The cold limestone stairwell smelled of burning tallow and old copper dust as Nari paused at the threshold of the interior rehearsal chamber.
Through the narrow slit of the iron observation grille, she studied the frantic movements of Keeper Vond, the senior Choral tactician assigned to the subterranean archives.
Vond was a wiry man in dark gray robes reinforced with boiled leather plates, clutching a heavy iron cylinder filled with classified tactical route maps.
Around him, three spatial displacement circles were engraved into the stone floor, their runic inlays glowing with faint cerulean light as he attempted to calibrate a retreat portal.
Behind Nari, two district scouts stood ready with drawn bows, awaiting her signal before advancing into the vaulted archive chamber.
"The spatial circles in this room are tied directly to the central garrison relay, but their resonance is too unstable to support an instantaneous mass transfer."
