Before the covenant’s inscription fades, frost splits around a stone that was never visible among the others. Urazha remains beyond the oath-ring, while Tiamat waits behind Bottu beneath the pale sky.
A young ward-runner climbs from the opening, a young man, lean and wind-burned, with brown skin, cropped black hair, a weather-darkened blue cloak, and a cracked bronze tablet clutched to his chest.
Edrin Vale
My name is Edrin Vale. My settlement was commanded to reject your refuge, but the command is failing with the ward.
Edrin stumbles forward as pale light leaks through the tablet’s cracks. Behind him, the hidden passage contracts, leaving only the oath-stones and the fading covenant between him and the mountain.
Edrin Vale
Please witness it, Bottu. The final inscription is disappearing, and once it does, my people may forget they were ever ordered to turn you away.
Urazha
Let the tablet be shown. A ward’s command cannot be judged by rumor, nor can a settlement’s fear be dismissed without hearing its source.
Tiamat lowers one head toward the bronze tablet, but does not touch it. The last glowing lines crawl across its surface, awaiting Bottu’s attention before they vanish into the frost.
Preserve the bronze tablet’s testimony
Learn who ordered Edrin’s settlement to reject the refuge