The necromancer would have crossed the barrier by now, Kadin was certain of it. So he pushed himself hard for to make up time. His tracks were easy enough to follow and he still didn’t seem to be teleporting through the distance so that should help.

The ground was rocky and uneven and this close to the blasted lands there were blasts of hot air the were able to push through the barrier there were also no other settlements or small farm holds about so any tracks he found would be those of his target. As the day wore on and as Kadin kept pushing himself never stopping, eating while on the move he could see that he was starting to make up the gap at the start of the day he would have judged the tracks to be about eight hours, now in mid-afternoon he felt he was down to about six hours, but Kadin knew he couldn’t keep this pace for very long. There were also times where he was traveling over rocky ground and there were no tracks for him to follow, but every now and then he would see something a stubbed rock still damp on a side that had been kicked up as he passed, he also found the remnants of a fire a small camp fire that had small amounts of food such as a small amount of chard bacon, the crust of a dry piece of trail bread. Kadin had a fleeting thought of ‘If I was here this time yesterday I would be ahead of him’ and ‘I could have got him before I had to go into that!’ as the sun was slowing beginning to set he could see the shimmering glow of the boundary wall still far ahead. But Kadin pushed on into the night still seeing the occasional light flash of magical energies hitting the barrier – but still letting through the hot blast of air. The day had taken its toll on and he felt exhaustion start to cloud his mind but he still pushed through it he set a goal of not resting till he was at the boundary so until he was there it was a case of one foot in front of the other, trudging on and on and on. Until finally he arrived. The barrier itself was a light shimmering wall that looked like the surface of water only it standing up right. He had passed through the northern boundary before – but this was his first trip into the blasted lands, the boundary looked the same it was about as thick as his forearm, but extended away from him as far as he could see in every direction, including straight up – another fleeting thought of ‘I wonder how high it goes?’ before calling it in for the night, it would be hot and stuffy and from repots be chocking with sulphur fumes. So before facing that he would have a rest on this side of the barrier. But like the previous night there was no areas around him in which to make a decent camp, after having a quick look he found a larger stone than most and cleared a space in front of it, he was in about three steps of the barrier so he found the most comfortable rock he could find and set it up as a pillow. This time however he had remembered to set up traps and glyphs so as not to be surprised by any sabercats, he had also kept his hood up for the whole day and still now so he felt free of any mental attacks. His last thought before sleep claimed him was – ‘I really wish I had a stamina potion for tomorrow.’

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