Beneath the fallen linen sheet stood an iron-and-brass cradle the length of a calf, fitted with four curved resonator bars and a pair of heavy copper cables that ran directly to the bronze corner-shoes of the black-stone bell cage. Above the cradle hung two smaller copper temple-clasps lined with felt, the sort temple physicians used to share calming breath with fever patients—except these were wired through a rack of notched iron interrupt-wheels.
Beside the frame stood a high pine lectern holding Edris’s leather-bound operating book, open to a page headed Preliminary Clearing of the Seed.
Kiv did not touch the book with his charcoal-stained fingers. Leaning close to the tallow candle, he read the neat, slanting script.
A voluntary bond cannot be erased from outside while both participants continue to answer its invitation, Edris had written across the top margin. Therefore the preparatory stage must not try to tear out the bond directly. Instead, the resonator wheels will flood the outer senses with competing bell-ringing pressure until the carrier’s attention fractures and it can no longer recognize or answer the tamer’s signal. Once the new bond falls silent through exhaustion, the primary bell pattern will occupy the vacant marrow.
Below the paragraph sat a numbered table of human anchors.
