The men on the high road let the first pack animal pass before they dropped the screen.
It fell across the second morning’s path, a broad canvas hung between two iron frames and weighted with loose stone. The four leased pack animals stopped without bolting. Their two paid handlers had kept them at a walking interval, as the route demanded. Tavin pulled the lead rope clear of the first corner and called the people behind him back to the nearest stone shelter.
They had left North Tally on day 1272: Iven, Sera, Tavin, Kesh, Elian, adult Brin and Rima returning within her paid regional road commission. Seven actual travelers, two handlers, four pack animals. The road contract allowed the high route to Sosna Brell’s workshop and the later descent to Ember Wash. It did not require every hired person to fight for the cargo.
On day 1273, the attackers used the bend above them. Two crossbowmen stood behind an iron-faced road shelter. A third man occupied its open front with a large ordinary shield fixed to a forked support. A metal graft ran along his LEFT forearm. Beside his right boot stood a wind scoop linked to a short duct in the shelter’s wall.
