Hound

Alexis made her retreat, keeping an eye on the sniffler. And indeed it seemed his interest had been piqued.

She could see him stop to, she could only assume, pick up her scent, but so far she was fairly sure he had not caught sight of her.

The mercenary kept weaving through the mostly empty streets, wondering if she should just pick one of the abandoned buildings for a confrontation. But there was that gut feeling, that air the man had about him, that made her discard the notion. She wasn’t sure wether it was the voices warning her, or her own instincts, but she felt she shouldn’t mess with this one, if she could help it. Honestly, it felt like both. So she was inclined to listen.

Alright then. Going with the theory that he was tracking her by scent…
The centre wasn’t too far now. Lots of people. Lots of scents.

She sped up, still taking turns through small alleys and through the occasional empty house to keep out of his sights.
Soon, the streets filled up with people. She could already hear the calls of the priests by the temple.

Goodness gracious, it was even more packed with people here than the last time she was here! Very good.
And still, where possible, the black robed men and women were given some space. It helped her realise, while she weaved through the masses, that they might depart their hideout in groups of three, but they didn’t necessarily stay in those groups after. She saw several that seemed to be moving alone. The mercenary took a mental note of that and focused back to the situation at hand. The food stalls. They could give an additional cover of scent. If that didn’t work, well… she might have to come back to plan a.

She ducked between two stalls selling some kind of roasted meat and a variety of fruits respectively, and moved along the edge of the plaza, observing her hunter.

He had less of a problem to move through the crowd, due to being given ample room, but she could see some irritation on his face as he kept flaring his nostrils. For the first time she caught a glimpse of his eyes. Milky white. Was he blind? If so, it didn’t impede him in the slightest.

He was moving slower now, closer to the food stalls, but didn’t seem quite as confident anymore where to proceed.
So this might have actually worked. Better not stay around too long…

Alexis dove back into the crowd and let herself go with the current until she could weave into another alley, hopefully without a hound on her heel.

Well, that was exiting. So. What now? Getting into their hideout was not going to be any easier with that guy around, and on alert to boot…
But she also had a hunch that one was special. So while she did not want to engage with him for now… maybe she should try and get more intimately acquainted with one of his brethren.
She didn’t have much hope she could get an interrogation going with the language handicap, but she might as well try.

And if nothing else it could net her some nifty black robes that could become useful along the line.