The river wind screamed across the bridge. It whipped the edges of the unsigned treaty into wild, fluttering waves.
Thirty paces away, seventy Sun-Crown legionnaires were advancing, their bronze spear-points lowered. Their crested helms shone like polished gold under the dual suns. On the northern frame stands, forty High court Guards raised their heavy crossbows, their iron winches cranking with deadly, clockwork clicks.
Between the two armies, Ren Prime knelt in the dirt, his blood-dripping awl trembling in his fist.
“Diplomat!” Ren shouted over the roar of the river. “Find the branch! Where did the sniper miss?”
Diplomat Ren closed his eyes.
He didn’t pray, and he didn’t cast a spell. He placed both hands upon the two-piece signet matrix of the Split Wax Seal of the Twin Crowns. He closed his fingers around the brass metal tube and the warm, semi-clear amber core.
Dual-History Synthesis: Causal Spectrum Scan.
A soft, golden radiance pulsed outward from the amber matrix, bathing Archon Valerius’s dissolving torso in warm, amber light.
