He didn’t ask. He didn’t accuse. He stated it the way someone confirms a fact that can’t be altered.
“Yes,” I said.
“Which means the clock starts.”
I nodded once.
Joren’s mouth twitched, “Then what did it buy?”
“Time,” I said. “For us.”
He glanced at me. “To prepare.”
“To be ready.” I said flatly.
Joren nodded once. Not approval but recognition of what had been set in motion.
We didn’t’ slow as we reached my office.
The door stood open and inside the table had been claimed.
Calder stood over it, one hand anchoring the map, the other tracing a route with quiet intent. His attention remained fixed for a beat too long after we entered, as if he were finishing a thought before acknowledging us.
I hadn’t been expecting him.
Calder didn’t look at either of us when he spoke.
“They found something at the easter border,” he said.
Joren’s attention sharpened. “Found?”
Calder nodded once. “It wasn’t hidden. It wasn’t damaged naturally. It was left where the border stones meet.”
I felt the weight of it settle before he named it.
“What,” I asked.
Calder exhaled slowly.
“A raven,” he said. “Dead. Its neck bound with black cord.”
The room went still.
“No scavenger marks,” he continued. “No struggle. The cord was knotted cleanly.”
Joren’s voice was quiet. “That’s deliberate.”
Calder nodded. “There was a shard of stormglass placed beside it as well. Upright. Untouched.”
I felt the meaning settle like cold in my chest.
“Not a warning,” Joren said.
“No,” I said. “A message.”
The word passed through the room like a low note struck too deep to hear, felt instead in the bones.
No one spoke. Calder’s gaze dropped back to the map, fingers resting at the border stones without touching them. Joren stood by the window, posture still, listening beyond stone glass as if the castle itself might answer him.
