Axel Thorne tracked blood through the temple gardens, and none of it was his. For three nights the beast had torn the grounds apart. For three nights the oracle had stayed locked behind stone doors, and Axel could not reach the one person he had crossed the swamp to meet. He knelt and pressed his fingers to a clawed print the size of a shield. Bull hooves in the front. Webbed toes in the back. He had hunted every creature the swamp held, but never this. The temple priests would not open the doors. They spoke through a slit in the stone. "The oracle stays sealed until the danger passes," an old voice said. "Kill it, hunter, or leave." Axel chose his ground near the flower beds. The tracks always circled there, where hanging blooms draped in blue and pink made good cover. He climbed into the vines above and waited with his bow drawn. Patience was the only skill that never failed him. Near midnight the beast came. It was huge, black, and slick, with a bull's horns and a frog's wide mouth. Red eyes swept the garden. It moved on four limbs, silent for its size. Axel breathed slow and loosed his first arrow. It struck the shoulder and the beast screamed, a sound half bellow, half croak. It charged the vines. Axel dropped, rolled, and came up firing. The second arrow found its flank. The third glanced off a horn. The beast swung its head and caught him in the ribs. He flew back into the stone wall and tasted blood. The creature reared over him. Axel did not run. He drew his hunting knife and waited for the throat to drop. When the wide mouth opened, he drove the blade up under the jaw and held on. Hot blood poured over his arm. The beast thrashed, staggered, and fell. Its weight pinned his leg. Then it went still. Axel pushed free and stood, shaking. The garden was quiet again. The stone doors groaned open. Light spilled across the dead beast. The oracle stepped out, slow and careful, long red hair loose over sage-green robes. Sera had lived inside these walls their whole life. Now they stood in the cool night air for the first time, eyes wide on the fallen creature, then on the bleeding hunter beside it. "You killed it," Sera said softly. "The others only hid." "You're safe now," Axel said. He held his ribs. "You can come out." Sera looked past him, toward the dark swamp beyond the gates. Longing crossed their face. Then a priest's hand closed on Sera's shoulder and drew them back toward the doors. "The threat is gone," the old priest said. "The oracle returns inside. Alone." The doors began to close. Axel had won the garden and lost the chance he'd come for. Sera met his eyes once through the narrowing gap, and did not look away until the stone sealed shut.