The Grand Plaza of Grey Crag was packed with over seven thousand citizens, quarrymen, dwarven smiths, and surrendered royal soldiers.
Above the paved square of fine-dressed granite, the afternoon winter sky was a clear, cold azure, the northern storm clouds having rolled eastward across the high peaks.
A raised timber dais had been erected before the steps of the central keep.
Seated behind a long oak frame stand table covered with green baize sat the town trial: Giles Croft at the center. He was flanked by Duchess Rowena Wintermere of Highmarch and Judge Malric Ostrander of the Holy Synod.
Behind them stood Captain Kenneth Drake, his ten-foot iron pacing rod held at his side, and Lady Millicent Croft, her pigskin ledger open and quill in hand.
Down in the plaza, the twelve hundred surrendered royal border legionaries stood in disciplined, unarmed ranks.
They were clean, fed, and warm, having shed their heavy iron breastplates for town wool vests.
Between two burly town pioneers stood former Imperial High Auditor Silas Crane.
