Adventure of Slaan 1

The ridge echoes with shouted orders. Below, the den stirs awake, claws scraping stone and wings rustling in the dark pens.

Slaan has only a narrow ledge, the records under her robe, and a path that disappears behind the restless beasts. The chapel soldiers are coming down fast.

She slips toward the nearest pen and snaps a stone loose against the iron bars. The sound rings sharp through the hollow.

A wyvern hisses from the shadows, then another answers. Heads lift. Tail-spines rattle. The den’s temper turns outward, toward the intruders on the slope.

Armor clatters closer above. Slaan’s opening is clear now, if she can cross before the den decides she is part of the threat.

Slaan bursts from cover and cuts straight across the open floor, keeping low as the den’s attention stays fixed on the ridge. The records stay pinned beneath her robes. Her boots skid on loose grit, and one quick breath turns sharp in the cold air.

The Paladin reacts at once, angling his shield toward the slope while Bram rises from the stones and pivots toward the hidden gap. Above them, armored feet clatter closer, but the nearest wyvern throws back its head and snaps at the noise instead.

Slaan reaches the gap and hooks an elbow through the narrow opening, then swings herself to the far side of the rubble. A jagged stone catches her side as she passes, leaving a shallow tear in her robe and a sting of pain along her ribs.

The den answers her dash with a fresh burst of agitation, claws scraping, wings beating hard against the pen rails. The chase line above hesitates, forced to duck as a drake lashes toward the ridge path.

Bram reaches the opening behind her, one hand braced on the stone as he looks back toward the ridge. The open floor is no longer empty, and the beasts have turned the passage into a trap for anyone still on the wrong side.