Chapter 343: Word
They reached Zone One at midday.
Kai knew it before he saw it. The Ambient Map had held Zone One closest for a day, the steadiest point on the field. But the eyes confirmed what the carrier had already read.
The highland here was wrong in the way that was now right. Grass stood thick and green out of its season. Trees that should have been bare held their leaves. A small herd of deer grazed near the old boundary and did not lift their heads as the team passed. Birds that should have flown south by now moved in the branches.
This was the oldest zone. The first ground he had chained. The change had had the longest to work here, and it showed.
There was a man on the trail.
