Dawn returned from her explorations with a bundle of materials.

Small flexible branches, long pine roots, grass stalks and twines and even some antlers and animal bones were trussed up in an ungainly bundle, strapped together with the help of some long blackberry twines. At least she hadn’t needed to lug it all up the slope, she thought thankfully. Her storage ring really was priceless.

Sitting down on the rock she started to sort out her loot. At least the rain had stopped now. She shed her cloak and spread it out on the rock to dry. Looking down the slope over the valley she saw low clouds hanging over the trees like steam, giving the whole valley the appearance of a wash house on laundry day.

First: a basket. She started a base with several crossed willow branches, pinned in place with blackberry twines that she had stripped from thorns, and wove more vines in between. Slowly it started to take shape. In the end she held up a small misshapen basket. She split some pine roots and started to thread them in through the sides to generate some handles. Her basket wouldn’t take a lot of weight, she suspected, but it was better than nothing.

Sighing she contemplated making a fishing line and hook, but set aside her materials So far so good. She was hungry again and prepared herself an oat porridge eating it together with some of her mother’s preserves.

Antsy from sitting still, she decided to walk over to the end of the valley. The small waterfall there had increased its volume after the rain of the morning. The sun started to come out between the clouds now and Dawn felt warm and sticky with sweat and dirt. She would go to the waterfall and wash herself up. She stowed the pot and her new basket in the storage ring and went down.

Arriving at the waterfall she looked around alertly. After her experience with the dark beasts in the morning she wasn’t acting as carefree as before.

‘Well, the coast seems to be clear,’ she thought. ‘I wonder where Ankou has gone.’ She would have felt safer if the cat had been around.

Shrugging her shoulders, she shed her clothes and carefully stepped into the creek. The stones beneath her feet felt slippery and she didn’t want to fall. The water was ice cold and she shivered but slowly ducked under the waterfall to sluice herself off. After the first shock, the water was invigorating. Dawn felt strange and a little naughty, standing out here in the open in her birthday suit. She started to loosen her braid and held her head under the water, massaging her scalp.

She waded out of the water and dried herself, shivering. Afterwards she dressed in fresh clothes, another set of her father’s. Rolling up sleeves and trouser legs she remembered she urgently needed to shorten the trousers. “Too much to do and not enough time,” she murmured as she braided her wet black hair.

Regardless, she felt wonderful right now. Alive in a way she had never experienced before. But she still had a lot to do today. As she turned away her gaze fell onto a dark indentation high up on the rock face beside the waterfall. ‘Could that be a cave?’ She asked herself. If so, she should investigate it. The place was obviously harder to reach than her current shelter, but it would be a lot safer too. If it truly was a cave.

Properly, she should go back to her camp and start constructing her fishing line and hook, Dawn thought. But excitement and curiosity won out over reason.

Deliberately she started on her way up, looking up the cliff. It shouldn’t be too hard a climb, she spotted several ledges and protrusions on the way. A few minutes later she arrived at her destination. The climb hadn’t been difficult, or maybe she had gotten better at climbing, now that she had been making her way up and down the valley slopes all the time.

It really was a cave! Dawn entered the dark narrow aperture slowly, acknowledging that her climbing skill had reached level 4. The opening led into an almost perfectly oval, low-ceilinged room. The ground was littered with pebbles and animal droppings but the cave was empty. The walls looked strangely smooth and glossy, no cracks or crevices, no protruding rocks. It didn’t seem natural.

Dawn trailed her hand on the walls of the cave. The walls really were perfectly smooth. Astonished, she realized her hands left silvery moths of light in their wake. ‘What in all the hells?’ she thought, taken aback. On the wall, a kind of silvery letters or runes started to materialize. Dawn just stared. Several rows of runes were lighting up the wall. It was no script or language that she had ever seen. Unsure, she poked at the lighted section with her fingers. Her hands were scratched from climbing, the fingernails rough and broken. Suddenly, one of the runes she touched lit up with a flare, and with a small snick, a rectangular section of the wall sprang open, revealing a low black passage leading further into the cliff.

Musty air billowed out. Dawn wrinkled her nose, distractedly chewing on the end of her braid. She was tempted to explore the passage, but at the same time afraid the door would close again and shut her inside. She shoved the door open wide and, taking care to stand outside the doorway, stuck her head into the passage. Even with her Dark Sight, she was hard-pressed to make anything out in the gloom. Torn, Dawn stood and waited silently for a long minute.

Finally, her curiosity gained the upper hand. She wedged several pebbles under the door, in order to keep it from closing up again and slowly started to make her way down the passage. She encountered several cobwebs on her way in, the residue sticking to her face and hair. Sputtering and disgusted, she gripped her knife and waved it before her to clear out the cobwebs. The winding passage was narrow, the sides covered with moss. Dawn followed the passage steadily downwards for a long time, after several bends it suddenly opened up into an enormous chamber with high ceilings.

Dawn’s feet echoed on the ground as she entered the silent space. Looking around she discovered several levels of terraced buildings extending dark and eerie all around her. The dark windows appeared like eyes that were watching her. A few paces into the chamber, Dawn started to feel overwhelmed by the oppressive atmosphere.

Who had lived in this city? And why had it been abandoned? Certainly this underground city was an amazing discovery. Even so, she felt uneasy and insecure. Her excitement began to wane.

