“Just about,” I say as I skirt around the pile of boxes and out the door again, heading for my own room and, more importantly, my cart. I empty the cart out, looking for a box buried beneath it all. Clothes, a sleeping bag, three blankets, a few useless trinkets. A dog-eared engineering book. Finally, I find what I am looking for. I lift the long, rectangular box out of the cart and rip at the tape holding it shut. Small, white balls of styrofoam fall out as I open it and reach inside. The metal handle inside feels cold in my hand as I pull it out. The blade, all two feet of it, is spotted with rust. I reach back into the box and pull out a worn leather sheath. I slip it onto my belt and slide the blade in. The weight feels unfamiliar at my hip. I look at myself in the broken mirror, the worn fedora atop my head, the brown trench coat, dry for now, hanging loosely from my shoulders, the sleeves hanging to the middle of my long fingers. I could use a shave, a haircut, and a sandwich or two, but this will have to do I decide.
I bend over and begin to throw my pile of belongings back into the cart and think better of it, stuffing a change of clothes into my backpack and tying a blanket to its top with some cord that I find on one of my shelves. I finish replacing my stuff in the cart and grab another blanket, heading back to rejoin Mary and Benny, locking the door behind me.
“Here,” I toss the extra blanket to Mary, and hand her some more string. “Just in case. I’m ready when you are.”
“Ok, where do we start?” Benny asks. In addition to his cane, he’s added some tan fingerless gloves and a backpack of his own, a blanket hanging below.
I pull the map back out from its envelope, lay it on a crate, and locate the spot noted “Walking Rocks.” Tracing it back with my finger, I look for somewhere I know but come up with nothing.
“Ok, let me try this,” I reach down and pick up a small rock from the ground and place it where we want to go and then search for a place I recognize on the map. “It’s been so long since I’ve looked at this…”
“Let me give it a shot,” Benny says, elbowing me out of the way. “So this is where we want to go?” He asks pointing to the pebble.
“Yeah,” I say through clenched teeth.
“And we are… Here,” He says stabbing the paper with his finger.
I look over his shoulder, “Yeah.”
“Ok, so if we go out of here and left,” he traces the map with his finger, like a child doing a maze on a restaurant menu. He has to backtrack a few times, but eventually he makes his way from where we are to the Walking Rocks.
“All right, can you do it again?” I ask, wanting to make sure we do not make the same wrong turns he just did. Fingertip to paper, he traces the route perfectly.
“Yeah, we go out the door,” He peers at the paper again, “Just to be certain,” he winks at Mary, “And head left.”
Mary catches sight of the blade I am wearing and eyes it suspiciously.
“Just in case,” I say, followed by, “Follow me!” I pull my Sphere from its pocket and hold it aloft, casting the blue glow out the doorway. I take a deep breath, “Here it goes,” I say as I exit the room, bring the soft blue light with me.
We hear rats and other creatures scurrying from the light, and the going is easy. We make it about five hundred feet, our starting point lost in the distant gloom behind us before I manage to trip on something. My sphere goes flying out of my hand, landing a few feet away amongst the muck. I get to my knees with the help of Benny and am looking for a surface to wipe my hands on, when I see Mary bend over to scoop up my sphere.
“No!” Benny and I shout at the same time, but it is too late. I do not have enough time to cover my eyes and am blinded by the flash of light. Rubbing them, I stumble over to where Mary now lays, unconscious. I check her pulse to make sure that is all, and smile weakly when I feel the beat of her heart.
“Benny, help me,” I say, grabbing her arms. He grabs her feet, and we half carry, half drag her to the wall, where we prop her up into a sitting position. While we are waiting, I retrieve my sphere and use my handkerchief to wipe it down. Half an hour passes while Benny and I make small talk, mostly trying to figure out if we really think that what we are doing is a fool’s errand or not.
Finally, Mary begins to stir. Holding her head, she asks “What happened?”
“Well, I guess I should have explained that before.” I tell her. “No one can touch a sigil sphere without the Prince handing it to them. It’s a protection built in to keep the people from trying to take them by force.”
“I see,” She said as she began to brush herself off. “Anything else I need to know about the spheres, you know, before I have one of my own?” She looks from me to Benny, and I silently shake my head at him while she is not looking at me.
“There is a kind of, I don’t know getting to know the sphere, process,” He says and I sigh.
“Attunement.” I tell her and she turns to face me. “We’ll discuss it if we find one for you.”
“When! When we find me a sphere.”
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