Above the roofs

"Ok, let's go, just follow behind me and tell me if you can't keep up!"

Saying so, Gardos started to lightly jog over the roof. But as soon as he realized that Alice didn't have a problem to keep up, he began getting faster until he reached his own optimal pace.

Although she strictly followed the path Gardos took, she couldn't help but wonder why. Though she could understand why he avoided thatched roofs, she couldn't understand the irregular path he took most of the time. He would stay close to the edge of the roof most of the time, but at others, he would suddenly jump some distance to the side or over parts of the roof that looked totally normal to Alice.

It took her some time and several missteps before she figured out how and why Gardos was moving like that. He was always doing his best to run only on top of the buildings walls or the supportive beams of the roofs. On one hand, they created much less noise that way, on the other hand, and much more importantly, the risk of breaking through the roof decreased many times over.

At that moment, Gardos suddenly halted.

"You see this street? This is more or less the border between our territory and that of the bears. As long as you don't cross it, there shouldn't be any problems. And even if you do for some reason, just don't do anything stupid and everything is fine. The bears are nice people and pretty contrary to the foxes."

"You have been talking about bears, foxes, and what-not this whole time, how many groups are there actually?"

"At the moment there are seven different groups and eight territories. The biggest and by far strongest group are the wolves, their territory includes the entire noble district in the middle of harborton, the surrounding part of the merchant district and from there a big part of the market and down to the docks. The second strongest group are the turtles. Their territory includes the entire east of harborton. They have a part of the docks, market, merchant district, and commoner district. And although it's not a territory worth keeping, if you include the eastern slums area, their territory is even larger than the wolves. Well, although I say that, we don't actually know which group is stronger. The name 'turtles' fits them pretty well, they are completely turtled in and no one knows how strong they actually are. But that isn't a problem we have to care about, in all directions are at least two territories between them and us. Any questions?"

"Only one, whats a turtle?"

"Ehhhhm, an animal, let's leave it at that for the moment. Let's get moving, I can continue to explain on the way."

While Gardos showed Alice the remaining part of their territory, he continued explaining the current state of of the city to her.

It seemed that a few years ago, there had been a total of four large groups. Besides the wolves and turtles, there had been two others, one in the north and the other in the west. But things became rather brutal with many children even dying during the territorial disputes.

In the end, the western group broke apart completely, turning into what they now call the free-zone. An area containing a small part of the merchant- and the biggest part of the commoner district where no group was in control. Thus everyone took as much as they wanted or could which in turn increased the activity of the city guards, making it a very dangerous area.

The northern group, on the other hand, had split up into several smaller ones and only five remained in the end. The bears in the north, the foxes in the east, the cats in the south occupying most of the merchant district, the slum-rats in the commoner district and slums in the west and last but not least, the group that Alice was with.

Depending on the opinion of the people some called them guardians and others called them the vultures. The reason was that the original members hadn't been part of the northern group, but made use of the situation and created their own territory right in the middle, becoming the mediators that ended the dispute between the other four groups in the process.

"And at last, over there is our border with the foxes territory. But I don't think I should show that to you right now. If they see you we would lose the surprise effect. But I have to say, you can move around pretty well, most kids need far longer before they get used to the irregular terrain of the roofs."

"Maybe because its a little similar to the forest in a way?"

"Don't ask me."

"Oh, right! There was something else I wanted to ask. Alex mentioned that this... Dick was his name? Had learned a stealth mantra? Why is that such a big problem?"

"Mhhh, how much do you about mantras?"

"Not much, my father said it was still too early for me."

"Ok, where should I start... basically, mantras are the basis for the body strengthening of warriors and the miracles of a sage. It's the ability to use your mana to create an effect by sheer willpower."

"What about a magicians magic?"

"Don't know, even though I said it like that, I have never talked with a warrior before, not to mention a magician or a sage. Let me just tell you my own experience. Normally you use a mantra for the first few times when you desperately wish for something, and only after having used the same one a few times like that will you learn to use it intentionally. Actually, all six of us can use a speed mantra that lets us move faster for a while.

Most of us who live on the streets learn a speed mantra at some point in time while running away from the guards, so it isn't much of a problem if you can counter speed mantra with speed mantra. A stealth mantra, on the other hand, is a completely different matter. It's extremely rare that you manage to learn it, and almost impossible to counter."

"Why is it so rare that someone learns it?"

"Well, we have to run away from something quite often, so there are many chances to learn a speed mantra. At the same time, you rarely get chased far and either you get away or a good beating. But if they are persistent enough to corner you until you need to hide, they rarely give up and the consequences if they find you are much worse."

"I kind of understand how a speed mantra would work, but a stealth mantra, how would that work?"

"Yeah, I understand what you mean. None of us can use it, so I can't say for sure, but as far as we know, you just tend to ignore someone who uses a stealth mantra. Well, I know that it doesn't make much sense."

"I see. So we need to get the jump on him without giving him the chance to hide if we want to catch him?"

"That would probably be the best."

"By the way, could you show me how fast you are while using your mantra?"