0.1 Prologue (read first, if possible)

Prologue

(five days before arriving at Heron’s house)

All the reports Keri received these days told her the same thing as her own readings of the night sky. She knew that time was getting short, but it wasn’t yet clear how much time was left. Hopefully it would be just enough... or all that she had dedicated her life to would be lost.

She did not like the uncertainty there, but after years of watching for the right signs she was feeling relieved to finally see some. Yes, it had been a long time to wait. She was old now, but still in good enough health to pace around her study; anxious but somehow appearing relatively calm for how impatient she felt. 

Keri had sent her messenger off again as soon as he’d reported the latest updates to her. Now, all she could do was wait for her other hired man to finish preparations to drive her to Little Hastingburn.  A 5-day trip to the middle of nowhere, to fetch someone who might not successfully make it through what had to be done. Though he might not succeed, there was no other option. Keri wished she could manage everything herself, but that was impossible. The one chosen for the task had to accomplish it himself, and the time had to be now. There could be no more waiting; she had to set things in motion quickly and bet everything on this one hand.

Pausing at her desk momentarily, she picked up a magnifying glass and peered once again at a very old parchment. The first things to have been written on it were horribly faded, and had been overwritten more than once; the parchment re-used for some kind of estate bookkeeping, and later on for a letter. But Keri couldn’t focus on deciphering more of the oldest writing on it, she was too anxious. Frustrated, she dropped the magnifying glass back onto her desk, and resumed pacing, reflecting on what she had already managed to learn from the document.

The one who she needed to set on his way towards finding the Kahy Relic would have many difficulties with the task. She couldn’t tell him everything, of course, or he would surely decline. She’d best not tell him about the singular Kahy Relic yet, but if he could find the rest of the Kaherian Relics, he’d surely find the way to that one as well. The rest of the Relics mattered in a way, but the most important would be the one that was once known as the Kahy Vector. No mere relic--though it was called so now--the item was believed to be of such great power and utility as to be the deciding force in any battle or contest of wills. She hoped the old document she’d been studying would tell her more about it--it was essential that she discover more before it was found, so she’d have some idea of how it could be safely handled. When the one seeking the Kahy Relic successfully found it, the very finding of it would seal his doom. That was the part she really had to avoid letting him learn.