A Fugitive in the Realms

‘A fortress of knowledge’ they call it, and I just waltz into the Calcularium like it’s nothing. Took me all of an hour to get through to the library and back, hardly saw a soul, and not one saw me. Would’ve started in this line of work ages ago if I’d known how easy it was. I have the designs and diagrams, just like they wanted. Now I wait for the morning shift to head through the NTTC Transept. Five guards watching it now, but I’m well out of sight, and they’re more interested in their game of Hazard than standing guard. First thing tomorrow, I’ll be gone, no one the wiser. I haven’t even set foot in the Realms, but already I’m keen to get settled. No one looking to tell me my place, an empty, infinite swath of land and a Fae begging me to work for them. This couldn’t have played out any better. The Elephants will miss me dearly when they realise I’m gone, and I won’t spend a second looking back. All that’s left is to bask in the grand reward that awaits me when I hand everything over.

The blasted Fae isn’t here. I’ve been faffing about for an entire day, and not a damn sign of them. They’re lucky I’m a patient woman. Must say though, I’m getting on even better here than I imagined. Fresh air, quiet, no one around. I could do anything I well liked, and who would stop me? I could get used to a life like this, real freedom, new start. With my handsome payment, I could set up on this very spot. The area’s nice, closed in, but I spotted a path off through the bush. Suppose it must have been an animal, but the breaks were clean, like it was cut with a blade. Makes you wonder what manner of beasts are about. They say the Realms are full of monsters, but so far I’ve seen nothing but hares, ugly though, like they’re mouldy or something. Looked over the designs for a bit while I was waiting, and I’ve no bloody clue what they’re on about. Symbols I’ve never seen, drawings of some mechanical thing. Can’t imagine what someone wielding real magick would ever get out of rubbish like this. Sounded like it was worth heaps to them too.

The bugger still didn’t show. Started thinking about the location and figured it wouldn’t hurt to double check, so I took a run back through the chain of Portals. Should have taken me to New Kernow, to the Company post, but it was gone. I don’t know if it spit me out in a different spot or a different Realm entirely. Tried jumping back through to where I was, but it looked wrong too. Different trees, smaller mountains. This isn’t how these things are supposed to work. I dipped back and forth a few times to make sure, had a look around in each new place. Eventually saw what looked like some rickety little camp and headed the other way. I thought there wasn’t supposed to be anyone out this far. I don’t know what’s happening here, and I can’t claim shite as a reward if I don’t deliver these papers. Maybe the Fae took me for a fool, did its damndest to prove the Elephants right. Maybe this was some daft game to waste my time. I don’t like this one bit. I’ll find a way to trace my route back, then I need to get out of here.

These blasted Portals are broken, I know it. They usually take me somewhere new, but sometimes I’m back walking right in my own footsteps. I can’t get away from these settlements, keep finding tracks everywhere I go, like someone’s following me, or I’m following them? I holed up near a village, big place but only a handful of people, and I heard someone talking. They said a bounty hunter came through looking for someone. Keziah, who pinched something important from Nightingale City. I get in and out without a trace, now they know me by bloody name? This isn’t right. The damn Fae is messing with me, I know it. Brought me out here as some kind of setup. That’s not all though. They said something happened back in England, something bad. No one can get back to the city. The Portals don’t work unless you’ve got some kind of cards. Yet here I am, traipsing through every damn Portal I see like it’s nothing. Someone’s letting me through, sending me God knows where. I’ll look through these designs again. There’s something I can get out of them, some reason why they’re here. This all has to mean something.

Everywhere looks the damn same, I’m running in circles. I find a campfire, still burning like the hunter’s right on me. Then I find rotting food, tools grown over in the grass, like they’re days, weeks behind. I bet they’re not even human, just some trick of the Fae, some beast it’s conjured to taunt me, drive me out of my goddamn mind. Maybe I can wait, fight it off, but God, what if I can’t? I can’t stand this. Can’t get away from it, even out here. Not a soul in sight and there’s still someone trying to hold me down, trying to control me, tell me what I am. Thought I could be free out here, free of the Forty Elephants, free of the bloody city. Maybe the Elephants were right, and this is exactly what I get for working with the damn Fae. It can’t end like this. I’m not getting caught, not me. I need to deal with the Fae first, then maybe I’ll lose the hunter. These designs are the key, I know it. They almost look like some kind of Portal. Don’t know shite about building, but I have to try. I have to.