~Kaida Orion POV~
The knife freed the edge, we peeled the top sheet back and the lower sheet showed the tax lien full: if northern pack marriages not confirmed by crown seal in three days, levy triples; if unpaid, water rights revert to city. Signed....green magistrate.
Lupus's teeth bared. "She planned purge to force submission."
Before we could burn the lower sheet, the temple floor shuddered, water forced through the cracks in the stone. Not floodwater...clean, cold spring water from below. It rose around our boots, with it rose something else: pale root filaments, thin as hair, swaying in the current, the Weaver's touch. He had found the temple's under well.
Moon Priest shouted, "Circle! Lift the ledger!"
We scrambled onto the offering platform as water climbed the steps, roots waving like searching fingers. One brushed my ankle... cool, almost gentle and a voice rippled through the water, amused.
Name written, name double... choose which drowns.
