Fractured paths

Meeting between worlds part 1

Five days of walking. Five! And she still won't shut up. Regulus groaned. It's enough to drive anyone insane!

Lucy kept talking. "Back in the fifteenth century—the middle ages—the magical world was dominant, not the other way around. Can ye just imagine? There must've been ten times as many creatures walkin' about. Muggles depended on wizards and witches ta keep them safe, since they couldn't defend themselves against dragons or trolls and the like. Then came the church who said witches and wizards were evil—even though they protected muggles. That was when we started hidin', and our race decided not ta interact with muggles anymore."

"Didn't I tell you an hour ago to keep quiet?" Regulus hissed.

"Aye... ye did..."

"Then keep quiet!"

"All right..." Lucy walked in silence for five minutes. "The Christian church is the reason so much wizard history is lost or hidden."

Regulus groaned and smacked his forehead.

"We're walkin' astray again." Lucy corrected their course. "We don't want ta go in circles."

"How can you tell we're not walking in a straight line?"

Lucy pointed to a tree. "The moss."

"What about it?"

"It always grows on the east side of a tree. Since the sun rises in the East, that's where the first sunlight comes from—and it's where moss usually grows. The moss was at five o'clock when we started walkin', which means we're goin' slightly northwest."

Lucy was right. On every tree the moss grew in the same place. "How would you know that?"

"I used ta go huntin' for herbs and animals with me dad. Sometimes some of our animals got loose, and we'd have ta capture 'em, so we had ta be sure we wouldn't get lost ourselves."

"Oh, please, next you'll tell me how to tell time without a watch." Reg rolled his eyes.

Lucy pulled a knife from her pocket and stuck it in the ground. "It's after noon. I'd say a bit before four o'clock."

"That's ridiculous. How could you possible know that?"

"I know from the tree East is that way." Lucy pointed. "Or I could look at the sun and the shadow of the knife would tell me the rest. See? If it's there—" she pointed, "—it would be an hour after noon. If there's no shadow, it's noon precisely. Me dad taught me."

Reg sighed. "We have any more bread? I'm starting to get hungry."

"What's left is kinda dry." Lucy retrieved her knife. "We should eat somethin' different soon. If we stop early today, I could set up a rabbit trap."

Regulus' stomach turned at that suggestion. A forest rabbit? Ick! And she probably intends to cook it over an open fire. It'll be covered in dirt and smoke. I do miss the proper food back at Hogwarts. "No, thanks."

"Okay." Lucy held out a hunk of bread. "This is the last of what we've got."

"I was thinking, we've been walking in a straight line for five days. How much more forest can there be? What if we don't rest and keep walking until we get out? We can rest then."

"I'm not sure that's—"

"Great! Come on." Regulus kept walking.

They forged ahead.

Lucy started talking again, but Regulus ignored her.

It turned dark. On previous nights, they'd stopped to sleep, and after the first night—when a snake slithered too close for Regulus' comfort—he'd cast a shielding spell to ward off animals.