Purposely, Anne exhibited a hopeful smile before changing to an expression of disappointment and somewhat unwillingness, and Dorgh clearly got the message. It was low enough to be within of her means, but she had already given up on their town. So, he was also disappointed. The price was so low, yet she still wouldn’t do it. The smile revealed that she had enough, so the problem had to be the place. She should be thinking that opening a store here would be a waste of money.
“Damn… Oh, sorry for the language. You really know how to close a deal. I want to say yes, but I won’t have enough money left to even try to sell books on the streets should this fail… Really, such a pity…” Anne was trying not to overdo it.
Then, with a sudden change of emotions that could only come from having a realization, she asked:
“Can I have another look? Alone, I mean… No offense, but I can’t exercise my imagination with… interruptions. The town isn’t suitable for my business, but I might think of something. As you said, this place is so big, I might have an insight.” The unwillingness was still there, but now there was also a hint of hope.
Usually, allowing a potential buyer to go on a tour by themselves was a big no, but since this was an already “lost” customer, it shouldn’t make a difference. So, he let her go.
Anne pretended to be analyzing the space and simulating renovations, but once she left the dwarf’s sight, she rushed to the staff rooms. Her goal was the “trouble” in the farthest room, the spatial rift. The physical obstructions only delayed her for a couple of minutes, and soon she was standing in front of the shifting colorless energy.
Now that she could pay attention to it, the spatial energy looked very dangerous, like it would viciously “dislocate” anything at will. Holding her talisman, she spoke solemnly:
“Come out Moruh, it’s time to work.”
While the object dissolved into smoke and turned again solid in the form of a large blue feline wearing an old-fashion black hat, Anne took an ancient-looking book from a hidden place inside her coat. The book wasn’t too big, but it shouldn’t fit below her outfit, not naturally. It floated in front of her, flipping pages until it stopped, then she started an incantation with both words of power and hand symbols.
“Restrigere, Spatium!”
Power flowed through her, making her eyes glow blue and hair fly back, then she guided it to form a magic wall behind her and around the room. She had to isolate this place from any prying senses, otherwise, her act would be for nothing.
“Quickly Moruh. We don’t have much time.” The anxious remark worked for both the familiar and herself.
“Yes, mistress.” The magic creature replied without a hint of dissatisfaction while he worked through the archives that floated above him.
The glowing grey scrolls would float from the spatial archive and open in the air before being dismissed and stored again. Without a proper magic circle, he could only summon a handful of scrolls at a time. Their interest in the building was anything but coincidental.
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
A year ago, while doing her daily research, Anne had stumbled on an event report from a magic Academy that described the appearance of this rift. Such a thing appearing close to the Wall wasn’t that rare, and the follow-up report concluded that it was a stable but unusable rift. However, upon reading it she remembered a report with uncertified academic speculations about stable rifts without spatial tunnels.
Earlier, she wasn’t lying when she said that this was a desperate attempt to save her ancestral craft. It was a long shot to hope that this rift would somehow be connected to a good location inside the forbidden forest, and even if it did, opening a tunnel was beyond her current abilities.
All spatial rifts, regardless of being stable or usable, connected two places in different locations, and there was a high chance of this one being connected to the forest. The report didn’t investigate the other side because they wouldn’t waste resources on something unusable. Still, Anne would rather press her luck. She would find a way to make it work later.
After confirming the contents of a scroll, the bookmancer took out a rough greyish stone and started inscribing it with a magic mark while waiting impatiently for her familiar to finish his task.
Fortunately, a few moments later, three scrolls filled with symbols and spatial drawings opened in front of her. She only hesitated for a moment before throwing the stone at the rift and muttering a silent prayer for success. The stone barely flicked before disappearing. Hopefully, it would tell them where the other side is.
Anne placed a scroll with a spiral diagram on the ground and stuck a small metal pin to its center. Then, she tied a necklace to the pin and controlled her grimoire to move to another page.
“Ad Suum Par!” After chanting the spell, she guided the power to the stone in the necklace, which had the same inscription as the stone that went through the rift.
The stone shined and flew towards the west, extending the necklace. Once it became completely stretched, it started rotating around the pin, then it stopped before losing shine and dropping.
“Nine turns towards the west, with two fingers deviation north and one finger high. Mistress…” Moruh stated excitedly.
“Hum… Only one finger high, so the other side should be slightly above this level. Definitely not up the mountain… Give me the map.” Anne was contemplating what the distance meant.
Soon, the roughly drawn map had two marks representing the two possible locations of the rift. Anne stared at it with a complicated expression. Unfortunately, the forbidden lands were a novel and poorly mapped territory. Even a map with this level of uncertainty had cost her a lot, so she could only estimate the other side's location. As always, it would have to be a gamble. Either the rift would connect to a place on this side of the mountains, thus becoming useless for her, or it would lead to the other side and make her dream come true.
***
Dorgh was ready to come after the so-called bookmancer, who had disappeared for a good half an hour when he heard a sound from the stairs. At this time, he harbored little to no expectation for closing the deal, so he was anxious to cut the trip short. However, the enthusiastic behavior of the northeastern human renewed his hope.
Sadly, his optimism was too sudden. The happy girl become dejected as soon as she saw his smile as if she remembered an unfortunate detail. She struggled for a moment, before saying:
“I… I really wanted it, but I can’t risk it. If only this place was in town…” The unwillingness was transforming into acceptance in her voice.
Suddenly, Dorgh was compelled by an urge. This was probably their last chance to sell the place, it should be better to get something from it and bare the complaints of his boss. Maybe the bookmancer would help the town and he would become the visionary who saw it early.
“Miss Anne, wait! I really going overboard and even risking my job, but I can’t bear to let you walk away from this opportunity… Seven gold coins! That’s practically giving it for free…” The dwarf let out a painful sigh. This could become a mark on his spotless carrier, but he felt that it might be worth it.
“Deal!”