The room beyond was circular and lined with shelves cut directly into the walls. Metal tablets rested in shallow recesses, each covered in moon-script, while a black stone table stood at the centre, carved with the outline of a wolf.
A woman knelt beside it with her back to them.
She wore a faded travelling cloak that had once been deep green, though mud and weather had dulled it almost to grey. Dark auburn hair fell in a loose braid down her back, strands escaping around her neck and temples as though she had been travelling without rest. One hand pressed against the table for support while the other held a narrow ritual blade. Blood ran from her palm into the carved wolf, gathering within the grooves before disappearing into the stone.
There was something familiar in the narrow line o
