Chapter 319: The Other Side of the Gate

The gate lit at the time on the sheet.

Ren went through first. Cold air met him as he stepped onto the receiving shelf, carrying the smell of wet stone. Water lapped just below his boots. He moved clear of the frame and looked over the landing the survey office had measured.

A dark channel ran beside the shelf, with room for Ward to approach and turn. Above the flat rock, a short slope rose to a marker post and the staked road inland. Grey banks and low scrub stretched away beneath a pale sky. Mist lay in the hollows, hiding the lower ground beyond the first bend.

Ren walked the shelf to its far end. He lowered the buckle end of a spare strap into the water beside it, checked the depth against the wet length, and wound it back up. The figures on the survey sheet held here. He returned to the frame and signaled Ward through.

The whale entered the channel with Keep mounted in its cradle. Ward slowed, turned within the space beside the shelf, and brought its back alongside the rock. Water washed against the lower straps and drained away as it settled.

Keep sat dry above it.

Vesper sent the others through in order. Tarin stepped onto the shelf, its Lawfire resting on the water beside it. Eira followed, then Riptide and Pell came through into the channel. Vesper crossed last with Mistwhisker at her heel.

She checked those on the shelf and those in the water before giving Ren the count. Everyone was through. Behind Ward, the frame stood across the channel, marking their way back to the cove.

— • —

The survey office’s plate was fixed to the marker post above the landing. Ren climbed up with Vesper and Eira and compared its anchor reference with his issued copy before reading the terms beneath it.

Reports to be lodged here at the intervals stated in the access conditions.

Known hazards: cold water; unstable banks along the depot road; native fauna unlogged beyond the depot.

This gate is the party’s authorized return route. Its anchor cannot be moved.

He showed Vesper the matching reference and pointed out the report box. From the post, they could see the whole receiving shelf and the water beyond it. The slope was short enough to carry supplies up without losing sight of Ward.

While Vesper checked the declared list against the equipment, Ren asked the System privately about Ouroboros here.

[ANCHORED REALM SPACE. REVIVALS: FIVE OF SEVEN REMAINING THIS YEAR.]

The remaining revivals covered him alone. He put the private answer aside and went down to help Eira check the containers lifted from Ward’s pack.

"All present," Vesper said when they finished. "Both samples, seals intact."

They secured the containers again before Ren returned to the post. On an office report sheet, he recorded their arrival, confirmed the party and declared equipment were complete, and gave their intended route along the surveyed road. He lodged it in the box, then came back down to the channel.

— • —

"Riptide. Follow the road to the first bend and come back. Check the depth for Ward. Don’t go beyond it."

Riptide set off with one of Keep’s spores. Pell waited in the shallows while Tarin stood at the shelf’s edge, watching the banks with its spear in hand. Ward held alongside the rock.

Ren could see the bend from the landing: a shoulder of stone where the road and channel curved together. Riptide reached it, turned, and started back.

Keep reported Riptide at the bend when it was already halfway to the shelf. The report carried its age. Ren glanced from it to the returning scout, then checked the course marked on his map.

Riptide came alongside Ward. The channel was deep enough throughout the stretch, with room to keep beside the road.

"We move together," Ren said. "Keep checking ahead. Stop us before the water gets too shallow."

Ward pushed off at a walking pace. Vesper took the land group up onto the road, and Pell moved through the shallows between them and the whale. The marker post remained visible behind them until they reached the shoulder of stone.

— • —

The road was built from slabs laid over smaller stone, with survey stakes along its edge. Mist thinned as it rose away from the water. Near the bend, part of the bank had slumped into the channel, taking the edge of the road with it. Vesper led them across the intact inland side while Riptide checked the water below.

Mistwhisker moved along the scrub ahead, returning to Vesper before they passed the next stake. Riptide kept its checks short, coming back to confirm each stretch before Ward entered it.

They found the carrier near the second stake past the bend.

It lay on its flank between the road and the channel, six legs drawn beneath it. Broad harness straps crossed its back, but the load straps hung empty. A tag on the shoulder ring bore the survey office’s mark. Its tether trailed into the scrub, still tied at one end and severed at the other.

Ren stopped the party and looked along both banks before stepping off the road. He approached from the exposed stone, keeping clear of the flattened vegetation around the body.

The tether’s fibers ended cleanly together. The load straps had been opened, and loose fastenings lay beside a torn length of webbing. Near them, flattened scrub led back toward the road, where scrapes crossed the damp grit between the slabs.

There were no feeding marks on the side of the animal he could see. Its eyes were open, and dark blood had soaked the ground beneath its head.

"Eira."

She came down by the same approach and crouched where she could see its throat.

"A deep wound," she said. "It could have bled out here."

"Can you tell what made it?"

"Not from this. I’d need to examine it properly, including under the harness." She looked at the cut tether. "That doesn’t tell me what cut its throat."

Ren glanced at the ground around them. "Leave it as it is for now."

Vesper stood at the road’s edge, following the scrapes with her eyes.

"The load could still be close," she said. "Keep the bank covered."

Tarin moved along the water’s edge with its spear raised. Ward stopped in the channel, and Mistwhisker returned to Vesper’s side.

Ren backed out along the stone. Above him, Vesper opened her notebook and recorded the stake, the carrier’s position, the harness tag and the missing load. Eira gave her the description of the wound.

"Leave the fastenings too," Ren said. "Record where they are."

— • —

He unfolded the approved map on a flat stretch of road. The bend, the channel and the survey stakes gave him enough to orient it.

Across the slabs, the scrapes continued into a flattened strip through the inland scrub. A fastening lay near the start of it. Farther on, stems had been pressed down toward the low ground, until the marks disappeared into mist.

That side of the road lay outside the map’s surveyed detail. Ren could place the carrier beside the stake, but the sheet offered no path or destination to match the trail beyond it.

He showed Vesper where it left the mapped route, then folded the paper and looked back toward the scrub. Someone had removed the load. From the road, he could follow the signs of its passage only a little way.

The marks led away from the surveyed road.