The message from Skytheum arrived at the eighty-first hour, and Marcus read it four times before he brought it to anyone.
It was short. It was not a task.
[Skytheum acknowledges the Gutwrack Span.]
[A representative will observe. Continue as you are.]
"Observe," Rudra repeated. "That's it?"
"That's the entire message."
"The first-ranked Empire is sending someone to watch us," Almond said. "While we're still fighting."
"They do that," Big D said. "Sometimes before they make an offer. Sometimes before they decide you're a problem." He shrugged. "Doesn't change the work. Hold the gates."
The representative never announced themselves. Nobody ever found out who it was, or whether they'd arrived at all. But from the eighty-first hour onward, everyone on the Gutwrack Span fought with the quiet awareness that someone from the top of this layer might be standing somewhere out there, counting.
Day five opened badly.
