As you may remember I turned to this story idea from an earlier prompt when my original 15 MN novel for this year ran out and I still had several months of 2023. Since I didn’t quite expect the end of the story I didn’t plan this one all that much. I had a basic outline. This week I realized something. This store needs to be told from at least two characters point of view. I think that I am going to use Marcus as my second character, weaving his story line and chapters in between Anna’s. Partially because there is so much that she doesn’t know or can’t know that I think the reader would need well before she figures it out. If this is to be a good story. I am going to continue writing just the Anna sections But I am making notes for the Marcus sections to go between when I begin a first edit. Just so you know my thinking. And now, On with the story.
Day 33: The morning light was soft and hazy, just beginning to come in.
The morning light was soft and hazy, just beginning to come in. Anna decided it was a good day for walking. She ate as she moved, and as her shield was in place, her passing went un noticed. The birds twittered around her undisturbed by her passage. It was nice to hear them and Anna admitted to herself it was much more pleasant hearing them as she walked then hearing them stop with her arrival and start up behind her like gossips at a party.
‘Plus if anyone else is out here, I’ll hear them stop with someone elses presence.’ It was sort of like a natural alarm system. ‘In reverse because an alarm is silence instead of noise.’
The path was slightly steeper, but she knew from her maps that it would level out after a while and then descend on the other side of the mountain. The terrain was what she expected. She also knew that no one really lived in these mountains, even when the city was occupied. There were small communities once, near the entrances to the mines, but they were seasonal and as the mines petered out well before the city was abandoned, those were ghost towns before the city was lost.
It was interesting to walk a destroyed road that ran through an area where people didn’t dwell. She knew the area was cleared of trees when the road was here, specifically to keep people from living near the road outside of town. It was a way to prevent people from preying on those who used the road. Now, nature seemed to have crept in and tree roots broke up the formerly flat surface.
As Anna walked, the sun burnt off the soft misty edge to the light and they day warmed pleasantly. At mid day, she stopped and scried with her bowl, looking into Marcus and Christopher. They were checking in with the gate keepers to see if she passed. Christopher advocated giving her more time as he assumed it would take her a while to gather her things if she planned to go home and Marcus had a crease of worry between his brows.
Beyond that, she didn’t learn anything. Anna hoped they would search the city, perhaps finding one of her safe houses but not her main residence and that the search would take them a while. She hoped to be hidden behind the lost city’s protection before they expanded their search for her beyond the city. Anna knew that while she was shielded no one could find her, but she also knew the strong magic surrounding the lost city would conceal any of her own small magics.
‘Thus making me safer.’ As she walked Anna wondered if she would be able to scry on the others from within the city or if it’s borders would prevent her from looking out as well as keeping others from looking in. ‘If they can’t find me when I am there it will be worth not seeing what they are up to,’ Anna decided as she put her things away, took out her lunch ration and continued to walk.
‘Besides, by the time I reach the city I should know enough about what they are up to with regards to the search.’ The trip would take two weeks to accomplish if the weather remained fine.
Ten til Midnight 