Moira Thornwhisper's Arc

Chapter 1 of 13

Moira pressed her palm against the ancient oak, feeling the dryad's memories pulse beneath the bark. She needed a place the Crown would never find, somewhere deep enough to hide and close enough to strike. Clover hopped between her feet, nose twitching at the scent of old magic in the soil. The cottage stood half-buried in a ravine, its stones green with centuries of moss. The roof had collapsed inward long ago, creating a perfect hollow for the forest to reclaim. Moira circled it three times, studying the way shadows pooled in the doorway even at midday. This was it. The Crown's scouts would walk right past, seeing only another ruin swallowed by time. She knelt and began planting fire coral along the perimeter, pressing each cutting into the earth with whispered words from the dryad's grimoire. The fungus took root immediately, spreading in bright veins beneath the soil. By dawn it would form a living wall, beautiful and deadly. Anyone who touched it would burn from the inside out. Clover's ears swiveled toward the cottage entrance. Moira followed her familiar inside and found bones scattered across the floor, still wearing scraps of armor draped in moss. A knight, forgotten by everyone except the forest. She arranged the skeleton outside the doorway, facing the path she'd just walked. Let it stand guard. Let it be the first thing the Crown's hunters saw before the coral claimed them. Her sanctuary was ready.