Chapter 76: Westbound

  Laurent left the academy without ceremony. There was no line for departures like this. He signed out at the gate, shifted the weight of his pack, and stepped onto the western road while the yards were still loud behind him. His papers were stamped for Rimewatch. Blackrun lay between. Four days on foot.

  The first day was ordinary enough—fields thinning into scrub, the road scarred by traffic that moved the wrong way. Carts passed him overloaded and slow. Families walked beside them in silence, eyes forward, backs turned to whatever they’d left behind.

  By the second day, the tone changed. Guards appeared at intervals, armor mismatched but weapons close. Supply wagons moved inward under escort. A mender worked by the roadside with sleeves rolled high, hands already stained. No one asked Laurent where he was going. They already knew.

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  At night, fires were kept low. Conversations ended early. Laurent slept lightly, woke earlier, and checked his gear before habit told him to. He ran his thumb along stress points, noted where leather had softened, where metal had dulled. Good gear mattered. Blackrun had taught him how fast margins vanished. Aren had named the rest without softening it—strength bought time, and time could still be spent badly.

  On the third day, traffic thickened again. Refugees clustered closer to the road, watching travelers with eyes that weighed and measured. Hunger pressed closer than fear. Laurent adjusted his pace. Kept his hands visible. Did not look away.

  The fourth day brought the walls. Blackrun rose low and functional, gates wide for throughput rather than display. Smoke drifted from within—not panic smoke, but work done late and done fast. Bells rang for shifts, not ceremony. Laurent did not report for duty. He registered his passage, had his papers checked, and moved through with the rest of the flow. Inside, guards watched him briefly, then looked past him toward louder problems.

  Blackrun was holding. Barely. Laurent did not stay. By evening, he was back on the road west, the city already shrinking behind him. Rimewatch waited. And whatever lay beyond it would not care that he had only passed through.