Spanner Few takes wing from the water-analysis chamber, the blue Elfstones secured against his body. The Wishsong remains unsung as he crosses broken ridges toward the Silver River.
Behind him, the old soldier remains at the hospital with the delegates, while the winged messenger waits at the upper landing. No companion follows into the open sky.
The Silver River appears clear beneath the gray daylight, winding through drowned fields and collapsed bridges. Wind carries its cold spray upward as Spanner Few descends toward the bank.
Spanner Few
The water looks clear, but the watershed has already been reached.
A ruined warning beacon stands half-submerged among reeds, its old signal housing split and rusted. Around its base, a thin black sheen gathers in slow, oily circles.
No royal guard answers the beacon. Downstream, damaged filtration gates sag across the current, their clogged screens staining the riverbank with dark residue.
The beacon gives one weak amber flicker, then falls silent. The Silver River moves past it without response, leaving the warning and its waiting signal in Spanner Few's hands.
Warn the King about the Silver River’s danger