Adventure of Tuiwen 2

In the lantern glow, Tuiwen lifts the white bark thorn again, the same pale scrap that has been marking the way through Mirkwood.

The light steadies across its surface, and the bark answers with a clean silver sheen beneath the grime. Not rot, not ash, but birch.

Eldred draws a sharp breath beside her, his relief hardening into wary focus as the shelter's bright seam throws the truth into cruel relief.

Beyond the opened panel, the smoke-like shape is no longer a mystery of mist and shadow. It is a foreign working, a deceiver moving under borrowed bark and chosen paths, steering them wherever it means to lead.

The hidden shelter stands around them in pale light, while outside the forest presses close, as if it too has heard the name of the thing in the dark.

Tuiwen lowers the birch scrap and studies the scratched runes beside the seam. The cuts are old, but not random, a warning set into the wood with deliberate hands.

Her fingers trace the nearest sign. The groove catches on a splinter, and a bead of dark sap wells up against her nail, sharp with the sting of old resin.

The runes yield at last, not naming the thing outright, but naming its craft, a foreign deceiver wearing birch to make a road where none should be.

Outside, the shadows press at the shelter wall, while the open seam gives a faint creak, as if the hidden place itself is waiting for the next choice.