Shaking herself off, she decided to return to her valley. She could always explore further another time. Swiftly she retraced her steps, thankful that there had been no branches in the passage. She couldn’t get lost on her way back.

When she arrived in the cave and looked out into daylight, she felt relieved. Somehow, the abandoned city had spooked her. It appeared so gloomy and lifeless.

She climbed down to the creek and was greeted by Ankou, who butted his head against her leg energetically.

“Hello Ankou, what have you been up to?” she asked. The cat pushed at her, flicking a tufted ear impatiently and she had a sense of urgency. Bewildered she looked around. After a moment she heard a dog barking and voices: “The dog has found the scent, there’s a trail going down here.”

On the border of the slope, two men appeared, one of them leading a dog. Dawn froze, she knew those men. They were brothers, Nikolas and Elijah, hunters from Greenriver. Their dog was barking excitedly, eagerly leaning into its leash on the way down.

Dawn was alarmed. They had to be looking for her! She had felt safe from discovery in her hidden valley, but of course her mother hadn’t meekly accepted her disappearance. She must have asked the hunters to find her. She should have expected that.

Panicked, she looked around. She had to hide. But of course, there was no escaping the dog. It would find her scent. Even Shadow Play would be useless against that.

She had to get back to the cave before they saw her. Activating Shadow Play, she hurriedly started to climb up again. Flinging herself into the dark opening she deactivated the skill, feeling drained already. Ankou had followed her on her way up and pushed himself into the cave beside her.

Holding her breath anxiously, she watched the hunters. Lead by their dog they climbed down to the valley floor and found her shelter with the firepit on the slopes in short order. The brothers were talking to each other and looking around, no doubt expecting to find her easily.

‘Busted,’ Dawn thought. She could not return to her camp now. She hoped to remain hidden in the cave she was in, but she couldn’t count on it. Already the brothers were following their dog in the direction of the waterfall.

“It seems we have to go exploring a ruined city, Ankou, “ she said. She pushed the cat into the direction of the passage. Ankou stuck his nose inside, sneezed and turned his head to her with a reproachful look. “Go in,” she told him impatiently, “We have to hide!” Pushing the cat before her, she entered the passage again. This time she closed the door almost completely, leaving only a small crack, secured against closing with a small rock in the doorway on the ground. She prayed the hunters wouldn’t notice the door if they looked into the cave. The inside was gloomy and without Dark Sight they wouldn’t be able to see any details. At least she hoped that would be the case. She never considered closing the door completely though, too afraid to find herself stuck underground with no way to escape.

They followed the passage swiftly, Dawn listening intensely all the time. When they reached the abandoned city, Dawn was unsure where to turn. Should they enter a nearby building and wait? No, better to put some distance between them and their pursuers. If the hunters found the passage she would have a better chance of fleeing if she heard them coming from afar.

Moving as silently as she could, she swiftly started to traverse the enormous chamber, trailed by Ankou. She abandoned all thoughts of caution, driven by her fear of being brought back to Greenriver and a marriage with Beran.

When they had almost reached the other end of the city, she decided to enter one of the buildings on the ground level. Entering through a dark doorway, she was greeted by an empty room bereft of all life. She explored the other rooms, but they also were empty and silent. In the back of the house she saw a stair leading upwards. There, she found two rooms with stone beds, nothing else left inside. She sat down on one of the beds, Ankou hopped up beside her and pushed his nose against her neck. She laid her hand on his silky back, grateful that he was here beside her.

“I guess we have to wait here for a while,” she said. Dawn was agitated, unhappy that she was obliged to wait here blindly, not knowing if the hunters had found the passage to the city. After what seemed to her like an eternity, she couldn’t stand the inactivity any longer.

Rising from the bed she left the abandoned house and started to explore the other buildings around her. All she found was dust and more stone beds, however.

Following Ankou, she climbed up higher and noticed a huge building on the topmost level, sporting a high entryway bordered by several chiseled white pillars. Feeling very small and insignificant, she entered the grand house. Inside she perceived a high chamber containing multiple rows of stone shelves, all filled with books and scrolls. “So many books,” she whispered overwhelmed. Reaching out to a shelve to take a book, she found her hand blocked by an invisible barrier. “What in all the Gods’ names is that?”, she said astonished.

Dawn walked farther along the shelves and tried several times to take one of the books. But she was stopped by the invisible barrier every time. The floor beneath her feet was a stone mosaic consisting of splendid geometrical ornaments shaded delicately. As she entered the central part of the building, the space in front of her began to glow softly. Slowly the outline of a slender man with pale skin, dark eyes and white hair started to crystallize in the air.

“I bid you welcome, visitor, in the library of the great city of Raknavor. Home of the stoneblood folk, governed by King Rakna the seventh now .” The voice sounded pleasant, but Dawn jerked, surprised.

“My name is Starin Oldblood. Sadly, I cannot greet you in person. What you see before you is a recorded memory. Our soldiers and mages are losing the war against the gray demons. We have taken great losses and are bound to abandon this city in the next days, before it is too late for the last of us. We cannot take the contents of our whole library with us and are leaving the greater part of it here, protected by a stasis field. Hopefully, we will be able to return to our home some time in the future. If you see this memory, the time of our return has not yet arrived. May you be safe in these harrowing times.”

With these words, the glowing figure began to fade and silence and darkness returned to the library of Raknavor.