27 #4

The councilor fell silent.

The press began striking. Its rhythm drew more people. A baker offered rope to hang the sheets. Two tanners brought boards. A girl read the names of the freed people aloud while her mother corrected her pronunciation.

Sil received the second copy. She folded it with Rian’s transfer.

“Will you come to West-6?” she asked.

“I’ll send a column with witnesses.”

“I asked about you.”

Darian looked at the dried blood on his glove. Caleryon would demand his return. Varek would already be preparing a statement about Halver. Aelyn would use the wagon of copies to keep the Council open.

“I’ll go if the station is still open when we locate the entrance.”

“That I can measure.”

Sil walked away.

Darian stayed beside the press until the first sheet was nailed to the wall. His signature occupied the center. Beneath it were the names of six people the kingdom had called continuity cargo.

The ink would dry faster than his authority could divide.

* * *

Kaoran waited in the tannery cellar.

The smell of hides and wet bark filled the room. Beren had spread the register across three tables. Oren was copying the route to C-0. Tavra divided strips among four messengers.

Yaren worked at a fifth table. She had come through the public door with the inspection’s authorization. She copied every seal, including Darian’s signature.

“This volume contains recent corrections,” she said.

Isolde came closer.

Three orders dated after the marsh suspended transfers to West-9. Another required full names in Halver. Darian had opened records before the public inspection.

Farther down were four years of renewals. C-7, Arkhe, Luzmer, and the western stations bore his authorization.

“If we copy the suspensions, Darian can use them to defend himself,” Beren said.

“They also show when he stopped signing blindly,” Isolde replied.

“The orders left entire stations out.”

“Cevran stayed under Varek. The copy has to include it.”

Yaren raised her pen.

“The Council will want a clear account.”

“It will have clear dates. Complicated decisions stay complicated.”

Oren pointed to a page from before Cendral.

“Here, Darian requests reconnaissance of the valley. Two weeks later, the first technical route appears without his signature.”

“Copy both.”

“And the release orders?”

“Those too.”

Beren looked at the open register.

“Varek built his power by hiding one page behind another. If we hand over everything, Darian could regain support.”

“A truth that serves our position for a week will become another trap afterward,” Isolde said. “Every witness will see the same whole.”

Yaren resumed copying.

“That will make the outcome harder to control.”

“That’s the point.”

Pain in her leg forced Isolde to lean on the table’s edge.

Kaoran looked at the cut in her cloak, then at her hands.

“Darian?”

“Alive.”

“Did you have the chance?”

“The blade was against his neck.”

“What did you see?”

Isolde set the knife on the table.

“Varek taking command. The square closed off. Aelyn losing the Council. My name turned into a sentence against everyone who has helped the warrior.”

“Did you see anything in him?”

Isolde ran her thumb over the mark Darian had left on her wrist. The skin was still warm.

“I still remember what being beside him felt like. It bothered me that I brought that into the room.”

Kaoran moved a chair so she could rest her leg.

“What did you do with it?”

“I asked him if he’d loved me.”

The confession settled among the sounds of pens. Beren worked at the other end of the table; Isolde lowered her voice.

“He said yes. Then he admitted which place he’d chosen to keep. I needed to hear it without having to invent his answer myself.”

Kaoran waited for her to sit.

“Does it change the register?”

“They’ll have every page. What he signed, what he didn’t know, what he decided afterward. He can use his latest orders to defend himself. He’ll also have to explain the earlier ones.”

Isolde looked at the knife on the table. Darian was still alive. She had come out with a book, six freed people, and a conversation she would have to learn to carry with her.

“He could choose Varek again,” she said.

“We’ll have to watch him.”

“Would you have stopped me if I’d tried to kill him?”

Kaoran drew a breath before answering.

“I would have told you what might happen in the square. Then we would have had to live with your decision.”

Isolde rested her leg on the chair. The freedom she had demanded of her master included that part.

Beren called from the table.

“We have C-0. The active entrance is at the Three Needles. Synchronization is in twenty days.”

Oren raised another strip.

“There’s something else. Varek has marked a village for a security evacuation.”

“Which one?” Isolde asked.

“Neraval. It’s on the route the legend used after Luzmer.”

Tavra found the corresponding order.

“Eight hundred people. Complete transfer in four days.”

“Destination?”

“C-0.”

Isolde put away the knife.

Darian had survived. The register was open. Varek had just placed an entire village inside the next choice.