A slip between worlds, a tug on the fabric of reality, a delicate fold in the matrix of time...When the mists cleared, she found herself standing in the shadows across the road from the shop. She stepped forward, grateful for the travel cup of warm arsenic tea she held, proof against the rising damp of the evening. She was in Castle Rock, Maine.
Travel to the literary universes was always tricky; this stop more than most. Complication was already setting in, she saw, as the proprietor of the shop stepped into the open doorway. She squared her shoulders and made her way across the street. This was necessary. Needful, one might even say.
It was a moment to barter a bit of herself away to Mr. Gaunt; a moment more to return through the portal in the alley. The longest leg of her journey, in fact, required walking up all the turning steps to the tower.
Now, all she had to do was use the ring to reinforce the wards on the estate..before the full curse fell.
Simple.
It was a pretty thing, at least. Clean lines. A bas-relief eye in the crimson metal, sigil for so many things.
She slipped it on. It fit...as if it had been cast specifically for her. Perhaps it had. There was ever an element of risk in trades; perhaps she would not win, and Gaunt would delight in her suffering. Perhaps she would, and Gaunt would realize some fish are too big for his hooks. Either way, it accomplished the most needful thing: prevention of the slow erosion in reality beyond the tower...where New Alexandria used to be.
She dare not do any less--not only for her own people, but for those of Darkmere she'd invited in. Though, on reflection, she likely could have trusted their Duke to help...Still. Done was done. And she was home again. She stood and began to cast.
In the end, the invocation was the simplest part; words that were rote at this point, retying her magic to the realm, her spellcraft to her Duke's, to wreathe the land in a protective net. Self-sustaining, as well, which required a tricky bit of phrasing; the last thing she wanted was the ring to turn on the wards and slice through them when the unblinking eye chose to shut.
All too soon, it was done. Another hour and the visible magics would fade, the ring would come off. She could return it to the small box she was sure it hadn't come with, originally, and go on about her work. She would sleep soundly tonight, she thought...which would be something of a relief.
This, by the way, is a gift from /Vae Victis\ for the Warehouse Sale, which opened August 23rd. (Or just keep an eye on their web page for more information.) And it's still this pretty.
I'll likely cover what's actually in the booth at the Warehouse in a day or so, but I wanted this out first. It comes in five colors, a sturdy brass, a strong-cast silver, a dead-of-night black, a gleaming white, and this, the scarlet. I was wholly prepared to adjust and fiddle, since it was a ring, and the whole of my SL existence has featured fiddling with adornments, regardless of where they attach. But this? No need. It fits perfectly.
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