Adventure of Tuiwen 2

The stream tightens into a black tunnel of stone. Beneath the water, pale light pulses like a hidden heartbeat, drawing Tuiwen onward while the hunters fade above.

At the far bend, the glow catches on a carved wall. Old runes surface from the wet dark, and one line still holds: Rhosgobel, by the hand of Radagast.

The current carries a small branch against Tuiwen's knee. Bound to it is a strip of bark, dry beneath the flood, scratched with a mark of two crossing paths.

As she lifts it, the pale light flares once, and the mark answers with a brief, violet shiver. The message is clear, Saruman's hand still reaches through the wild.

Beyond the bend, the tunnel splits, one mouth rising toward root and daylight, the other sinking deeper into cold stone. The brighter way leads west, toward Rhosgobel, if Tuiwen moves now.