NOVEL NEXT (Vol 5) Chapter 30: No Time to Reflect!
Sammy took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and activated [Spirit View] on her mirror. A new sort of vision came as her third eye opened and she sought signs of magic in the pathways of pneuma, hoping she’d finally get over the edge and know the spell for what it was.
Utilizing [Spirit Sight], the spell's existence blossomed like a huge, new magical reality to Sammy, surrounding the city like a giant sphere. The word Ash had used, ‘transition,’ was apt, as passing through it was like going through a very thin realm. Mana and pneuma were intricately interlaced within the spell.
I could come here in the spirit world and rip this apart… but that would be heinously obvious, and not instant, either. Dangerous, even, if the Sage’s Entropic network crisscrosses here. It almost certainly does.
Shivering, she abandoned that particular idea and opened her eyes, while flipping the mirror back to normal portal viewpoint. Detect Magic was registering the spell fully as an aural outline. She wasted no further time, as she knew the spell was there, could target it, and was quite certain of its nature.
She kept her second mirror blocking detection toward the city, while effectively launching the primary out and over the walls. She turned it the entire time to keep facing any soldiers, flipping it like a card through the transition and attempting to mimic the lighting of the area as best she could while hiding an object within.
She passed through the spell over the city and used [Alter Fate] to force failure and remain hidden through resistance via [False Auras]. Since her totals didn’t matter and she had the option, she opted for complete cloaking instead of chancing it with a ‘bird detection.’
The spell was bypassed without any sign of detection.
One of the sentries turned his head in the direction where her second mirror was, out facing the city instead. Sammy zipped it down immediately below the plane of the wall face. Meanwhile, her escaping mirror was canted at an angle facing back and down to the wall and the sentries below, so did not need the ‘cover’ anymore.
The sentry frowned and looked out over the wall, somewhat puzzled, blinking into the glare. Sammy’s heart skipped a few beats, but he didn’t seem to raise any alarms, likely due to lacking any certainty at seeing something.
I’m sure the Dominion is going to be very thorough, especially with a missing agent. If the sentry mentions this later, oh well. We bought time.
Sammy levitated the escaping mirror out and canted slightly toward the wall, continuing to mimic the lighting but seeking out cover, preferably from trees. The terrain was completely flat for a long stretch, and the light from the ‘artificial sun’ was still reaching the mirror, preventing illusions.
Fuck. If I stay high, I risk being obvious. I need to go low, as long as I can avoid people.
She verified a safe locale away from farms or roads and growing wilder with weeds. Somehow, the Dominion prevented or pruned tree and bush growth around the city, because it was nearly like a mowed lawn leading up to the walls. Just an impeccable grass field that eventually was broken up by farmland.
Fortunately, around the same timeframe, she felt the spell of the light effect finally slide off of the mirror. Immediately, she cloaked it in illusions again to blend it in with the surroundings more efficiently.
Lowering into the weeds, she kept the mirror face upward, allowing her a relative 360-degree viewpoint except down toward the grasshoppers. One of them jumped right on top of the mirror and took a brief ride before hopping off, likely a bit confused by the adventure.
After ensuring there were no threats, she paused momentarily to switch to the other mirror still in the city. It was also face up, hiding and blending into the glare near the bottom of the wall. She began moving it back to cover, pausing as the eyes of sentries on the wall were sweeping over its vicinity. Painstakingly, she managed it.
Sammy levitated the mirror through secluded alleys, wondering where she’d best hide it. Then she came across a canal, which she soon realized was part of the sewage system. She levitated the mirror down into the gross liquid with great distaste and moved it through deeper into the system.
Being from the room that is the scene of the crime, can they track these down with spellcraft? Ugh. I’ll move it out through these sewers later, but not now.
She found a place to lodge it under the water and left it, assigning it to her Resemblants to keep senses primed. With it being underwater in a sewer, it was likely useless, but oh well.
Switching back to the primary mirror, she took it slow while still in potential sight range of the city, keeping her eyes peeled for a forest. Once she finally found some proper wilderness and tree cover, she picked up the pace and began flying as fast as she safely could south and a bit east to head for the Everwoods.
As she sped past trees and hoped she didn’t crash into an owl, she reached out mentally to Jeeves. “So, what has the Brain Trust Collective come up with so far?”
“A combined effort, truly,” Jeeves responded. “Marchioness Agatha is getting an enchanted boat prepared as we speak. She already has arranged pretenses related to merchants not directly tied to her, though whether the Dominion knows the connection is at least related to the nobility is unclear but very possible.
“Dart and Porthos have taken the form of a very fast bird — the 'rockyback swift' at 180 kilometers an hour — to rendezvous with your levitating mirror under a satisfactory guise. They’ll transform into larger birds to carry the mirror to the boat or a logical rendezvous at one landing or another along the river.”
