Astra thought it almost certain that the mage had been using the map to
guide him to her. True, it had been hidden away in the lining of his robe,
but a sufficiently powerful magician could transfer it from there into his
hand whenever he needed to consult it, and then return it to its hiding
place afterwards.
Whoever the mage's masters were would presumably quickly have become aware of his demise. Even if the original plan had been for the dead mage to find both Astra and "Mercury", which seemed possible given their apparent proximity, the mage's masters might by now already have sent a substitute after Mercury. So, intent on reaching Mercury first, Astra decide to head towards the city, hoping that the journey would prove to be as short as it appeared from the map. Of course, someone else would probably be sent after Astra herself as well, but - if the map that she held was not the only one that could identify her position - there was nothing that she could do about that. Before long, she was able to estimate the scale of the map, by using the speed at which her own symbol moved across the parchment.
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5/17/2004 10:20:15 AM
Extending Enabled
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