At half past three on the twenty-fifth afternoon, the rain over Lathmere thickened into a cold, driving slant as a compact column of nine people climbed the broad granite Viaduct Ramp toward the High Gate of the Summoners’ College. At the head walked Senior Municipal Engineer Korr Var in his oilskin cape and Captain Bram of the Municipal Wharf Guard. He was flanked by six veteran city spear guards wearing the pewter-and-black tabards of the Board of Works and pushing a stout rubber-tired town heavy cart lined with dry straw.
Directly behind Korr Var walked Pella Rook, Foreman Eren Tal, and Examiner Corvin Hest. They passed the upper market arcades where merchants and academy apprentices sheltered under the stone rows of stone pillars. Then, Pella kept her hands steady at her sides and her canvas tool apron buttoned neat over her bottle-green wool tunic.
Every detail of their march had been set by Korr Var before leaving the Guildhall courtyard. Pella was not climbing the hill at the head of an angry Lowbank mob or sneaking through a back gate tunnel on a private raid. She was walking up the main public thoroughfare in broad daylight as the legally recorded worker of a town flood-defense instrument. She was backed by the civil law of the city.