“That- wow. Yes! I need her out of the mirror ASAP, but transporting her by body like that has other risks until we’re out of the woods. Send someone along she can replace easily and believably and we’ll put both of them under guises. If I utilize [Mirror Other], the disguise should be quite effective. She can head to Mot Mekess and the replaced member can disappear in whatever location to return by separate means.”
“Understood, Madam — I’m forwarding that right now. Don’t forget to ask your captive how she remains immune to mental targeting. A most intriguing matter, I’m sure you’ll agree.”
“Indeed I do, but she prefers to be tight-lipped while held, and I kinda need to focus on movement fully, here… Can you hear the leaves slapping the mirror? I’m worried it’s going to crack the damn thing…”
“I cannot, Madam. I’m sure you’ll be fine at your current rate of movement. On that note — Goddess-speed, Your Majesty.”
“Thanks, Jeeves.”
Sammy’s mirror soared through the air ‘handle first’ at a slight tilt so she could see in front, leaves slapping the surface occasionally. She dared not rise above the treetops except to check her route, to avoid any strange profile being caught sight of. She noticed signs of camps or residences a few times and steered clear. Keeping her bearing was mostly a matter of utilizing referential reflections/mirrors.
Unfortunately, she was not actually in the Everwood yet, so after less than an hour, the forest broke into expansive, rolling hills and plains southward, dotted extensively by agriculture. She kept low to the ground once more, and her speed was inhibited by avoiding potential contact, though thankfully most were asleep by then, especially farmers. But there would be sentries, night owls, hunters, and even soldiers in watchtowers and outposts, so she stayed diligent.
She noticed her captive, Hatman, aka Beltrand, was getting rather antsy and exhausted in his struggles, yelling for ‘the real demon to show his face and face him.’
Punishment enough for you to be left hanging indefinitely. I haven’t decided how to deal with you, yet, and I don’t have the available focus to dedicate, anyway. So keep spinning the wheel, hamster boy! I got no time to reflect. Hehe.
She had to cross over a massive sunflower farm, which left her feeling fairly exposed but was at least scenic as they were fully in bloom. They all faced eastward like synchronized soldiers. She managed to follow below the field line by taking a path between the orderly rows.
Three-quarters of the way fully cleared past it, she saw movement flash ahead — far enough away for the warning, she dashed between rows heading southwest and just kept going, spinning a few times to check for pursuit but never seeing any sign. She caught a brief peal of laughter on the winds. Youthful.
Somewhat relieved, Sammy gave their potential zone of presence a wide berth and continued, stifling any natural curiosity she had.
Teens up to gods-know-what in the dark. I’ve got far bigger concerns. But… I guess some things are idyllic up here in Depressionville. In fact, it hardly seems depressed at all, unlike Matrazere. Rich and well-protected lands, I guess. Privileged. But I’m sure the farmers work just as hard north as south, though maybe with a bit more magical assistance.
The sunflower field had a subtle but enormous aura denoting some sort of enchantment. If she had to guess, it was basic growth and health benefits, and/or a pest repellant.
After the field, she cleared into a wilderness that was a mix of prairie-like and hilly, with scattered bits of tree cover. More farms were evident, but she continued to steer away. As she figured, she caught sight of a small fort and watchtower, but only allowed this to be visible in the far distance — she soon angled around east.
The outskirts of the Everwood were perhaps still around fifty kilometers away. A general rendezvous was picked another ten kilometers inside this, confirmed as wilderness by pings of mirrors located at an apparent sawmill community significantly more westerly and ‘targeting’ southwest. A few nearby water sources were also pinged, some near the community and others largely in the middle of nowhere. The latter was how a spot was chosen.
It would take Sammy something over three hours at relative breakneck speed, and Dart and Porthos two-and-a-half hours at a fairly leisurely pace, allowing them to scout and secure the location for the ‘handoff.’ During this time, the riverboat would be maybe halfway up the river, going at a safe maximum of seventy kilometers an hour.
Wow, this is turning out like one of those algebra problems. ‘At what time will Ash meet up with Joe? Show all the work used to arrive at your conclusion.’ Can I just google it, please?
The sizable Dominion city of Stokefield was at the end of the great river, the Asterway. By way of the enchanted boat, this was a five-hour trip. Assuming all went well, after the pickup, the birds could likely get to the boat shortly before arrival, and there the trip’s pretenses would commence with an exchange for a package, with a final return trip.
All things the Dominion will likely note. But it would be business as usual, right?
She realized a sudden flaw in all the logistics, however. If they could track the mirror, everyone on the ship — and whoever the exchange was connected to — would become suspects.
Time for an adjustment.
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Nice.