The coffee is brewing and I very much want a cup. I will distract myself with the writing prompt. Feel free to join me. Fifteen minutes on the timer and lets see what pops out of the brain.
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure where this was going until the last few minutes. Now, I can back track and adjust to where I think it is going. I kind of like it though. And may take a few minutes to jot down a few notes. After I pour my coffee that is.
Thursday, May 23rd: They were looking for the gateway.
They were looking for the gateway. According to the map it should have been located near the trail but they could not find it. After some rather creative cursing from Gavin they spread out and began searching. Lera wasn’t terribly surprised that it wasn’t immediately obvious. She suspected such things were hidden.
‘Can’t have just anyone wandering through,’ she thought. She smiled to herself at the thought. If she were to build a gateway into the Otherrealm, she would monitor it. ‘And probably not let the likes of us in,’ she decided.
All told, they were not an inspiring group. Gavin, their fearless leader was hot headed and rash. He was more brawler than hero. Lucian was shady at best and Lera was fairly certain his reason for joining this quest was a combination of a desire for more wealth and a desperate need to get out of town before those he cheated caught up with him. Morat and Fesgar were dumb as posts but intensely loyal to Lucian. Heran and Kera were slightly higher on the ntemegence scale and loyal to Gavin.
‘And I’m only here under orders,’ Lera thought. She had no desire to go on a quest. She did have the skills the group needed though and when they went looking, she found herself in a sticky situation. She sighed to herself. ‘Jertan will calm down soon,’ she told herself. The fact that Jertan was wealthy, titled, irrational and currently irate was one of her biggest problems. ‘He was also willing to bribe Lord Hacton.’
That she hadn’t seen coming. ‘I should have,’ Lera thought. Lord Hacton gave her a choice. Go with the group and keep tabs on what they found or face the consequences. She hadn’t waited around to hear the consequences listed. She went with the group. She also figured they wouldn’t be able to find the gateway to the Otherrealm.
Thus far she was right. There was a map with a large circle over an area on a stretch of the eastern road. Somehow Gavin and crew thought it would simply be at the end of the road. Somehow she suspected she was the only one who looked at the scale on the bottom of the map and realized the circle covered a lot of territory.
‘We could be searching this area for weeks,’ she thought. Lera wondered how long she could search before she headed back and her task would be considered complete. Off to the south she heard a loud pop. Frowning, she turned only as she did realizing how far she strayed from the road. She was in the rockiest part of the slope now and well hidden from view. The others headed south as she went North. Considering her main goal at the time was to get away from the rest of the group for a while, she didn’t consider it a problem.
More hard popping and cracking sounds could be heard. Frowning, Lera started to climb up one of the outcroppings. She hoped with a higher vantage point she would be able to see what was going on. The popping and cracking sounds continued. She eased into position and looked back towards the road. She could see horsemen and armed guards. The sounds were those of battle, each side aiming weapons at the other. As she looked the last of her party fell to the ground.
The guards circled the fallen and then moved them into a heap by the side of the road. They then mounted their steeds and turned, riding back to the city. As they turned, Lera saw the details of their uniforms. She didn’t need to see the crest to know the colors. They were Jertan’s men.
Ten til Midnight 