NOVEL NEXT CH 66 - Epilogue 3
The Road
Break of Autumn, Week 4, Day 1
A tense silence filled the knights as they prepared to leave.
It was not broken when their ward came out, running her blue eyes over them, and then boarded the carriage.
It was not broken when they loaded the casket for their Captain into a new wagon, which the carriage would be pulling.
It was not broken when they mounted their horses.
It was not broken when Captain Limrick motioned for them to depart.
Break of Autumn, Week 4, Day 7
The horses were tired. The knights were tired. The ground felt tired. And the only words Nora had spoken to any of them were quiet orders—no chatting, no joking. Simply commands.
“Lunch in the carriage.”
“We don’t need to stop for me. Continue on.”
“We need to have a rest stop.”
At some point, she had stopped leaving the carriage other than to use the bathroom. Perhaps, they just hadn’t noticed that was what she was doing from the moment they left Perry.
Yet still, they could feel the meticulous practice Nora was running her Skills though. Every hour on the hour, they could feel the timetable’s shift. From mana practice to non-mana practice. She never deviated from the schedule.
Break of Autumn, Week 5, Day 5
A week and a half of more of the same. Dame Siobhan directed the knights around brambles or eradicated them herself. None had reached the carriage. Still, the mana seeped and soaked into the ground. It followed the carriage like a ribbon of temptation to the monsters.
And then, one day, it stopped entirely.
The knights couldn’t feel even a drop of mana from the carriage.
Fall of Autumn, Week 1, Day 2
They passed a village, but they could not stop. Could not risk any more delays. So, they diverted. They went through the rough terrain of the forest and avoided any semblance of civilization. It had happened before and would happen again.
These were not patrol knights. And they felt no guilt in bypassing the towns on the horizon.
Fall of Autumn, Week 3, Day 6
They were running low on supplies. But they refused to stop. They set up camp only when needed. They pushed harder. They were getting close.
They pushed and pushed and pushed.
They were exhausted.
Fall of Autumn, Week 4, Day 2
At noon, the walls of Fellan were visible.
They had arrived.
Their long journey had ended.
They were home.