The city map had been stored in the records archive since the census a decade ago. It showed every district, every major road, every section of wall. Lewin had spread it flat across the office table and fixed each corner with a lamp to keep it from curling.
Beorn studied it for ten seconds, long enough to orient himself and identify key reference points, then picked up the quill.
He did not sit. Standing kept him mobile and let him adjust quickly.
The first marks came fast, almost in a mechanical way. He marked the citadel block. Then the garrison quarter. Then the northeastern wall section. Those were secured positions, so he treated them as his districts. Next he marked Coss's districts. The warehouse district got a cross. The high quarter got another. The main gate required a different symbol, with the situation there uncertain. The crown soldiers garrisoned the gate, while Coss's men occupied the route.
