The forest thinned gradually, not abruptly, as if reluctant to surrender them to open ground. Pines gave way to older growth, trunks wide and bark split deep with age. The air shifted. Smoke threaded faintly through it. Not campfire smoke. Measured. Intentional.
Kael slowed.
The former Circle man stopped instantly, reading the change without question. Seraphina lifted her gaze toward the ridge ahead. Foret moved closer, boots silent against pine needles.
"Signal burn," the former Circle man murmured. "Short pulse."
"They are not hiding," Kael said.
"They never intended to," Seraphina replied.
The stone rose from the earth like a wall grown rather than carved. Dark. Sheer. Too smooth to be natural, yet untouched by tools. Kael stepped closer and pressed his palm against it. The surface was cool, but not lifeless. It held warmth like something accustomed to attention.
"This was chosen," Seraphina said softly.
Foret circled the base. "There is a clean ascent on the left."
"Too clean," Kael replied.
He moved toward the ferns instead, where growth followed an unnatural line. Beneath them, the rock bore shallow depressions where hands had pressed repeatedly.
"They have used this route before," Foret said.
"Enough to remember it," Kael answered.
The former Circle man hesitated. "Halfway up it narrows. If they are waiting, that is where they strike."
"They want us to climb," Seraphina said.
"Yes," Kael replied. "So we climb."
He began the ascent.
The rock demanded intention. Pine needles drifted from above, disturbed by unseen movement. Halfway up, the path narrowed sharply, forcing him sideways against stone, back exposed to open air.
Not a lookout.
A filter.
Only those willing to be seen reached the top.
He pulled himself over the final ledge.
Three men stood waiting in measured formation.
No armor. No drawn steel.
Blue thread marked each cuff.
The center man stepped forward. Younger than expected. Composed.
"You came faster than anticipated," he said.
Seraphina joined Kael without hesitation. Foret and the former Circle man followed seconds later.
"You built your delays poorly," Kael replied.
A flicker of amusement crossed the man's face.
"We built them honestly. You chose not to follow."
"Honesty requires intent," Seraphina said.
The wind shifted.
"So you are the consequence," the man said quietly.
"You intend to move the vessels tonight," Kael said.
The man did not deny it.
"You have no authority here."
"Authority is not the question," Kael replied. "Visibility is."
The two flanking men shifted. Hands near hilts.
The ridge vibrated faintly beneath their boots.
The center man lifted one hand.
The temperature dropped.
Stone along the ridge face fractured sharply. A split ran downward toward the narrow ascent they had climbed.
"A demonstration," the Circle man said. "You stand where you are permitted."
Seraphina's pendant flared.
The ridge answered.
The fracture redirected.
Stone beneath one of the flanking men cracked violently. He stumbled, barely catching his balance.
"Control it," the center man snapped.
The vibration subsided.
Seraphina's voice was calm. "You do not command this place."
Silence fell.
Smoke rose again beyond the ridge. Longer pulse this time.
"They have begun the relocation," Foret said.
Kael felt it before he understood it.
A shift in the air.
The glass token at his chest warmed sharply.
Not memory.
Movement.
"They are already transferring," he said quietly.
The center man did not deny that either.
"You are late," he said.
Kael stepped forward.
"No," he replied. "You are exposed."
Behind the ridge, a low rumble carried through the stone.
Not fracture.
Wheels.
Heavy.
Multiple.
Seraphina's head turned sharply.
"They are using ground transport," she said. "Not the water route."
"They changed it," the former Circle man whispered. "They changed it after the clearing."
Because of us, Kael realized.
The center man studied him carefully now.
"You force acceleration," he said.
"Yes."
"You do not understand what you accelerate."
"I understand enough."
Another rumble echoed, closer now. The ridge trembled slightly, not in resistance, but recognition.
"They are moving too many at once," Seraphina said quietly. "The balance will not hold."
The flanking men exchanged a brief look.
There.
Doubt.
The center man noticed.
"Stand steady," he ordered.
Kael closed the final space between them.
"If you move them under fracture," Kael said softly, "you risk losing control of all of it."
"You presume weakness."
"I observe instability."
For a moment, neither moved.
Then the ridge shifted again.
A deep crack split across the stone behind the Circle formation, not toward them this time, but toward the hidden transport path.
The sound of wood splintering echoed faintly from beyond.
A shouted order carried on the wind.
The center man's composure faltered for the first time.
"What did you do," he demanded.
"I did nothing," Kael replied.
Seraphina's eyes were distant, listening.
"It is not answering you," she said.
"It is answering itself."
Another crack.
Louder.
Closer.
The rumble of wheels stuttered.
Foret's voice was tight. "If that path collapses, they cannot control the vessels."
"They already cannot," Seraphina said.
The center man turned sharply toward the sound.
Calculation.
Risk.
Loss of control.
When he faced them again, something had changed.
"You may proceed," he said.
Not surrender.
Containment.
As Kael passed him, the man spoke under his breath.
"You have shortened the fuse."
Kael did not look at him.
"It was already lit."
They moved past the Circle line.
Behind them, the ridge shuddered once more.
Not in warning.
In decision.
Ahead, smoke thickened.
And beneath it, something far more volatile than stone waited.
Smoke thickened as they moved past the Circle line. The scent changed from signal burn to something harsher. Resin. Oil.
Seraphina slowed.
"That is not transport smoke," she said quietly. "That is preparation."
Kael heard it then. Not wheels. Not wood.
Metal.
A heavy latch dropping into place somewhere beyond the ridge.
"They are consolidating," the former Circle man whispered. "If they cannot move them cleanly, they will secure them and wait."
"And wait for what?" Foret asked.
"For command," the man replied.
Kael stopped.
"No," he said.
The others looked at him.
"If they lock the vessels inside containment again, we lose visibility. We lose momentum."
Seraphina's gaze sharpened. "Then we do not let them seal it."
Another crack split through the ridge behind them, smaller this time but closer. Stone fragments slid down the slope.
The ground was no longer steady.
"They rushed the transfer," Foret muttered. "They forced weight through unstable ground."
Kael felt the glass token heat sharply against his chest.
Not memory.
Resistance.
"They are not in control anymore," Seraphina said softly.
Ahead, a shout carried on the wind. Not disciplined. Not measured.
Alarm.
Kael did not hesitate this time.
"Move," he said.
And they broke into a run toward smoke that no longer rose in careful pulses.