The roof work began on day 1161. The first support failed before anyone entered the dome.
That was why Fen had insisted on testing it in the yard. The masons set the timber frame between two stone blocks and loaded its crossbeam with sacks of sand. At the fourth sack, one leg twisted outward. The frame did not collapse, but its top shifted far enough that the sack slipped and burst on the ground.
“Bad joint,” said the carpenter, a square-shouldered woman named Veit. She knelt beside the frame and pulled the peg free. “The hole’s too close to the edge.”
Daro looked toward the hills. Clouds had gathered overnight, a gray line above the pale ridge. “How long to make another?”
“Less than it would take to dig us out if this one went down inside.”
She cut a new brace while the other masons checked the remaining frames. Iven helped load the second test. It held six sacks without twisting. They marked its legs, unloaded it and carried it toward the workshop. Fen went ahead with the drawing, and Tel’s hunters checked the hill passage and the river cleft.
The cleft had been blocked with a temporary screen of rails and stones. A watcher remained above it with a horn. The old chamber door was bolted from the passage side. Eda tested the bolt, then tied a bright strip of cloth through the wheel so anyone entering the passage could see at a glance whether it had moved.
