The soldiers in the tunnel had stopped moving.
Nathan went back to the grate to check. The two that Faen had locked in ice were still standing in the water, swords hanging at their sides. The ice around their legs had started to crack. They didn't push against it. They didn't look at him. They just stood there with their eyes open, facing the wall.
Through Hunter's Insight, their threads had gone dim. Still attached. Still running south. But slack. Nobody was pulling on them.
"Whoever it is, he let go," Nathan said when he came back.
"For now," Faen said.
Gerald already had Sir Edmund over his shoulder. The envoy was a big man, and Gerald's face was red with the effort, but he didn't complain. "We can't stay in this ditch," he said. "Patrol comes along the inside of the wall every hour. My uncle used to wait for them in a barn about a mile north. If it's still standing."
It was still standing. Just.
