Branth refused to let anyone put a cart on the bridge.
The briarback had been dead for an hour. Workers had opened the approach, recovered the loose tools, and begun cutting the carcass free of the retaining stones. From above, the crossing looked usable again.
Underneath it, two bearings had sunk into mud.
Branth lay on a plank beside the stream with a lamp held low. Hadrin crouched above him, listening while the builder tapped each support with a wooden mallet.
"The upper timber is sound." Branth said. "This end is not sitting where it should."
Hadrin leaned farther down.
"Can you show me?"
Branth moved the lamp. A narrow gap appeared between the shoe and the timber above it. Rod could see it from the bank once someone pointed it out. Weight crossing the bridge would have closed the gap abruptly, striking the weakened footing beneath.
"How long to fix?" Corren asked.
"If you stop asking people to walk over my head, I can measure it."
