Marked by the Four Beast Lords After Transmigration

Nia was reaching for another bundle of dried red roots Sera had set aside that morning when cold water touched the back of her wrist.

She pulled her hand from between two baskets and saw a dark trail running down the stone behind the shelf frame. It crossed the wooden rear support and gathered along the rim of the jar below. The store had remained dry through the hardest part of winter, but another drop was already swelling along the seam.

“Mari.”

Mari looked up from the count cloth spread across her knees. Sera stood near the center table with several smoked strips in her hands, and Shen waited by the entrance with the basket he and Nia had brought from their cave.

Nia moved the jar before the drop fell. Shen crossed the room, wiped the water from her wrist with the dry edge of a cloth, then pressed his fingers to the darkened wood.

“The rear support is taking in water,” he said. He checked the shelf above it and the grain sacks on the floor. “Nothing has reached the food.”

Mari folded the count cloth and stood. “Rovan!”

His answer came from the passage. “I’m carrying baskets.”

“Put them down and bring Selvan.”

Rovan appeared with two empty grain baskets braced against his chest. He lowered them beside the entrance, felt the wet support for himself, and left at once.

Sera set the smoked strips on the table and gripped the nearest stone jar. “We clear the lower shelf first.”

Nia made room beside the strips. Sera lifted the first jar, Shen took the second, and Nia moved the smaller sealed containers to the far end of the table. Two belonged to her household. She kept them together while Mari marked every change on the cloth.

“I finished counting this shelf before you arrived,” Mari said.

“Keep the cloth open,” Sera replied. “We are moving half the store.”

Mari’s charcoal was already moving.

By the time Rovan returned, the lower shelf was empty. He carried several flat boards and two short stone blocks. Selvan followed with rolled matting and a narrow seasoned support tucked beneath one arm.

“Nia saw water behind the shelf,” Mari told him. “Nothing is spoiled.”

Selvan crouched beside the shelf frame. He pressed his thumb into the damp rear support, tested both front legs, and leaned far enough to examine the gap between the frame and the wall.

“The frame is sound. This piece cannot stay against wet stone.” He looked at the grain sacks beside the shelf. “Raise those first. Then I can replace the support farther forward.”

Sera planted one hand on the nearest sack. “The grain stays together. Too many people take from it every day for us to scatter it through different rooms.”

Shen crouched beside the two meal bins stored along the lower wall and pressed around each lid. The first did not move. The second shifted beneath his fingers.

“This one will take moisture first.”

Mari checked the count cloth. “The grain stays here. Nia’s loose-lid meal bin can use the upper shelf. Her sealed bin and jars can go home with her.”

Nia looked at the folded care wraps above them. “Those can move to the upper hearth. The pegs there are dry, and people already come there for them.”

Selvan nodded toward the sacks. “Then we have space. Move these before the water reaches the floor.”

He set the stone blocks with a hand’s width between them and the wall. Rovan laid the boards across the top. Selvan tested the platform with one knee, then spread the matting so the woven sacks would not catch against the rough wood.

Sera and Nia lifted the first grain sack together. Rovan and Shen moved the second. Selvan helped with the remaining sacks, and Mari marked each new position before they reached for the next one. They left a clear strip behind the raised platform so air could move along the damp wall.

When the last sack was settled, Sera pressed both hands against its side and checked that it did not shift.

“It is steady.”

Nia straightened and saw Shen watching the wet seam instead of the grain. The water had not reached the floor yet, but the dark line had widened.

“The wraps next,” she said.

Sera pulled one of the empty baskets closer. Nia lifted the folded cloths from the upper shelf while Shen checked the ties and separated the clean wraps from those already used with salves. Mari recorded the transfer as they filled the basket.

Rovan took it to the upper hearth.

Sera drew the second empty basket beneath the hanging roots. “Help me lower the rest before Selvan starts on the frame.”

Nia untied the bundles one at a time. Mari marked each one as it left its peg, then tied Nia’s household sign around the extra bundle Sera had promised her.

Shen placed it beside the dried greens in Nia’s smaller basket.

Sera lifted one side of the larger root basket, and Nia took the other. They carried the remaining bundles into the main room and hung them from dry pegs near the vent. Sera checked the distance from the hearth smoke, shifted one bundle farther left, then set the empty basket beneath the hanging roots.

Sera checked Nia’s sleeve where the first drop had landed. “Good thing you reached behind those baskets.”

“The jars would have been wet by evening.”

Sera squeezed Nia’s shoulder once before returning to the store.

Shen steadied the shelf frame while Selvan removed the damp rear support. Selvan laid the wet piece across two dry stones outside the entrance, away from the food, then fitted the seasoned replacement between the side posts farther forward. The new crosspiece carried the upper shelf without touching the wall.

He leaned his weight against the frame, checked the front pegs, and drove one deeper with the heel of his hand.

“The meal bin can sit near the front,” he said. “Leave the rest of the shelf clear until the stone dries.”

Shen lifted the loose-lidded bin onto the upper shelf. Nia turned the weak side of the lid away from the wall and left enough space around the woven sides for air to pass.

“The sealed bin comes with us,” she said.

Shen moved it beside their basket near the entrance.

Sera passed Nia the first of her household jars from the end of the table. “Take these too. