Chapter 16 | Part 2

Three weeks earlier.

The seer lived in a cave above the treeline, where the mountain air grew thin and the path grew treacherous. Dulint had told no one where he was going. Told Balin he needed to scout ahead. Told himself he just wanted information.

She was waiting when he arrived, as if she’d known he was coming. Of course she had.

“The dwarf with the singing stone.” Her voice was paper-thin, ancient. “You carry something that screams across distances. I felt it from leagues away.”

“The artifact—”

“I know what it is. I know what it does. I know where it came from.” She tilted her head, eyes focusing on something beyond him. “I also know where you’re going. And what will happen when you arrive.”

Dulint’s heart hammered. “Tell me.”

“You will fail.”

The words hit like a physical blow. “There must be something—”

“There is nothing you can do to prevent failure. The patterns are set. The pieces are moving.” She stepped closer, and he realized how small she was—bird-boned, fragile, containing knowledge that could break worlds. “But there are degrees of failure. Shades of loss.”

“What do you mean?”

“In the worst of what I see, you die. Your nephew dies. Stonehold burns. Everyone you’ve ever loved is forgotten.” Her voice carried no weight, as if she were reading names off a list of the dead. “In the other visions, you still die. But some survive. Your nephew lives. Stonehold endures. The memory persists.”

“How do I—”

“Slowly.”

One word. She said it like it contained everything.

“Slowly?”

“You want to rush. You feel the urgency—the artifact screams it, your companions demand it. But speed is how you lose everyone. Caution is how you save some.” She turned away, dismissing him. “Fail slowly, dwarf. It’s the only kindness left to you.”

Dulint stood frozen. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because you came to ask. Because you carry that singing stone. Because—” she paused, a flicker of pity crossed her face “—because no one deserves to fail without knowing what the failure costs.”

He left the cave with knowledge he couldn’t share and a word he couldn’t forget.

Slowly.

It would cost them everything. But everything was better than everyone.

End of Chapter 16.2 —> 16.3: The Seer’s Warning: The Route