Chapter 339: The Way Home

Ren wrote down what Tarin had seen: one person on the depot road, overlooking the shelf and the gate while he was across. The stranger had watched and left before his return.

He lodged the account and requested a final inspection and crossing for the whole party. The equipment list included the empty stone trough, already carried through once in each direction. He asked that the attendant be warned about the road.

The reply gave a crossing time and an attendant’s reference. Ren acknowledged both through the landing contact, then checked how long they had to prepare.

— • —

"Vesper, the shelf is yours. Tarin, the water group, under her."

Tarin took the slope below the post, its spear ready and its Lawfire in the water beneath the bank. Ward held in the deep channel beside the frame, with Keep mounted in its cradle and enough room ahead to turn into the opening. Pell waited in the shallows between the whale and the shelf.

Riptide carried a spore along the far side of the channel to check the water approach. From the shelf, the bank hid part of that stretch.

"Keep gives us Riptide’s position," Ren told Vesper. "If you need to know what’s there now, send Pell for a fresh report."

She checked the route between them before returning to the post.

Eira packed the notebooks, route notes, copied sheets and collection records into one bundle. Mistwhisker rested against her side, its dressed paw clear of the straps.

Ren went behind the post while the others settled into their positions. With his coat screening his hands, he privately retrieved the seized original from System storage. He put it inside its cover sheet before carrying it down to Eira.

"This goes with the records for inspection."

She placed it between the copies and tied the bundle closed.

He could shelter people inside his world if the landing became untenable. That ability hadn’t gone away. But bringing them inside would leave the permit’s return procedure unfinished, with the equipment and fixed anchor still here. For now they held the landing, and the arranged crossing would bring everyone and everything through together. If someone needed shelter before then, he would deal with the report afterward.

— • —

Six people appeared on the depot road before the attendant was due.

Four stayed behind the leading pair, their hands empty. Ren recognized one of the two in front: the wagon leader from the junction. He had watched that man fold the transfer sheet into the box, then flee down the second route ahead of the hand-cart.

The stranger beside him kept slightly forward, watching Ren rather than the frame.

They stopped where the road sloped toward the post. Ren moved onto the firm ground above the shelf, leaving Tarin below him and clear space between himself and the gate. He asked the System privately about the stranger.

[SCAN: STAGE SIX. TIER ONE.]

The man was at his stage. Ren checked the ground beside the paving, then the channel below it. There was room to meet him here without taking the fight down among the waiting party.

He kept the escort between himself and the empty bank. Eira had room to move behind the post if she needed it, and Vesper could reach her without crossing his line. Ren left that space open as the men on the road spread out.

The wagon leader studied Ren’s face.

"You were on the ridge."

Ren waited.

"The sheet for the pair that went through the junction. You took it. We want it back."

"No."

"You don’t know what you’ve taken."

"You’re not getting it."

The wagon leader looked past him toward Eira and the packed equipment. Ren shifted enough to keep himself in that line.

The demand told him why they had come. It gave him no reason to explain where the original was or how many copies had already left his hands.

Below, Keep’s report placed Riptide at the far bank. Vesper checked its age against her slate.

"Before these six arrived," she said. "Pell, check the water approach and bring Riptide back alongside."

The escort took a step toward Ren.

"Stay there," Ren said.

The man continued down the slope.

— • —

Cutting pressure spread ahead of him, low across the ground toward Ren’s legs.

Ren raised Stonewall across its path. The working struck the low barrier and burst grit from its face. He moved inland as it hit, drawing the escort away from the post and frame.

The man came over the wall and landed on the paving below it. His forward hand was already turning toward Ren.

Ren struck the slab with Deepsnap.

The impact broke the stone beneath the escort’s planted foot. Fragments shifted into the soft ground under the paving, and the man threw his weight backward to keep himself upright. His next working cut past Ren into the empty bank.

"Riptide, the footing," Vesper called.

Pell had reached the shallows beside Ward. Riptide was coming in behind it, visible below the slope. A sheet of water drove over the broken paving, caught the escort’s retreating heel and swept loose grit beneath him.

He dropped to one knee and tried to rise into another strike.

Ren stepped inside his reach. Titanhide took the blow against his left forearm while he caught the man’s wrist and forced it outward. He set Holdfast beneath his boots and brought Heavenpiercer along his other arm, its edge close beneath the escort’s raised elbow.

