Re: The Academy Shows Interest...
Stannos does not rejoin them that night. He’s had quite a day, and only mumbles something about about “I’ll take the last watch… they come pre-dawn, anyway,” before turning in for the night.
Kyriel tries to work out distance to Gisacum, with what she remembers from other trips. One fortunate thing: the Romans were obsessed with organization, and when they built roads, always equipped them with stone “mile markers” showing just how far to the next town.
But… how far back was that last marker… but that last marker was for Carnotum… at least that’s in the right direction. But then there is the fact that part of the trip, as she recalls, is off road. So all Kyriel has is an educated guess of 4-5 days.
Riordeg listens to Kyriel’s description of Griffons troubling a temple complex. He looks over at Rita. He knows how she thinks. If there is badness afoot, Rita will want to set things right. He wonders if he will have to do what Theoderic used to do- set down priorities to make sure she doesn’t stray from “That which must be done Now” to “Things we really ought to do sooner or later.” But he keeps silent on the subject.
He observes, though, “From what we saw of Scolo, I don’t think he was the type to summon creatures like that. I think that’s Huns, and their own magic.”
The evening passes uneventfully- there are no more attacks, not even sounds of local wildlife- one good Mutated Worg Thing is all it takes to clear them all away.
On a cool and misty early spring morning, they set out.
They know that sooner or later, they have to turn off the road, and head north- before the empty, abandoned “wasteland” gives way to the farms and woods (and patrols!) around Carnotum.
Kyriel and Culann have been here, and they find the land marks.
By late afternoon, they are in the woods, and the woods thicken as they travel northwards. This is the Yvelines forest, a thick forest that makes an arc around the west of Lutetia Parisiorum. Mestenon is in the same forest, so between here and there, they will not leave the forest. They know that soon, they will come across the Carnotum-Lutetia Road, which is a well traveled road in Hun hands. Fortunately, they don’t have to take it, just cross it- and once across, they will be back in forest.