into Cael from the side, a body, fast and heavy. His back hit the wall, the breath torn from his lungs.
Vey spun, frost flaring in his palm, only for a gloved hand to grab his wrist mid-cast, twisting it until the magic fizzled.
Boots scraped, steel whispered from sheaths. Six shadows loomed, blocking every gap.
Cael's chest heaved as he glanced at Vey, no way out.
The leader stepped forward, his voice calm but final:
"Got you."