[CHAPTER SEVEN]

Sloane had been riding by day and camping out by night for three days. Dawn was just 

breaking on the fourth day. She opened her eyes and stared up at the sky that was steadily fading from night to day. She sat up, rubbed her face and then stretched. After putting on her boots she stirred the coals and added some new twigs and sticks to build up the fire. The morning air was chilly but pleasant. She pulled a kettle from her inventory and placed it in the coals with water and this world's version of coffee grounds. They were a milder bean with a soft aftertaste. She had never liked coffee before, but this version suited her tastes.

She pulled one of the sandwiches from her inventory and enjoyed it with the hot beverage. Her horse, which she had decided to name Regal, munched contentedly a few yards away. She watched the sunrise on this beautiful landscape. Rolling hills dotted with trees and blanketed with wildflowers and tall grass stretched across the horizon as far as she could see. Various bird songs drifted across the hills. It was the most idyllic scene she had ever experienced.

After finishing breakfast and extinguishing her fire she saddled Regal and made her way back to the road. She had been riding for a little over an hour when something in the atmosphere shifted. Regal came to a dead stop on the road, feet planted firmly, body trembling. Sloane could feel it as well, an energy in the air that she couldn't identify. She drew her bow and nocked an arrow but didn't draw it back. Instead she stayed alert, eyes roving. 

The earth rumbled, Sloane blinked, and then there was an energy shield in front of her. And on the other side of that shield was a brand new landscape. Sloane stared in shock. The idyllic scene she had been enjoying had been pushed aside to accommodate this new addition. Low hills had given way to a lake and tall old pines. Sloane put her bow and arrow away and directed Regal to move parallel to the energy shield. She needed to scout and map this and confirm that there were no rifts for monsters to claw their way through. She skipped lunch but let Regla graze as they patrolled the edge, by sundown she still hadn't found the end of the lake or a settlement.

Sloane made camp and debated with herself whether she should return to Fort Langton, or continue scouting. In the end she settled on scouting. There was no telling how long this shield would last and if there was a rift on the other side of it she needed to know where it was, or at least have a more accurate idea of the landscape if she was to have an advantage.

Sloane repeated the process of getting up before dawn and starting her patrol as soon as there was light, continuing through the day, and stopping to make camp when the sun went down for another three days. Shortly after she started riding on the fourth day she came across signs of a village.

Sloane pulled up her map and began to laugh. If she had only gone to the left instead of the right to scout, she would have come across the village within another day or so. She could see that there were new fortifications made to the village perimeter. She pulled to a stop and stepped down from the saddle.

People emerged from the huts with shields and axes. She lifted her hands in a "I mean you no harm" gesture. Tentatively one of the men approached the barrier. He spoke but she couldn't hear him. She gestured that she couldn't hear him and looked around for a way to communicate. Realizing there wasn't even a scrap of bark to write on, she became frustrated. 

"Do I leave? Or do I make camp?" she asked Regal as he nuzzled her shoulder. "What would make them more comfortable?"

Regal nudged her shoulder.

The temperature had been dropping steadily since the barrier appeared, and now large snowflakes began falling and even though they melted almost as soon as they touched the ground it was still quite cold.

"I guess that is my answer," Sloane said as she rubbed Regal's neck.

Sloane brought Regal into the stand of trees where she built a makeshift shelter big enough for the two of them to fit comfortably. It was tedious and took more time than she would have liked, but it was snug and sturdy when finished. Sloane brought Regal inside and pulled the tarp closed. The snow began falling harder and the wind picked up. She unrolled her sleeping bag on top of the ground sheet in the corner of the shelter. Regal nudged her and rubbed his face against her back.

"Just give me a second," Sloane laughed and steadied herself, "I need to set up the stove so we don't freeze to death."

Sloane pulled the small wood stove from her inventory and set it up on a stack of stones she had plastered together with mud to be a solid foundation. She pointed the stove pipe out through a space between the tarps near the roof and then opened the front and stuck some kindling from her inventory inside. Sloane started digging for matches in her inventory then was struck by an idea.

"What do you think Regal?" She asked, sticking her hand in the stove, "can I light this with a spark?"

Regal snorted and stomped his foot impatiently.

"Fine, fine, I'll stop asking and try it."

It took a few attempts but Sloane finally got the correct intensity for the kindling to catch fire. Gradually she added larger sticks until she had a steady flame. She snapped the front closed. The small space was cozy, the walls of the shelter flapped gently from the rising winds. 

Sloane hung a feed net for Regal and then went outside to find more rocks to weigh down the edges of the shelter, and to make sure the knots holding the segments together were tight. Sloane added cut branches, tying them together and to the surrounding trees to form an additional layer of protection for her shelter. She added mud and leaves to the cut branches. When it was finally too dark to work she realized she had no choice but to be satisfied with the current state of the shelter and slipped back inside.

The interior was warm and cozy, even if it wasn't bright, the only light coming from the stove and the information screen of her bracer. She stood in the doorway listening to the soft sounds of Regal chewing hay and the crackle from the stove.

Sloane pulled a kettle and a canteen from her inventory and prepared to make tea. When it was ready she slipped out of her shoes and into the sleeping bag with a handful of jerky. When she finished eating she set the cup aside, pulled the sleeping bag up to her chin, and tucked in to sleep.

The last thing she thought as she drifted off was that the last time she experienced weather like this was the day she turned eighteen. 

"I wonder how Charles Finley the fourth is doing?"