The man stopped pushing.

One of the four behind the wagon leader had started down the road’s edge. Tarin shifted across the lower slope and braced its spear. Vesper held the approach to Eira and the packs. The man stopped before reaching either of them.

"Back up the road," Ren said.

The escort glanced toward the others. Water ran from the broken slab, and Riptide remained below it. Ward still held beside the shelf.

Ren eased his grip only when the man drew his free hand away. The escort stood carefully, kept his eyes on Heavenpiercer and backed uphill. Ren released Holdfast and let him regain the road.

The wagon leader spoke to him in a low voice. Neither tried to approach again. They withdrew with the other four, looking back until the bend hid them.

Ren stayed above the post.

"Water side?" Vesper asked Pell.

Clear when it had returned. She kept Riptide alongside Ward and Tarin on the bank while Ren watched the road. Nobody went after the departing group.

— • —

The attendant waited near the bend, well short of the damaged slope.

Vesper saw them after the six had passed out of view. She signaled for them to remain there, checked the approach, then went up while Ren covered the road. Tarin stayed below the post.

She brought the attendant down along the sound paving, clear of the broken slab. Ren checked their reference against the office’s reply before showing them where the attack had begun.

"I received the warning," they said. "I stopped when I saw the group ahead."

"Six people. One attacked. They asked for the sheet taken from the junction."

The attendant opened their notes.

"You recognized them?"

"The wagon leader. I saw him handle the sheet there. I don’t know the others."

They recorded the identification separately from his description of the escort. Ren gave the order of the attack and withdrawal, including the damage he had done to the paving. No one in his party was hurt.

The attendant checked the broken ground before moving down to the load.

They began with the trough, matching it to the earlier collection and crossing entries. Then came the cradle, straps, packs, remaining supplies and sample containers. Eira opened the records while Vesper maintained the watch.

The attendant examined the seized original beside its copy, checked the consignment references against the filed account and entered it on the return list. Ren waited while they finished the remaining papers. The original went back into its cover sheet with the rest of the inspected bundle.

"Cleared for return."

They signed and gave him the copy. Ren checked the entries before Eira secured the papers again.

"Your way back is the same road," he said.

"I’ll report the obstruction and the attack through the contact before I leave." The attendant looked toward the bend. "Keep it covered while I pass the damaged stretch."

Vesper remained above the shelf as they went to the post. Once their message was lodged, the attendant gathered their papers and waited for the crossing time.

— • —

Ren and Eira secured the empty trough to Ward’s cargo space, clear of Keep’s cradle. Vesper checked the straps and the channel ahead. Riptide held alongside until the frame lit.

Ward went first. The whale passed through with Keep and the trough, leaving room for Eira to follow on the landward side. She carried the record bundle under one arm and Mistwhisker against her chest.

Pell crossed next, then Riptide. Tarin kept its spear toward the road until Vesper reached the foot of the post.

"Together," Ren said.

They withdrew side by side. Tarin returned to its Lawfire in the shallows and crossed beside Vesper, leaving Ren at the frame.

The attendant had started up the road when Ward cleared the landing. Ren watched them pass the damaged paving and reach the bend. They raised a hand before continuing out of sight. None of the six reappeared while he watched.

He checked the shelf and channel against the departure list. The packs were gone, the post was clear and every member of the party had crossed. He left the frame and anchor untouched and stepped through.

— • —

Warm water washed over his boots at the cove.

Ward had moved into the deeper water with Keep still seated in its cradle. Riptide and Pell held beside it. Tarin stood on the sand near its Lawfire, while Vesper waited at the landward edge of the frame. Eira had set the records above the waterline and was lowering Mistwhisker onto a dry patch beside them.

Ren counted them all. This time, when he reached the last name, there was nobody still waiting on the other side.

He let his hand fall from the departure sheet. Vesper came over to compare the equipment list with the unloaded packs, and he handed her the signed return copy.

— • —

Eira went up to the Worldroot once the party and records were accounted for.

Ren unstrapped the trough from Ward and set it beside the supplies above the beach. By the time Eira returned through the flower field, he and Vesper had finished checking the load.

She had her notes open at the sketch of the barrier.

"The young are where we left them," she said. "All of them covered. The water’s still quiet behind the stones."

"And Cradle?"

"At the edge of the princess’s pocket."