POV: Seraphina
Seraphina got down from her horse. Liora dismounted beside her and handed both sets of reins to Renn before following her to the exposed bank. Seraphina knelt. From here she could see daylight beneath the road. Above it, the packed surface looked firm enough to walk on. She pushed two fingers into the soil under the hollow.
The earth was cold and damp, with small roots pressing against her skin. Grit caught under her nails, but the soil held its shape. She felt none of the pull she had learned to expect from dead ground, and no heat answered under her ribs.
Four feet farther along, she found the same. She broke apart a clod from the pile of removed soil. It was dry inside, as the scout had said, and free of rot. She set the two halves beside the hollow.
Renn stood with the horses while Gavrel watched his men from beside Seraphina. She remembered what Liora had said about Renn's shield and kept her hand closed. The captain still did not know why the same men kept proving themselves strongest.
Across the water, the gravel lay open beneath the wooded slope. She could see the first row of trunks, but little beyond them. She stood and wiped the dirt from her hand onto her trousers.
"The soil is clean," she said. "It does not need burning."
Yona came forward from the waiting column with Suri close to her boots. The cub nosed Seraphina's dirty fingers, and she let her hand rest on his head while Yona took the route map from her satchel.
Lucien took a sheet from the case across his saddle and dismounted, holding it flat against the wind.
"The last recorded inspection lists this crossing as safe," he said. "It also says the maintenance crew closed the waystation above the ford when they finished their work."
"When was that?" Thalion came closer to read the sheet.
"Years ago." Lucien moved toward the post at the head of the ford, then checked his page again. "This mark is newer."
Seraphina looked at the wood. "An inspection mark?"
"Yes, but it does not match the one recorded for that maintenance round. There is no later inspection in these papers."
"Could there have been one?" Thalion asked.
"Perhaps." Lucien held the sheet beside the carving. "It is one of our marks." He checked the page once more, then lowered it. "I cannot tell you whether anyone inspected the road before the mark was cut."
"If they only came to put up the mark, they left the page alone," Seraphina said. "They put the lie on the wood instead."
She could see nothing wrong with the carving even with Lucien's page beside it. Behind her, a driver called for the wagons to close the gap, and Thalion raised a hand to stop them.
"Does it tell you who used it?" she asked.
Lucien folded the sheet along its old crease. "No." He put it away before the nearest soldier came close enough to read it.
Thalion sent the two scouts up the track to the waystation. Then he knelt at the edge of the cut and pressed his palm to the road. Seraphina stopped beside him. He glanced up and shifted to give her room.
At the chapel ruin, she had crouched beside him and put her palm to the seam he was examining. Now she stayed on her feet. He looked at the space he had made, then returned his attention to the soil. Gavrel waited behind them.
"It runs almost to the water," he said. "Farther under the surface than the scouts could see."
"Can you close it?" She held his gaze while she waited for an answer.
"I can bring the damaged section down and build it up from the firm ground underneath. It will hold the wagons, but we will have to take them over light."
Yona unfolded the map between them. Seraphina looked from the marked ford to the waystation track. The scouts had disappeared beyond the turn. "What about another route?"
"Days longer, over worse ground."
"Then rebuild it."
Thalion went down the bank. The ground shifted before he raised his hands, with a low grinding sound beneath the road. The unsupported edge dropped into the hollow, and the men nearest it stepped back. Suri backed into Yona's legs. She called him away from the edge and crouched beside him while the earth moved.
He brought down the rest of the damaged surface and cleared the loose soil until he reached firmer ground. Then he drew earth up from below and packed it into a ridge along the bank, joining the road to the water's edge. He stepped onto it and waited. It held beneath his weight.
As he worked back up the slope, he widened the ridge enough for two wagons to descend beside each other and pressed the edges firm. Seraphina watched the new earth settle under his boots. A hum had started beneath her ribs when he first moved the ground, and it strengthened as he came nearer.
Her fingers began to curl as the heat spread. She loosened them against her trousers. Thalion looked toward her from halfway up the slope, and for a moment she remembered his arm around her in the dark. He had known the truth then, too. She turned toward the water, where the first paladins had gathered at the ford.
When he reached the top, dirt covered his hands. She asked about the load order, and he wiped his palms on his trousers before answering.
"Two wagons abreast. Everyone walks. Keep the loads light."
"The supply wagons are the heaviest."
"Last. Unload them before they cross." He looked at her again. "Seraphina." Her name came quietly. He paused, then spoke loudly enough for Gavrel to hear. "Keep to this side until the wagons are clear."
"I will." His mouth tightened before he nodded. When he turned to the drivers, his voice was steady again, and she stayed where he had asked her to.
Gavrel divided his paladins between the banks. One group crossed to secure the gravel and the treeline above it. The others guarded the approach behind the waiting column, where the imperial soldiers remained together.
Liora stayed at Seraphina's left, watching the track the scouts had taken. Behind them, Yona folded the map and moved with Suri out of the drivers' way.
The first pair of wagons reached the water with men guiding the outer wheels. By the time the second pair went down, the ruts along the sides had deepened.
Seraphina came closer to examine them, leaving a pace between herself and Thalion. She had to lean forward to see where he pointed.
"The centre is firm," he said. "Watch the sides."
A call came from the far bank, its words lost beneath the wheels. Thalion held the next pair until it came again. The gravel was clear.
The scouts returned from the waystation before the third pair of wagons went down. They had found bare shelves and a cold grate. Someone had swept the floor, but a heel of bread had fallen beneath a bench. It was still soft where it had been torn.
"Did you find anyone?" Seraphina asked.
"No, my lady. We checked behind the building as well."
Lucien opened his case again. "It has been closed for years. Travellers may still be using it."
Lucien noted their findings and the hour. Seraphina turned to Gavrel. "Keep the waystation track covered until the last wagon is across."
Gavrel looked back along the waiting column, then called a paladin from the rear guard. "Take one of the scouts. Stay at the foot of the track where you can see the bend."
The scout led the paladin past the inspection post. Seraphina waited until they had taken their places before turning back to the road.
At the road, dirt broke away beneath a man guiding the third pair of wagons. He caught the wagon side and pulled his foot inward. The ground gave beneath the outer wheel, tilting the load. The driver hauled on the reins.
"Keep moving," Thalion called. "Straight down."
The man clung to the wagon until the wheel rolled past the broken edge. Loose earth kept falling after they passed. Seraphina put out a hand to stop the next driver from bringing his team forward.
By the time the third pair reached the water, the ridge had lost a foot of usable width on each side. Thalion crouched at the broken edge and pressed his palm to the ground, then moved inward and checked again. Soil crumbled beside his boot, but farther in the packed earth had held its shape beneath the wheels. He followed that firm strip back up.
"One line from here," he told the waiting drivers. "Keep your wheels in the centre. Wait for the signal."
He put a man at each end of the repaired section. The first wagon went down alone, its wheels clear of the broken edges. The second followed after it reached the water.
Men were carrying loads from the supply wagons to the head of the slope. Seraphina held them back while the second wagon crossed the water. A man shifted a sack higher on his shoulder, watching the gap between her and Thalion, but neither of them moved aside.
When the wagon reached the far gravel, Thalion let the carriers through. Their boots pressed fresh marks between the wheel ruts. The afternoon was nearly gone, and the supply wagons still stood loaded behind Seraphina.
The signalman raised his hand as the next driver brought his team forward. Men with sacks stopped behind Seraphina. Across the water, the last carrier climbed toward the gravel beneath a paladin facing the trees.
The driver waited for Thalion, who kept his eyes on the signalman. The carrier reached the gravel. The hand at the foot of the slope stayed up.