Adventure of Starlight Clearbottom 1

Starlight lands hard on the forest floor, silver braids flashing as she surges into the trees. Pine needles spring under her boots, and the smoke ahead thickens into a gray veil over the Long Road.

The Lookout drops in after her, slower and breathless, gripping a branch to steady themselves. Behind them, the tower bells fade, replaced by the deep, rhythmic thuds rolling through the trunks.

Through a gap in the brush, the road appears below, scarred by dark soot and a trail of broken carts. Heat wavers above the dirt, carrying the sharp sting of scorched earth.

Ahead, a broad shadow shifts beside the road, huge enough to bend the smoke around it. The thuds come again, each one deliberate, like a challenge heard through the trees.

The Lookout draws nearer to Starlight, still shaken but willing, eyes fixed on the smoke-choked path below. The road and the threat are both in sight now.

Starlight lifts the small wooden whistle from within her grip and brings it to her lips as the ogre’s thudding steps shake the slope below.

The owl note slips into the smoke, thin and clear, then vanishes between the pines.

A beat later, the answer comes from deeper in the trees, a rustle of fast-moving boots and parted brush.

Starlight’s whistle clicks softly in her hand, a hairline crack marring the carved beak, while the tower bells keep tolling far behind the woods.

Through the smoke, a human ranger pushes into view at an angle, bow half-raised and eyes already searching for the road below.

Laurel lowers her bow a fraction, and her hard stare softens at the sight of Starlight. The cracked whistle rests against Starlight’s fingers, still warm from the call.