Poppy's Adventure

The forge lurches. A cracked beam shrieks overhead, and soot rains down in black flakes. Vael braces in the doorway, one hand outstretched, shouting for Poppy to move now.

Poppy snatches the singed documents tight to her chest and turns back once, seeing the Wounded Smith half-buried by fallen scrap beside the hearth, coughing through the smoke.

A deeper groan rolls through the ceiling. The main support gives another ugly bend, and the nearest flames crawl lower under a spill of ash and charred cloth.

Poppy drives toward the threshold, choosing speed over caution. Behind her, the forge spits sparks as the path out chokes with swinging debris and falling cinders.

Then the outer yard flashes into view beyond Vael, and the whole scramble snaps into purpose, the papers in Poppy's arms becoming the only proof they can carry out before Cinder-Caller Veyr's agents arrive.

Poppy lunges through the smoke and hooks an arm under the Wounded Smith, hauling them clear of the fallen scrap. The forge answers with a deafening crack as the beam bows lower overhead.

Poppy gets the smith moving anyway, dragging them in a stumbling half-carry toward the door while ash stings her eyes. The singed sheets stay pinned to her chest, but a fresh scorch tears across her sleeve.

Vael catches the smith by the shoulder and helps wrench them over the threshold. Behind them, the forge light flares red through a curtain of smoke, swallowing the hearth in a shower of sparks.

The three of them spill into the yard together, coughing hard, as the doorway groans under the settling wreck. The path behind them is still half-choked with debris, and something outside answers with rough voices in the dark.