Chapter 89: THE SECOND WARD HOLDS

RAIGORO’S POV

The useful fact in the next field strip was that North Spur was still holding when it left. Everything else in the report was cost.

The report reached West Rime after dark.

It described a battlefield several hours older than the one that existed now.

The report listed damaged outer defenses, one local officer dead, multiple wounded, the reserve wardstone still physically present, and the hidden reinforcement fully exposed. Most importantly, the station had been holding when the dispatch left. That final phrase was the only one Raigoro allowed himself to trust because everything after it was already unknown.

Captain Arven stood beside the command table.

"They asked for another company."

Raigoro looked at the available markers.

"Half."

Captain Arven looked at the remaining markers.

"If their next assault is heavier..."

"Then half may be insufficient."

"And you are sending it anyway."

"Yes."

Arven looked toward the unused central marker.

"Because of the junction."

"Because I still have a third problem with no explanation."

The order went east.

No one pretended the new reinforcement would appear at North Spur quickly.

The company would take the upper ridge road, the same route used by the earlier hidden reinforcement. From West Rime, climbing east along the ridge was faster than dropping south through the lesser junction and then climbing back toward North Spur.

The geometry would be different if a unit was already at the junction. From there, the central service crossing offered the shortest route north.

West Rime remained active behind them.

The retreating western force had not dispersed, and Holt’s crews still needed protected access to the damaged anchor.

The junction’s detailed engineering note finally reached West Rime after the emergency signal.

Holt opened it.

The first lines concerned routine inspection.

The last did not.

RECENT REPAIR HOUSING OPENED.

VISIBLE SUPPORT HARDWARE DOES NOT MATCH EXPECTED DIMENSIONS.

FULL INSPECTION INCOMPLETE.

Holt read it twice.

Arven asked, "Meaning?"

"Meaning they found something wrong."

"Sabotage?"

"Meaning they found something wrong."

Raigoro looked at Holt.

Evidence first.

Holt read the engineering note again.

"Recent repair housing."

Raigoro looked at him.

"How recent?"

"The header places it in the late-autumn reinforcement cycle."

Holt pulled a reply sheet toward himself.

"I want every component they remove marked by housing. Nothing discarded, nothing mixed into the general repair pile."

Arven looked at him.

"You think the wrong hardware arrived with the repair?"

"I think I do not know whether it arrived wrong, was installed wrong, or was changed afterward."

Holt wrote as he spoke.

"Next dispatch gives me the installation date, issue batch if they still have it, local stores count, and the markings on every wrong piece they find."

Raigoro nodded.

"Send it."

Holt sealed the request.

He had not called the problem sabotage.

He had made certain the junction would still possess the evidence needed to decide later.

Captain Veyr left before the engineering note was fully discussed.

Meris launched south with him.

He returned much later with snow caught along the edges of his coat and the gray dragon breathing hard behind him.

Raigoro met him before he reached the command shelter.

"What did you see?"

"Movement below the eastern ridge."

"Toward North Spur?"

"No."

Veyr pointed south across the map.

"Three ground groups. Ash hounds in front, stonebacks behind them, and something heavier farther back."

"Direction?"

"Southwest."

Holt looked at the same place Raigoro did.

The junction.

West Rime’s western markers flashed movement again.

The force that had withdrawn earlier was edging closer without committing to another real assault.

North Spur remained under pressure according to the last signal.

The junction had found bad hardware and now had hostile ground movement approaching it.

Raigoro looked at the remaining mobile reserve.

"South."

Arven stepped closer.

"All?"

Raigoro looked west first. West Rime still had Arven’s prepared line, local troops, engineers, and one Dragon Host pair. North Spur, to the east, had kept the reserve the enemy expected it to lose and was receiving the reinforcement already on the road.

The junction had only a maintenance garrison.

"All remaining mobile reserve south."

Arven nodded.

The two Dragon Host pairs attached to that reserve would move with it.

Veyr and Meris would range ahead.

"And you?"

Raigoro took his gloves from the table.

"With it."

Before leaving, Raigoro called West Rime’s outpost commander to the map.

The man arrived with one sleeve darkened by somebody else’s blood.

Raigoro pointed first to anchor three.

"Holt’s repair lane stays open."

"Yes, Your Grace."

"If the western force probes again, you hold the markers. You do not pursue beyond them."

The commander nodded.

Raigoro pointed toward the remaining Dragon Host position.

"That pair stays with West Rime. Their officer coordinates with you, but you do not spend them chasing retreating creatures."

"Understood."

"If anchor three becomes unsafe, give up the outer position before you trap the engineers against it."

The commander looked toward the damaged line.

"Even if that costs ground?"

"Ground can be retaken. A buried repair crew cannot repair anything."

Another nod.

"If the ward reaches failure condition, use the established signal immediately."

"And if something changes before an answer can come back from you?"

Raigoro looked at him.

"Then command West Rime."

The man held his gaze.

Raigoro continued.

"Do not wait hours for my permission to make a decision that will be useless by the time my answer reaches you."

"Yes, Your Grace."

That was why Raigoro could leave. West Rime had not become safe, but it still had officers and soldiers capable of keeping it alive without him standing beside them.

Holt and Captain Arven rode south with Raigoro. Lieutenant Kian Marr brought the mobile line detachment, while Captain Veyr and Meris ranged ahead from the air.

The junction was still hours away.

They rode south through darkness as the road narrowed after the second mountain turn. Snow hid parts of the lower retaining wall, and at one point the column had to slow while engineers cleared a wagon with a broken axle from the route.

By the time the first junction watchtower appeared between the mountain folds, the alarm horn was already sounding.

Raigoro looked toward the valley beyond it.

West Rime had been attacked.

North Spur had been attacked.

Now something was waiting between them.