Adventure of Young Dave. 4

Cold dust fills Young Dave.'s lungs as he wakes on stone. The library is dim, but a pale glow hangs over him like a held breath. His body feels whole again, every ache gone, as if the fall never happened.

A low chant rolls through the stacks, not from any mouth he sees. The air prickles with old power, and a thin ribbon of light threads over his chest, then sinks into him.

Suzanne stands beyond the broken archway, half-lit by the red path. Dust drifts between you like ash. In Young Dave.'s hand, the big sword lies ready again, and beside it rests the route book, open to a fresh mark.

Young Dave rolls soundlessly to his feet and slips into the red glow behind Suzanne.

He flicks a smoke bomb low. Gray fog bursts across the shattered archway and crawls up the aisle.

Suzanne snaps around, but the haze hides the angle of his charge.

Young Dave cuts in from behind and drives the attack through the smoke.

Her shoulders jolt as the blow lands, and the red path flares hard through the drifting fog.

Young Dave drives the sword up into Suzanne’s shoulder, close and hard, and the hag buckles with a wet gasp. The red route mark surges brighter across the floorboards, as if the library itself feels the strike.

She lashes out through the smoke with a crackling shove of force, knocking Young Dave backward into the drifting gray. His grip fails, the big sword skitters away, and the ceiling dust shakes loose as he drops out of sight.