Vozz Stabtoe's Arc

Chapter 4 of 8

Vozz stood outside the lodge as the Hunter checked his pack. The bridge job was set, but he wanted her to understand the terrain first. He pointed toward the forest path that led west, where morning mist still clung to the ground between the trees. "The rock shelf sits above a ravine," he said. "You'll need to see it before you plan the charges." Vozz nodded and followed him down the path, her boots crunching on frost-covered leaves. This was how the Hunters worked—they studied the job before they acted. They walked for twenty minutes until the trees opened up near the ravine. The Hunter stopped at the edge and pointed down. Vozz saw the cracked shelf below, saw how the stone jutted out over empty air. She counted the weak points, measured distances with her eyes. The Hunter watched her work it out, then turned back toward the lodge. "When you know what you need, check the supply room," he said. "Third building past the training yard." The supply room door hung crooked on iron hinges. Inside, wooden crates lined the walls, each one marked with different labels. Vozz found rope, fuses, and powder containers on the lower shelves. Then she spotted a box marked "Danger" pushed against the back wall. She lifted the lid carefully. Colorful seed pods filled the container, each one the size of her fist. She'd heard about snappy-dragons before—plants that launched their seeds with enough force to crack bark. The Hunters kept them for studying explosive timing. Vozz picked one up and felt the tension in the shell. These things burst on their own when the pressure built too high. She could learn from that. She could figure out how force worked when it released all at once. She tucked three pods into her vest pocket and grabbed the supplies she needed for the bridge. Tomorrow she'd collapse that shelf clean, and the Hunters would see what she could do. But first she needed to test the pods. She'd heard about a tall ironbark tree that stood alone in the forest clearing, the kind with an old elven platform built high in its branches. Perfect for watching how the snappy-dragons exploded at different heights. She loaded her pack and headed east through the trees until she found it—a massive trunk that stretched up toward the sky, its carved platform jutting out from the canopy. Vozz climbed the narrow ladder built into the bark, her fingers gripping each rung tight. At the top, she stood on solid wood and looked down at the forest floor far below. She pulled out one seed pod and hurled it toward the ground. It hit hard and burst with a sharp crack, scattering shell fragments in every direction. The force was clean and fast. She threw the second pod and watched how the explosion spread outward. The timing matched what she needed for the bridge—sudden, controlled, complete. She pocketed the last pod and climbed back down. Tomorrow she'd use everything she'd learned. Tomorrow she'd show the Hunters what explosive work looked like when someone understood both power and precision. On her way back through the forest, she spotted something rising above the trees. A stone tower stood in a clearing, its walls carved with patterns she didn't recognize. Elven work, old enough that moss grew thick in the cracks. Vozz walked closer and ran her hand along the weathered surface. Someone built this place long before the Hunters came to Greenhaven. She wondered what they'd been watching for from up there, what they'd been trying to protect. The tower had outlasted them all. It stood here still, a reminder that some things endured. She stepped back and looked up at the crumbling top. Tomorrow she'd add her own mark to this forest. The collapsed shelf would be her proof, her first real contribution to the Hunter legacy. She turned away from the tower and headed back toward the lodge, her pack heavy with supplies and her mind sharp with plans.