Adventure of Bluu 1

Festival eve fills the market square with torchlight, music, and spiced-air crowds. Beside the fountain, a wounded pilgrim stumbles into view and collapses, blood darkening the stones.

He is an adult man in a torn brown pilgrim's cloak, lean beneath travel dust, with a broken spear haft strapped across his back and a red-stained bandage at his side.

The crowd presses inward, torch smoke curling above anxious faces. A vendor shouts for the watch while the fountain's silver water runs beside the spreading blood.

Several hands reach toward the pilgrim, then hesitate. The square waits on Bluu's immediate response as distant bells mark the coming festival.

Bluu kneels beside the pilgrim and opens his healing kit on the fountain’s rim. Clean bandages, salve, and a small vial catch the torchlight.

He presses folded linen to the wound, cleans away the blood, and binds the pilgrim’s side firmly. The bleeding slows, then stops beneath the fresh dressing.

The pilgrim’s breathing settles into a stronger rhythm. Color returns to his dusty face, and he grips the broken spear haft without trembling.

Around them, the crowd exhales as one. The vendor, a middle-aged woman with a sturdy build, warm brown skin, and a red apron over a dark green dress, lowers lowers his raised hands, while distant watch bells answer the festival music.

The wounded pilgrim glances toward the eastern gate, where festival lanterns sway beneath the dark line of distant woods. His fingers tighten around the broken spear haft.

A hush spreads through the nearest listeners. Even the vendor lowers her voice as the wounded pilgrim turns from the woods toward the shadowed alleys beyond the square.

Bluu closes his healing kit and turns toward the eastern gate. He leaves the festival square behind, following the dark road toward the old ash woods.

The gate guards, two adult men with sturdy builds, weathered faces, cropped dark hair, and bronze-trimmed green coats over mail, lift the crossbar without delay. Beyond it, lantern light fades behind Bluu as cold wind carries ash-scented air from the forest.

Bluu reaches the first ash trees. Their pale trunks are blackened in long streaks, and deep clawed tracks mark the damp earth beneath the branches.

Bluu follows the blackened trail beneath the ash trees. The claw marks deepen along the slope, while brittle leaves stir in the cold wind without revealing its source.

Beyond a bend, the trail crosses a shallow stream filmed with gray soot. Fresh boot prints overlap the beast’s tracks, leading toward a ruined watchtower.

A young adult woman steps from behind a scorched ash trunk, lean and sharp-featured, with russet skin, braided black hair, and an ash-gray scarf over patched leather.

She raises a curved blade but does not advance. Two more figures shift among the trees behind her, their scarves blending with the soot-dark branches.

Bluu chuckles softly, remaining planted beside the soot-filmed stream. He neither advances toward the ruined tower nor retreats, while the bandit’s blade stays raised between them.

Her gaze flicks toward the blackened tracks, then returns to Bluu. The compliment has softened her tone, but suspicion hardens her grip until the curved blade bites through her glove.

The ash-gray bandit studies him from the raised blade to the healing kit, then lowers her weapon. His promise wins her cooperation, but her suspicion remains a visible weight between them.

She scrapes ash from the scorched trunk and draws a dark mark across her glove, spending the concealment that kept her hidden among the trees.

Bluu smiles and remains beside the soot-filmed stream, watching the bandit as promised. He keeps his healing kit ready, but does not move farther along the trail.

She steps backward toward the tower, increasing the distance between them instead of allowing him to walk at her shoulder. Her curved blade lowers, though her attention remains fixed on him.

The arrangement leaves Bluu unable to remain truly near her, and the narrow trail makes following her exact pace unavoidable. She turns toward the ruined watchtower, waiting for him to accept the safer distance.

Bluu smiles, keeps his healing kit ready, and falls five paces behind her. The ash-gray bandit watches him briefly, then turns toward the ruined tower.

She leads along the soot-dark trail, placing each step around the beast’s deeper tracks. At the tower’s broken wall, she reveals a narrow side path hidden beneath fallen ash branches.

The concealed path descends toward the roots beyond the tower. From ahead comes a faint, hollow call, and the bandit raises two fingers, signaling silence.