Red Rose

"Find the woman in this photograph," the gathering's organizer said as he displayed a photo. "The reward is 1,000 pounds, or common Beyonder materials of equivalent value. Remember, you must not hurt her."

Returning to Bayam from Gragas had not taken long. After a night's rest, Klein began searching for Helene's wanted notice. After all, even if he found the target, he needed to know where to collect the bounty.

This was not difficult. By nightfall, he had found the wanted notice at an underground gathering in a bar.

Klein carefully studied the photograph supplied by the organizer. Once he had confirmed her appearance, he asked naturally:

"What's her name?"

"Helene," the organizer answered succinctly. "But she must be using an alias by now."

Klein asked again, "Do you have anything she wore regularly? A strand of hair would do."

These could serve as mediums for divination to locate someone, but Klein certainly had none. Neph had later inspected Helene's belongings, intending to help protect them against divination, only to discover that Helene had either taken them away, destroyed them, or already dealt with them.

Sure enough, the organizer shook his head upon hearing the question:

"No.

"She's very good at evading pursuit."

"How strong is she?" another participant asked.

Ozil said solemnly:

"The employer didn't describe her in detail, only saying that she isn't particularly powerful, but is stronger than a Sequence 9.

"You don't need to capture her. As long as you confirm her whereabouts, you can collect the reward."

Then I might even be able to collect some money. Klein allowed himself a restrained smile.

He knew Helene's Sequence; it was included in the information Neph had provided. She was a Sequence 7 Beyonder of the Hunter pathway, but compared with Danitz, Helene had almost no combat