Ascent of the Aliomenti by Alex Albrinck

fetch their few belongings for their departure. Eva returned to Will’s room at the inn with her bag of medicinal plants and herbs. Hope brought only the hair pin and necklace that had once belonged to her mother, Genevieve. The items had been gifted to Hope – then known as Elizabeth – by Arthur as they’d prepared her burial. Will knew only that Hope would one day wear the necklace to their wedding. At the thought of that day, a thousand years hence, he felt a sudden surge of fatigue.
    Though they were paid up on their lodging, the women left a gold coin for the landlord, believing it was the proper thing to do. The trio debated leaving a note, but were unable to devise a plausible explanation for the sudden disappearance of three people. The gold coin was intended to be an indication that they’d not been taken against their will, though they were uncertain if an escape or forced abduction would cause greater concern.
    With both rooms emptied of possessions, they each teleported in turn to the copse of trees outside the walls of the city, where Will, unbeknownst to the two women, established a protective physical barrier with his nanos. Each of them generated a personal barrier of Energy as well; they’d wake if anything threatening approached and pierced those fields. With their defenses set, the trio slept in peace and comfort under the stars, unconcerned about discovery or stealth attacks.
    When they awoke in the morning, they shared a meal of fruit collected from the nearby trees. The fruit was exceptionally succulent, enhanced in size and flavor from the Energy emanating from the trio. All felt sated and prepared for a journey.
    “Where should we go next?” Will asked.
    “We moved northeast when we left the village,” Eva said. “Since we don’t want to go closer to the village, perhaps we should consider continuing in that direction.”
    “That makes sense,” Hope said. “There’s just one problem.”
    “Right,” Will said. “We have to go past the city to do that.”
    Eva glanced at Will. “Is there a way to ensure we aren’t seen? I’d prefer not to travel several miles off course to avoid detection. And we can’t teleport to the other side, because we have no visible markers.”
    Will returned the glance. “Off course? Are we heading in a very specific direction, or just generally northeast? If so, why not just go north for a few miles and resume the northeasterly route? Or just go southeast, which still gets us further away from our... origin.”
    “I’d prefer not to go too far north,” Eva said. “I’m worried about the weather we might encounter during winters if we do so. The further east we can go, the better.”
    “Then let’s go south first,” Hope replied. “Go far enough to avoid detection, and then pick up a northeasterly route once we’re certain the scouts from Abrecan can’t see us.”
    Will found the suggestion reasonable. Eva seemed prepared to protest, but then agreed, noting that Hope’s suggestion addressed the concerns Eva had expressed. After they packed away more of the fruit and refilled their water skins, the trio set off south. They walked until they could just detect the city walls to the north, and then turned due east. Once they had traveled for a mile, they changed course again at Eva’s urging, this time to the northeast.
    “I’m curious,” Will said. “What made you move northeast when you left? We tended to travel north on most Trading runs, so you would have gone past several of those towns and risked detection. You also expressed concerns about weather, specifically weather that became bitterly cold. Why not head south and avoid all of those problems? Why continue to push movement northeast?”
    Eva hesitated a moment, and then sighed deeply. “I was not born in this area,” she said. “I never knew my parents. I was brought to the baron, through channels I haven’t quite worked out, when I was a newborn. The only information they had