The mail of the basin

The mail arrived the morning when the warning was engraved. It bore the mark of the pool of the Watchmen and a rope tied twice around the wrist. Ressa sent him with a news: the two guards who went to look for the five travelers had found three traces near the Fosse aux Cloches. They had also found Jorren's name in the registers of an old post, but no mention of his group.

The note did not say that the travelers were alive. She said that a witness had seen them enter a gallery with guards three days earlier.

"Is it enough to search?" asked Senn.

"That's enough to ask the question to people who know where this gallery leads," Zaelyra replied.

The Vault could not send guards without checking his own post. The mail would leave at the next change of air. It was necessary to decide quickly if someone would accompany him.

Senn proposed to go. Kethra too.

"I have no right to hold you," Zaelyra told Senn. "But you've never seen this road, you don't know the signs, and you don't know who could expect you."

"I can learn."

"Not in an hour."

Kethra asked that she be allowed to be part of the team. The Vault council did not want her to approach the old positions because of her links with brokers. She heard the decision without protesting.

"They think I could recognize someone and hide the information from them," she then said.

"Would you do it?"

"I don't know. If I recognize the Watchman, I might want to prevent him from leaving before I have learned what he knows about Saira."

"And the travelers?"

"I would help them too."

"The two can come into conflict."

"I know."

Kethra did not ask to be excused for what she might have done. She asked to participate in the preparation of the road. The council accepted that she compares the signs with the registers, but not that she accompanies the guards.

The courier offered a team of four: Zaelyra, Rhylor, Nym and goalkeeper Delli. The main group would remain at the Vault. Senn would choose to continue west with the families or wait for the team to return; he would not be dragged into the mission by his impatience.

"I'm staying," he says. "I want to help sort the signs."

"You don't help him by staying?" asked Kethra.

"I don't know. But I can learn here."

Delli chooses the way to the bronze post. Ressa had described a secondary road, but she had never taken it. The map of the Vault stopped at the first bend.

Before leaving, Zaelyra had the travelers reread the warning. They had to know that the team might not return for two days. No one would be forced to stay; those who would leave west would receive a copy of the verified roads to the Vault.

The wounded man's sister decided to stay with him. The merchant and two families wanted to continue as soon as the guide was found. They asked if Zaelyra would join them.

"If the road is passable and if we return on time."

"What if you don't come back?"

"You will leave with the guide that the council will choose."

She says this without knowing if the guide would be found, or if he would accept. The merchant seemed frustrated, but understood that she was not going to promise him to come back.

The courier led them to the basin, where Ressa completed his report. The three traces were those of a dragged rope, steps linked by the same rhythm and a flap lantern. A traveler had left a mark on the chalk, similar to the one on the fake plates.

"Was someone taken away?" asked Rhylor.

"We don't know. The witness only saw the queue."

"Where was she going?"

"Towards the Fosse aux Cloches."

The Pit was an old deposit dug near an underground river. The lower galleries had been abandoned after the warning bells started ringing without any guard operating them. The stories diverged: some spoke of a mechanism, others of a creature that imitated sound.

"Have you ever visited the place? Zaelyra asked Delli.

"No."

"And you? She asked Ressa.

"Once. I didn't spend the night there."

She gave them a map she had received from a former guard. The southern half was torn. The northern roads bore recent marks, but no date.

Kethra remained at the entrance of the post. She had not obtained permission to leave, but Ressa agreed that she examined the map remotely.

"This arrow is not a mark of the refuge," she says. "This is the code of a broker who sells directions without giving distances."

"You're sure? Zaelyra asked.

"I've already seen it. I don't know who engraved it here or if the code is still in use."

Ressa noted the information without writing Kethra's name as certainty. She gave the small group a red lantern and a two-day return period.

"If the lantern lights up twice, you come back. If it remains off, we wait until the end of the second day. Then we send another team."

Zaelyra repeated the protocol. She didn't ask what would happen if no one came back after the second team. Ressa didn't know.

They left with a single map, each of which knew the limits.