In the long subalpine shadows of late afternoon on Day 78, the four travelers spread Nym Correl’s master district rubbing across the flat top of an iron ore cart twenty paces from the plugged gallery seam. Fellis Dain anchored the four corners of the sheet with chunks of white limestone ballast. Meanwhile, Paxa Sel leaned over the drawing with her animal fat lantern, shielding the flame from the cold northern draft with her cloak.
“Look at the outer edge shape of both squares,” Kezra Venn said, tracing the drawn borders with the point of her brass dividers. “This is what proves they were cut as a matched pair.”
The two parcels—the South Shoulder blocking their tunnel and Coldwork Bench three miles to the west—were drawn as precise, north-lined up squares measuring two hundred and fifty-six paces on each side. But what caught Kezra’s breath was the northern boundary line of each square.
The northern edge didn’t run on a flat, level plane. Instead, it was cut in a distinctive, three-tiered stepped profile. The western third stood at reference height zero. The middle third stepped up exactly twelve feet onto a dressed limestone terrace. And the eastern third climbed another nine feet to a carved sighting bench.
