And so the story continues…
Day 41: And staying away from the magical archives seemed safer at first.
And staying away from the magical archives seemed safer at first. Anna knew if anyone was looking for her that would be where they might search. ‘Well, as much a they knew to search anywhere.’
It was raining today and she had to watch her steps to avoid slipping on the slick stones that jutted up from the former roadbed. The walk today was slower than usual and a search for Marcus and Christopher revealed that they were running out of suspects to interview and leads to follow. Marcus looked both frustrated and worried, his brow creased and his mouth turned down at the corners. Christopher looked slightly panicked.
Anna knew they wanted her back for some specific reason and was hoping this archives would tell her more. The Darsa had been a part of the background of her life as far as she could remember. She remembered her parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts mentioning it in passing when she was small and her older cousins becoming increasingly excited by it as they grew.
Yet she knew nothing about it. When she finally felt confident enough to go into the magical archives, Anna looked for information. After all if all of her family was somehow involved with the Darsa and all of her family was executed then there might be a connection. As she had no answers as to what crimes her family could have possibly committed, it seemed like as good a place to start finding answers as any.
‘After all, even the news articles I read were light on details.’ Before the magic archives she searched the worrisome threads of conversation she heard at home and followed them right up until the arrest, trial and executions.
‘Except there was no trial.’ Anna thought. She checked the dates. There were stories of a trial and thee were court drawings from it in the papers, but the dates of the papers where the trial was set to begin were well after the executions took place. The stories of trials for the paper were lies.
Anna nearly set the library ablaze with her anger and it had been three entire days before she got herself back under control enough to return to her research. It was then that she searched for the Darsa and found nothing. No book mentioned it, no paper referenced it. It was the same in each of the archives. While she found much valuable information, none of it was about the darsa.
‘But if they removed it after the executions and trial there is a chance it is still in the lost archives.’ That more than any other information was why she was making the trip. Anna reached the top of a rise. The day was worn through and even though she knew it was slightly earlier than she usually stopped the rain clouds stole the light. With the slippery footing, Anna didn’t want to chance it. She found a sheltered spot to rest for the night.
Her journey was nearly done and in the distance, Anna thought she could see the edge of the city. It would take her a few days of hard walking to reach it, but the longest part of the journey was through.
Ten til Midnight 