Deni’s warning reached Iven as a broken piece of wood.
The runner had brought the end of her tally stick from the lower materials road. Its split matched the receiving piece she had left at Bracken Weir. The mark meant the inspection had become a seizure. Beneath it, in hurried pencil, she had written that her crew were standing clear and the guards had two armored shield runners.
Not a call to rescue a wagon from its brakes.
A captain asking the people who owned the parts whether an armed office could take them.
Iven put down the coupling section and took his lance.
Vela came with him. Maret sent a local route keeper to show them the sound way across the white flats. Neri stayed with the isolated test frame, where removing the rejected equalizer still required a controlled lifting turn. She looked at Iven once before he left.
“Don’t land on the crust.”
“I know.”
