Adventure of Tuiwen 2

Tuiwen hauls herself onto the rampart as the wall behind her spits stone dust. Below, Mirkwood lies dark and vast, but the fortress shudders like a living thing in pain.

A裂裂 crack snaps wide in the wall, and a surge of ash-laden wind blasts across the ledge. Far beneath Dol Guldur, something deep answers with a low, dreadful pulse.

The rampart stones buck under Tuiwen’s feet. Ahead, a narrow break in the outer wall offers one last chance toward open air, while behind her the fortress groans and the ancient presence below begins to stir fully awake.

Tuiwen launches through the split in stone as the rampart jolts under her feet. The breach gulps her in, and ash whips past her face in a hard, choking gust.

The opening spits her out onto the outer slope. Loose slate skids away under her boots, but she keeps her balance and drives onward, the fortress yowling behind her.

A crack like thunder tears through the rampart above. Stones break free, and the breach widens into a jagged mouth shedding dust and fire-lit rubble.

As she runs, Tuiwen glimpses the forest floor far below, a dark carpet of firs opening beneath the hill. The path down is clear, and the sentry's hint gives her a surer line than she had.

Behind her, Dol Guldur shudders again, and a deeper pulse rolls up through the stone like a buried heart striking once more.

Tuiwen cuts left when the sentry calls the line, and the firs catch her at last. Needles claw her sleeves as she plunges beneath the boughs, hidden from the shattered slope above.

A slab of stone crashes through the branches behind her, spraying bark and ash. The impact shakes loose a sting of pain along her shoulder, but she keeps moving.

She throws herself behind a black trunk and drops low. The mountain's roar dulls to a pounding tremor through root and soil, while the forest swallows her shape.

Below the trees, the dark carpet of Mirkwood lies open at her feet. Behind her, Dol Guldur groans and sheds another rain of dust into the air.