On day 1160, Fen’s drawing ended at the second door. The passage beyond it had never been part of the workshop plan.
Iven found the door while following the spring channel beneath the hill. The first ten paces were exactly as Fen had drawn them: a narrow stone floor, an iron handrail and a shallow gutter carrying water toward the settling chamber. Then the passage widened around a circular shaft. A door stood on the far side, its lower half submerged in silt.
Kesh held the lamp behind him. “The drawing shows a wall there.”
“The wall has hinges,” Iven said.
He crouched beside the door. The iron was old, but the hinges were large enough to carry its weight. A small wheel near the top operated a bolt. He tried it by hand; the wheel turned a fraction and stopped.
Above them, Tel struck the roof twice with a wooden mallet. It was the agreed signal that she had heard nothing moving outside. Iven answered with two taps on the handrail. He had a rope tied around his waist, with its other end held by Eda at the hill entrance. The rope was for communication and assistance, not a promise that she could pull him through a collapsing passage.
