Trafalgar watched the old knight bend, and something in the depth of the bow told him more than any report would. "You have done well enough so far, Gerhardt. Lead on. I will follow you."
Gerhardt gave a short nod and turned for a building set back from the wall, one of the few that had come through in good condition. They went inside together, Trafalgar and Moses, the old knight, and four others who had been waiting on him. None of the four wore armor. From the ink on their hands and the weariness in their faces, they were the men who kept the city running rather than the men who bled for it.
The room was large, and a great map covered most of one wall, pinned and scrawled over with marks for everything worth marking. One mine among them had been ringed in red, and beside the ring somebody had written a single word in letters large enough to read across the room.
