And so the story goes on…
Day 52: As Anna looked at them now, she realized there were subtle differences between the city protections now and those she remembered.
As Anna looked at them now, she realized there were subtle differences between the city protections now and those she remembered. Anna was close to stopping for the night and instead oif going forward shifted to the side of the road where she could get a better view. This would be her last night on the road. In the morning she would leave the road and travel through the woods to reach the access point where she could slip back into the city as unnoticed as she slipped out.
‘Or so I thought,’ Anna made certain she had a good view of the skyline through the trees and more importantly the shields now surrounding the city. As Anna ate her dinner ration, she studied them.
She could see the standard warding spells around the city and then the extra. It was the extra she studied. It looked strangely familiar. As she took the last bite of her meal, Anna realized that the outer layer had a striking similarity to the shields over the Lost City. She doubted they were exactly the same as the ones over the Lost City were designed to push everyone away from the city and allow no passage in or out, and she knew that with the normal amount of merchant traffic that simply wouldn’t be possible.
‘So maybe something from the same family of spells but not exactly the same.’
Anna thought through the possible list. While she was willing to admit that she was not the center of the universe, she suspected this new shielding had something to do with her. Every time she looked in on Marcus he and Christopher seemed very intent on finding her. Many times she saw traces of what she thought might be desperation.
‘So maybe it has something specifically keyed to me entering and leaving the city.’
It was a not entirely unexpected thought. Anna thought about removing some of her spells to scry but something inside her rebelled at the idea. ‘Maybe this was why the magic warned me to keep the spells up.’
She knew she had to be closer to see and study the spells, but also knew she wasn’t getting any closer tonight. At the moment she was walking on the road. Soon she would leave the road to cut through the woods. She was not going to be navigating the woods in the dark. The road may have been broken up but the lack of tree canopy let the moonlight in. It would not be the same once she left the road.
‘So all I can do is wait,’ she told herself.
As Anna settled for the night, she found her eyes drifting up towards the shields, studying them, even as she reminded herself that she needed sleep.
Sleep finally came, but it wasn’t deep. She slept until first light and then got into motion. There was a thick frost on the ground today and her bones were stiff with cold. ‘Hopefully this is the last night out doors.’
Her eyes darted to the skyline. She could still see the shimmer of the shields but as the sun faded the sky they were less noticeable. Anna knew she had to move on. She walked forward and warmed herself up as she traversed the last section of road she would walk. While the road continued on, it wound it’s way to one of the main gates. It was a gate that had long since been sealed, but it would be too open and exposed for her in any case.
Anna slipped into the woods and took her own route back to the small hidden access point. It was colder in the woods and she shivered as she walked. She also couldn’t see the fading shields around the city and had to content herself with mentally running through all of the possibilities the new shields could hold as she walked. Telling herself that she would see when she got there, didn’t help.
Ten til Midnight 