Contents
19 West
Overview
Tunuva and Esbar track Siyu into Mentendon and instead find Yeleni at the ruins of Gulthaga, learning Siyu and Anyso aimed for Kumenga. The Dreadmount erupts with devastating force, stirring their siden and nearly killing them until their ichneumons arrive. Five winged creatures emerge from the mountain, heralding a new threat. Far away, Glorian wakes with an omen that it has risen.
Summary
Traveling the salt road by night, Tunuva and Esbar enter Mentendon, wary of its sanctarian rule. After a tense stop in Svartal, they camp and debate Siyu’s agency versus their duty to protect sisters. The earth trembles, urging them onward toward the northern wastes.
They reach the ruins of Gulthaga beneath the Dreadmount and spot a green-cloaked girl: Yeleni Janudin. Yeleni confesses Siyu and Anyso sent her ahead to draw pursuit while they planned to ride for Kumenga, begging to return to the Priory. Before Tunuva and Esbar can redirect, the Dreadmount rumbles.
In moments, the mountain explodes into eruption. Brimstone triggers Tunuva’s siden, igniting an unfamiliar red flame; Esbar also blazes as both feel a fearful kinship between their magic and the mountain’s force. Ash, lightning, and falling rock scour the plain as they shield Yeleni and scramble for escape.
At the brink, their ichneumons—Ninuru and Jeda—arrive. Tunuva hauls Yeleni up, and the mounts sprint across breaking ground and streams of fire. Esbar deflects a fireball with siden. They narrowly clear a lava fall and regain the salt road through choking ash.
A dreadful, ancient roar follows. From the mountain, five dark shapes with ten wings, swarmed by screaming moths, rise into the night—omens of a returning terror. Elsewhere in Drouthwick, Glorian Berethnet wakes from a dream and whispers, “It’s risen,” sensing the catastrophe.
Who Appears
- Tunuva MelimPriest-mage pursuing Siyu; confronts Gulthaga and the Dreadmount’s eruption; feels siden resonate; leads escape on Ninuru.
- EsbarTunuva’s companion; stern about duty; channels siden to deflect fire; escapes on Jeda as the mountain erupts.
- Yeleni JanudinRunaway novice found at Gulthaga; reveals she was a decoy and begs to return to the Priory.
- NinuruTunuva’s ichneumon; arrives in time and carries Tunuva and Yeleni to safety.
- JedaEsbar’s ichneumon; sprints through falling fire as Esbar wards off a fireball.
- Glorian BerethnetPrincess in Drouthwick; wakes with a portent, whispering that it has risen.
- Lady Florell GladeAttends Glorian during her unsettling awakening after the eruption.