The Fire-Blood Maiden

The narrow track descends between dark pines into a steep ravine hollow. Flat stones lie scattered around a dry channel, each marked with crooked branches like the signs above.

Braska slows beside a half-buried stone arch, its broad shoulders shifting beneath the padded support. The bronze coffer gives a faint metallic knock, though nothing touches it.

Beyond the arch, worn steps descend beneath the road into darkness. Their edges are softened by age, but branching marks continue along the stones, vanishing below.

Braska lowers its horned head toward the steps and tests the air. Its injured leg remains carefully lifted between breaths, while the padded support holds the coffer steady.

The ravine holds its silence. Braska waits beside the arch, the dark stairway open before Kara, while the coffer’s faint warmth fades into stillness.

Kara looks from Braska to the descending steps. The pack lizard holds her gaze, then lowers its head and places one careful foot onto the first worn stair.

The coffer answers with a faint inner chime. Braska turns fully toward the darkness, making its choice plain, though its injured leg trembles beneath the padded support.

Braska pauses after two steps and looks back at Kara. It waits for her beside the arch, no longer choosing the route alone but plainly expecting her to follow.

The cost settles between them: Braska will follow Kara’s care, but not abandon its duty. The dark stair waits, and the pack lizard keeps one steady eye on her.

Kara follows Braska onto the worn steps, drawing a careful breath as she studies her hand. The darkness closes around the arch behind them.

She imagines sunlight gathered in her palm, then the modest flame of a torch. Heat answers, but spreads across her skin instead of forming a flame, leaving her hand warm and empty.

The attempt falls short, yet the warmth catches briefly against the nearest carved mark. Branching lines hidden beneath dust glow just long enough to reveal a narrow side passage descending beside the main stair.

Braska continues downward, pausing where the newly revealed passage splits from the steps. Its head turns toward the side route, while the coffer gives one muted chime beneath the padded support.

Kara grimaces and shakes the warmth from her hand. Braska watches her, then turns toward the side passage without answering, its head held low beneath the arch.

When Kara shifts toward the main stair, Braska plants its sound forefoot across the first step and tenses. The coffer gives a muted chime from the smaller route.

Braska backs into the narrow passage, forcing the padded support through the dusty opening. Its injured leg trembles, and the main stair is left unobstructed behind it.

The side passage narrows into darkness, while Braska waits just beyond its threshold and looks back once. The coffer’s chime fades, leaving its chosen direction costly but plain.

Kara nods and follows Braska into the side passage, turning her shoulders to clear the dusty stone. The padded support passes safely beneath the low arch.

The passage descends more gently than the main stair, its walls close enough to hold the sound of careful claws and boots. Branching marks glimmer faintly beneath the dust as they pass.

Braska slows at a bend where roots have broken through the ceiling. It lowers its head, then angles its body sideways, guiding the coffer through without scraping the bronze against stone.

Beyond the roots, the passage opens into a long underground gallery. Shallow recesses line the walls, each bearing the crooked branching sign, while a cool draft rises from deeper darkness.

Braska stops beside the first wall recess and waits. The coffer gives one soft chime, and a dust-covered stone within the niche shifts open to reveal a narrow, descending stair.

Kara follows Braska through the underground gallery, glancing quietly across the shallow recesses and their repeated branching marks. Her careful attention reveals no hidden watcher, loose stone, or fresh trail.

The gallery’s dust lies undisturbed except for Braska’s recent passage. Kara notices old scrape marks beneath several niches, all aligned toward the descending stair and none suggesting a trap.

Braska waits beside the opened recess, its head lowered toward the narrow stair. The coffer rests securely above its shoulders, and its injured leg bears the descent without buckling.

Beyond the gallery, Kara spots faded hand-height grooves along the stair wall, each paired with a branching sign. Their spacing forms a deliberate guide downward rather than decoration.

Kara descends the marked stair behind Braska, placing each foot on the worn centers of the steps. The hand-height grooves guide her through the close darkness, and she keeps the coffer’s padded support in sight.

The stair drops steeply but holds firm beneath her careful footing. Braska moves at a measured pace, shifting its weight to protect the injured leg while the bronze coffer remains balanced above its shoulders.

Kara reaches the bottom without slipping. The stair opens into a vaulted chamber where pale mineral veins stripe the walls and an old stone road continues beneath the earth.

Braska steps onto the buried road and pauses beside a waist-high pillar marked with branching signs. The coffer gives a soft chime, answered by a deeper tone somewhere ahead.

Braska lowers its head toward the buried road, then advances into the chamber’s dim distance. Kara follows at its shoulder, safely past the stair and fully within the marked way.