Confrontation on the Northern Road

Cold air cuts out of the tunnel as Enanita steps onto the northern road. The forest thins ahead, and fresh, heavy boot prints sink into the mud, heading straight for the jagged spires.

She tucks the ledger tighter under her arm. The route in its pages points north, and Brann's trail does too. For the first time, the chase and the truth line up.

A shape moves between the trees. A man in a travel-stained cloak halts by the path, one hand raised, the other hidden near his belt.

Brann's eyes flick to the ledger under Enanita's arm, then past her, as if measuring how fast he can run and still reach the spires.

The road narrows between black roots and stone. Ahead lies Brann's trail, beyond it the northern spires, and somewhere between them the answer Veyl has been steering her toward.

Brann lowers his raised hand and takes two careful steps past her, eyes never leaving the road ahead.

Enanita lets him go, then slips into the shadow of the roots behind him, her boots sinking silent into the mud.

The ledger stays tucked close as she follows his track, close enough to catch the frayed hem of his cloak in and out of the brush.

Brann mutters under his breath, then veers toward a break in the trees where the road bends toward the northern spires.

Ahead, the spires rise larger now, and a pale strip of stonework shows through the dark branches, half-hidden and waiting.

Brann reaches the edge of the clearing and pauses, listening. Without turning, he asks, 'Do you still mean to follow me inside?'

Brann stops with his shoulders squared to the road, not the trees.

He finally looks back, just long enough for the pale stone of the sanctuary to catch in his eye.