Among the second pile of military scouting sheets, folded inside a supply order receipt for iron horse-shoes, Kezra found a double-column ledger sheet titled Assessed Destination & Transit Nodes — Western District.
The paper was stiff, yellowed military thick parchment, ruled with blue ink guidelines and stamped in the upper right corner with the iron signet of the Cairn Host Quartermaster General.
Kezra smoothed the sheet flat against the lime planks under the yellow lantern light. Across the top of the page ran five column headers, written in the neat, impersonal script of an army logistics clerk who viewed provinces as warehouses waiting to be inventoried:
Node Name & Location | Potable Water Yield | Defensible Height | Seizable Stores (Grain/Ore) | Kin / Civic Leverage
She ran her finger down the list.
The first six entries recorded highland hamlets and mining stations along the southern flanks of the Spine. Each entry was scored like a freight bill:
Coldstream Village: Water: 12 barrels/day from karst spring. Height: Poor (valley floor). Stores: 40 sacks rye, 12 cured hams. Leverage: 3 sons of elder serving in militia. 1 daughter married to factor in Brackenford. Check: Unsafe to cavalry calm distance. Seizure of well ensures full rule-following within 48 hours.
