On the broad marble roofed porch of the Hall of Instruments, Deputy Proctor Marlo planted his silver-mounted staff of office squarely across the threshold and raised his hand to halt the town heavy cart. Behind him, four young academy wardens in crimson-trimmed cloaks shifted nervously. They saw the six veteran Wharf Guard spear guards, Senior Engineer Korr Var, Examiner Corvin Hest, and Pella Rook standing shoulder to shoulder in the rain.
“This precinct is under Level One Emergency Flood Readiness by order of Master Davin Sorell!” Deputy Proctor Marlo announced, his voice echoing sharply off the wet marble columns. “The upstream rain gauges at High Tor Pass have risen three inches since dawn! Neither the Board of Works nor any lower-ward committee has power to disrupt academy preparations or remove impounded rig while the city faces a mountain crest!”
Korr Var didn’t raise his voice by a single decibel. Stepping up onto the dry marble flat stone slab two paces from Marlo’s staff, the forty-nine-year-old civil engineer drew two oilskin-wrapped parchments from his dispatch case. Then he held them flat at eye level.
“You’ll lower that staff and read the seal before you speak of public safety, Deputy Marlo,” Korr Var said in his flat, incorruptible tone. “In my right hand is the approved independent deep water pressure report of the Municipal Board of Works showing that Master Sorell’s closed third gate is holding forty-six pounds of scalding backing-up pressure against the foundations of the Fourth Ward. In my left…
