Adventure of Dagg Nabbitt

At first light, Dagg seals a letter and payment for Devia. It orders construction to begin today on a carefully built schoolhouse with classrooms, guarded work areas, and rooms for children’s needs.

The raven waits on the farmhouse rail while Dagg ties the packet securely to its leg. Your border collie watches from the porch, ears raised toward the snowy yard.

Dagg opens his hand, and the raven launches toward Devia with the payment and precise instructions. He remains alone with your border collie as the bird dwindles against the pale sky.

He secures the corrected civic plan in town’s hands, then steps from the farmhouse into the snow. Your border collie follows, paws crunching softly behind him.

Near the outer wall, darkness shifts beneath the eaves. A concealed figure, an adult of unknown gender hidden beneath a dark hooded wool cloak and gloves, emerges from the shadows, close enough that the snow gives no warning beneath their careful steps.

The figure strikes Dagg from behind. His sight breaks into white glare and darkness, and he collapses into the snow before your border collie can reach him.

Your border collie circles his fallen master, barking furiously at the retreating shape. The snowy yard holds only fading tracks, leaving the intruder’s identity and purpose unknown.

Dagg wakes on the storage shed floor, wrists and ankles bound, blood wet on his chin. Through the open door, your border collie lies in the snow, motionless but breathing shallowly.

The concealed figure watches from beside the door, hood hiding every feature. Animal fear surges through Dagg at the sight of your border collie, but his steadiness under watch fixes on the knots, the figure’s hands, and the dog’s breath.

The figure steps into the gray light but keeps the hood lowered. Dagg’s body strains against the rope as he checks your border collie’s chest, then the door, the floor, and every visible fastening.

Anger tightens Dagg’s voice, but Steady Under Watch keeps his attention on the ropes, the dog’s shallow breathing, and the stranger’s balance. His superstitious caution searches the hood for the Lich Queen’s sign, while Animal Lover fear fixes first on your border collie’s condition.

Dagg questions the threat instead of wasting strength against the bindings, weighing each answer against what the stranger witnessed. The approach steadies his hurt body and leaves no room for a convenient lie.

The figure lowers the hood. Sera Voss is an adult woman with a narrow, weathered face, cropped dark hair, and a charcoal wool cloak. She kneels and cuts Dagg’s wrist bindings, then his ankles.

She places a notched brass token and a folded address on the floor within Dagg’s reach. Outside, your border collie’s breathing strengthens, and the dog lifts his head when Dagg’s hands come free.

Anger surges through Dagg as his face draws toward a skeletal shape. Purple smoke seeps from his mouth and cheeks while Steady Under Watch keeps his focus fixed on Sera and the bindings.

Animal Lover pulls his attention briefly toward the breathing dog outside, checking that Sera has not harmed it. That concern costs him no purpose, and his strength tears the ropes apart despite his injured body.

Dagg crosses the shed in a burst of violet smoke and clamps both hands around Sera’s face. She claws at his wrists as his grip crushes her resistance and leaves her stunned.

He hurls Sera across the room. She strikes the wall with a heavy thud and collapses into the hay, motionless except for shallow breathing.

The torn ropes lie open on the floor. Outside, the dog gives a weak sound, and snowlight spills through the doorway around Dagg’s smoke-wreathed form.

Dagg’s human face settles as he kneels beside Sera. Steady Under Watch keeps his hands methodical while he searches her cloak, belt, boots, and inner seams.

Reads Hidden Signs catches a second stitch inside her cloak. Dagg opens it and finds the notched brass token, the folded south-quay address, and a small purse of silver.

The address names a counting room and an evening meeting, but the final line is smeared beyond certainty. Time spent deciphering it leaves the dog’s weakening whimper unanswered too long.

Animal Lover pulls Dagg sharply toward the shed door. He pockets the token and address, then crosses the snow to your border collie, whose breath comes shallowly beneath his fur.

Dagg presses a hand to your border collie’s chest and finds a steady but weak rhythm. The dog’s eyes open, and his tail gives one faint sweep against the snow.

He lifts your border collie carefully, supporting the injured body against his chest, and carries him toward the farmhouse. Behind him, Sera remains unconscious in the hay, breathing faintly.

Dagg carries your border collie through the farmhouse and lays him on a padded bed. The dog’s breathing is slow and shallow, each rise of his chest uneven beneath the fur.

He parts the fur and finds a deep red bruise over the ribs where the intruder struck. Dagg checks the chest carefully, recognizing the dangerous weakness of a possible punctured lung.

Animal Lover keeps Dagg’s hands gentle despite the urgency. He presses folded bandage cloth around the injury, securing it firmly enough to support the ribs without trapping the dog’s breath.

His healing attempt is clumsy and taxing, violet warmth gathering faintly beneath his palm as he steadies the damaged flesh. The dog’s breathing gradually deepens into a slower, more regular rhythm.

The effort strains Dagg’s already hurt body, and his preference for rest makes the careful work slower than he wants. Still, he keeps pressure steady until the dog’s color improves and the worst danger passes.

Your border collie lies quietly on the bed, bandaged and breathing more evenly. Dagg remains beside him, one hand resting over the cloth while the farmhouse settles into tense, watchful silence.

Dagg leaves Bramble resting on the padded bed, checks the dog’s steadier breathing once more, and walks back toward the storage shed despite the pull of his own exhaustion.

His relaxed nature urges him to postpone the unpleasant work, but Steady Under Watch keeps his attention fixed on the unconscious woman, the evidence, and the safety of the ranch.

Dagg enters the shed and finds Sera still unconscious in the hay, breathing faintly. He binds her wrists and ankles securely, then checks her pulse and breathing before moving her.

He searches her cloak again with patient care, preserving the brass token, folded address, and silver purse. A stitched inner pocket also holds a tiny iron key.

The key fits a narrow lockbox beneath the shed’s workbench. Inside, Dagg finds a second account token stamped with the same south-quay mark and a list of three payment dates.

Dagg carries the lockbox and Sera’s secured belongings into the farmhouse office, leaving her restrained where she can be watched. The shed door is barred, and the new evidence rests under his hand.