Chapter 6 - The Witch of the Tide-Pools
The cavern within the spire was warm, smelling of dried kelp, crushed shells, and burning driftwood. Rowan burst through the hanging curtain of woven seaweed, his voice breaking: ""Help her! Please, someone help her!""
Sitting beside a sunken fire pit was an elderly woman with hair white as sea foam, draped in cloaks made of fish skin and silver sealskin. She looked up from a boiling brass cauldron, her milky blind eyes turning directly toward Rowan. Instead of reaching for a weapon, her weathered hands began to tremble. ""By the high gods of the sea..."" she whispered, rising slowly. Her gnarled fingers did not reach for the dying dragon first; they reached straight toward the bronze amulet hanging against Rowan's chest.
""You have his eyes,"" the woman breathed, tracing the three silver keys etched into the metal. ""The blood of the High Keeper did not drown in the Great Purge after all."" Rowan stepped back, clutching Lumi tightly. ""I don't know who you are! The black ships attacked us. My dragon is dying, and so is Lumi. If you know magic, save them!"" The woman’s gaze hardened into fierce determination. ""Her blood is corrupted by Valerius’s ghost-venom. Plant medicine cannot touch it. Only the blood of a living Dragon-Keeper, mingled willingly with the dragon's heartstone, can burn the curse away.""
