The Marcher had stopped beside a ridge that was smaller than its shoulder.
From a distance, the two shapes almost belonged to the same country: dark mineral plates, pale seams, low growth caught in hollows where rain had settled. Then the forward crown turned, and the ridge remained still.
Iven stopped walking.
He had seen Mercy awake. He had stood near unsaddled Marchers before Caldrin and watched the patient change position in its basin. None of that made this body ordinary.
The road behind them seemed suddenly very narrow.
Leth rode in a small field cart along the firm upper path, her cane laid beside the medical case. Sen and two care workers walked with her. Kel had remained at the works to keep the water and clinic branch running. Elian carried the survey board; Kesh walked ahead, stopping whenever the tracks became difficult to distinguish from older ground.
Iven carried the portable shield.
It was a broad padded board with sound handles, built for ordinary field protection rather than a promise to stop anything that charged. Plate could strengthen it if needed. He had prepared the same five patterns he had brought from Caldrin: plate, turbine, winch, filter and heat exchanger.
