And so we continue…
Day 44: After seeing the plants die, she became worried and continued her tests.
After seeing the plants die, she became worried and continued her tests. At first she tried basic shielding before slipping new plants into the terrarium but they withered and died as soon as they hit the air inside. She spent weeks tinkering with the elements for the shield and finally found one that worked to keep the plants alive. Anna was worried it would only work with plants though and so she then tried insects and then a few lizards and finally a mouse. With the protections in place there was no issue with any of them.
While Anna worked on the details for the shields and other protections, she did so in a slow and unhurried manner. After the second archives she checked and found chunks of information missing, Anna realized the Lost Archives might be the only archives that had the information she needed remaining on their shelves. She was leaving it as a last resort though as there was plenty of other information to gather along the way and once she evaded the hunters, plenty of time to study.
All of the pieces were in place well before she got to this city and began to mine it’s archives for information. It was as though a part of her always knew it would come to this and she kept everything ready and waiting in her travel bag.
Settling down for the night, Anna looked in on Marcus but saw nothing new. He and Christopher were sitting at a table in front of a map. They were using the tracking spell with her old signature loaded into it to try and figure out where she had gone.
“It’s not showing any sign of her in the city,” Christopher complained. “But we know she was here, we both saw her.”
“She might not have used any magic while here,” Marcus said.
“Which makes that useless,” Christopher replied gesturing at the map ad tracker.
“True,” Marcus replied. He put the tracker in his pocket and folded up the map. “I’m open to ideas.”
Christopher snorted. “Locating her is your department, not mine. Mine is convincing her to come back with us once you find her.”
“The same way you convinced her to meet you for a drink after the archives?” Marcus replied. The two bickered and when the spell faded, Anna let it. She learned nothing new. In fact she learned nothing new in the last week, but couldn’t stop herself from checking in to see if any new information did surface. Most of the time she saw the two men walking around and not saying anything. It was rare she even heard anything much at all once they stopped questioning the local mages.
Confident that at least tonight she was safe from discovery, Anna let her eyes slip closed. She wanted to get as much rest as she could before she started towards the city.
The morning light was a watery gray. The ran stopped but heavy drops glistened on the foliage around her. ‘I suppose the drought is over here,’ she thought as she woke and stretched, putting the few things she used away and taking out her morning ration. Before eating she settled the spell against her skin that would keep the shielding of the city from pushing her away before she even had a chance to enter. It was quick.
Ten til Midnight 