Aethelgard: Rootbound
Book 1 · The Dying Roots
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Page 155 · The old crossing
Continuing the same departure, the trio follows the climbing western road. Caelan favors his injured right leg. Elara notices; Sylphina walks quietly after the previous day’s effort. Their supplies remain modest and their equipment worn.
CHAPTER 9. THE ROOTBRIDGE. Elara: You are limping again. Caelan: I never stopped. I was being subtle. Elara: You were failing.
Page 156 · Weight and strain
Old paving, root-enclosed waymarkers and abandoned stone posts reveal the road’s former importance. Living shoots grow beside hollow grey roots. Caelan catches fragmented impressions through the ground.
Whisper Sense: WEIGHT. STRAIN. HOLD.
Page 157 · At the eastern rim
The travelers pass between rock walls and stop at the eastern edge of a deep gorge. Huge braided roots extend out over the drop. Elara stops Caelan and inspects splintered fibers, old stonework and the lack of recent footprints.
Elara: Wait.
Page 158 · The Rootbridge
An immense naturally grown crossing spans the misty gorge. The trio stands on the eastern rim at the left; the western road continues on the opposite rim at the right. Braided roots enclose old stone paving and railings. Damage scars the center while a thick living root runs beneath it toward the west.
Silent full-page reveal.
Page 159 · One at a time
Sylphina tests the bridge and finds living portions interrupted by internal rot. Elara studies the wind, anchors and central damage before planning a one-at-a-time crossing with their travel rope.
Sylphina: Parts of it are still alive. Elara: That was not what I asked. Sylphina: Then no. It is not safe. Elara: One at a time. I go first.
Page 160 · The first anchor
Elara secures the rope to a strong eastern stone-and-root anchor. Sylphina tests the knot. Elara secures her bow so both hands are free and takes the rope’s free end, preparing to cross first while Caelan and Sylphina remain east.
Rope preparation.
Page 161 · Across first
Elara progresses from the eastern rim on the left to the western rim on the right. She tests footholds and recovers when a small section gives beneath one boot. On the far rim she anchors the line to an old stone post reinforced by a living root and signals Caelan.
Elara signals Caelan to begin.
Page 162 · A fracture within
Caelan begins the second crossing with the safety rope secured around his hips and waist, his spear clear of the line. Elara stays west and Sylphina east. Halfway across, pain in his right thigh makes him shift weight onto an apparently solid root. A deep fracture spreads through its rotten core.
Sound: KRRK.
Page 163 · The line catches
The surface root fails beneath Caelan. He drops below the central span until the safety rope catches him between the two anchors. He nearly loses his spear but keeps it. Elara remains on the western rim and Sylphina on the eastern rim.
Elara: Caelan!
Page 164 · Across the open air
A wide view establishes Elara bracing beside the western anchor at the right, Caelan hanging below the broken center, and Sylphina on the eastern rim at the left. The continuous safety rope connects the established anchors and Caelan’s body loop across the gap.
Silent geography and strain.
Page 165 · The anchor shifts
Caelan’s weight shifts the old western post and crumbles the soil. Elara redirects the loaded rope around a stronger rock projection rather than trying to lift him by strength alone. Her left palm is abraded and her right shoulder strains. Caelan attempts to climb, but his right thigh fails and blood marks its bandage again.
The rope holds under strain.
Page 166 · Only the living fibers
From the eastern rim, Sylphina encourages the surviving fibers into a temporary support beneath Caelan. Rotten roots remain unresponsive and continue breaking. She strains to hold the small support together; it neither restores the bridge nor removes the danger.
Limited Groot-Growth supports the rescue.
Page 167 · One holds
Caelan presses against the living support and receives fractured sensations. He finds one intact root running underneath him toward the west. One small Rootstep foothold lifts his uninjured left foot just far enough to move.
Whisper Sense: HOLLOW. PULLING WEST. ONE HOLDS.
Page 168 · Toward the western ledge
Caelan moves upward and west along the intact underside root, using the rope and his spear for leverage. Elara controls the line in small increments; Sylphina holds the temporary support from the east. A second upper section breaks away and falls behind Caelan into the mist.
Rope, root and spear carry Caelan toward the ledge.
Page 169 · Hold the line
Elara helps Caelan onto the western rim while retaining control of the rope. Together they reinforce the anchor. Sylphina remains across the failing span. Caelan tries to stand, but his injured right leg buckles.
Elara: Stay down and hold the line.
Page 170 · The last crossing
Sylphina secures her staff against her back, attaches herself to the line and crosses from east to west along the remaining root arc. One limited burst of growth gives her living handholds. Elara controls the rope and Caelan braces it from the western ground as the eastern half tears away behind her.
Sylphina crosses the remaining root arc.
Page 171 · The span falls
Caelan and Elara pull Sylphina onto the western rim moments before the central mass falls vertically into the mist. Smaller roots remain attached to the cliffs, but the crossing is destroyed. All three lie or kneel where they landed, breathing hard amid leaves and dust.
Silent collapse and aftermath.
Page 172 · What it cost
Caelan’s reopened right-thigh wound is rebandaged. Elara tends her left-palm rope burn and guards her strained right shoulder. Sylphina is exhausted. They cut away damaged rope, leaving a shorter usable length. All weapons and six arrows remain. A broken root’s healthy-looking bark conceals a rotten hollow core.
Ordinary first aid and assessment.
Page 173 · The same peaks
Beyond the western rim, Elara uncovers a mossy waymarker carved with two split peaks and flowing lines. It resembles the valley memory from the Mirror Pool, offering evidence of the route without promising the spring remains.
Elara: The same peaks. Caelan: So the pool showed us something real. Sylphina: A memory. Not a promise.
Page 174 · Beyond the road
The constructed road ends at an overgrown western trail. Caelan stands with help and avoids loading his wounded right leg. Elara carries the shortened rope and six arrows; Sylphina looks west, spent but resolute. The three continue toward faint distant split peaks, leaving the ruined crossing behind.
Caelan: That was the last road. Elara: Then we stop following roads.