The valley's steam-swaddled ground hissed beneath Ivy's boots as she and Roan crept beneath the ancient glacier archway. The Thermal Fields' sulfur-sweet air clung to their cloaks, and drifting mists curled around geyser cones like restless spirits. Behind them, the wall of frozen stone still held Vargin's warband at bay, but they had little time to rest.
Ivy tightened her grip on the Blood-Root spear. “We must cross this field before Vargin summons more magic," she whispered, voice hushed against the thrum of subterranean heat vents. “The path twists toward the Whisper Dome, but the rogue wolves patrol every fissure."
Roan's frost-steel blade glimmered at his side. “Stay close," he said. “Let Ivy's song guide us."
They set off across the steaming muck, boots sliding on slick rock. At t
