“Apologies for the interruption,” Saph says between gasps. “A falcon just flew over the wall and dropped this in the clearing.” She tosses a leather pouch onto the table. The Prime and I share a glance before the woman upends the tiny bag. Two tiles topple out—one aged and worn, the other made of pale, fresh wood.

Everyone leans in for a closer look.

“That’s Bedrock’s symbol,” the Prime says, pointing to the bird emblem on the older tile. “But what’s this?”

On the newer tile is a crudely burned circle, with eight points of varying lengths branching off it.

“A star?” Asher offers.

But it’s too sloppy to be a star, too haphazard. It looks more like a circle bursting apart, more like—

“It’s an explosion,” I say. “Reed sent this to warn us. He blew the powder—and that’s what I saw flashing to the east.”

“But why?” the Reaper asks.

The Prime tucks the tiles into the pouch and hands them to Saph. “Did the falcon wait for a reply?”

“She dropped the pouch, circled once, and then flew east.”

“Thank you, Saph. You may return to your post.”

Saph gives a curt nod and jogs off. The rest of us watch the door fall shut behind her.

“Why would Reed blow the powder early?” the Reaper asks again.

“Should we wait until the next trade to confirm the message?” the Chemist asks. “Or do we attack now?”

“We only have nine wind wagons ready,” the Tender says. “Our goal was fifteen. And it’s possible it’s a trap. He could have sent that message to ensure that we sail into an ambush.”

“An ambush in which the mag-rifles will be useless,” Asher points out. “They won’t function until the storm passes.”

The Prime looks to me. “What do you think, Delta?”

I touch my lodestone through my shirt. “I’d like to believe he didn’t betray us, but what I think doesn’t really matter.” Asher frowns. The Prime raises a brow. “If Reed betrayed us,” I explain, “it means that the General now knows everything and will attack us within days. If Reed didn’t betray us, something caused him to blow the powder early, and it must have been something big. Something that made him think this was our only chance and we’d be fools to waste it.”

The Prime nods. “Exactly what I was thinking.”

“But the mag-rifles,” Asher repeats. “They’re worthless if we go now.”

“We have the blast barrels,” the Prime says. “They will get us through the dam wall. And we have our archers, plus some modified rifles of our own. Delta’s mag-rifles were always a bonus, not the crutch we planned to lean on.”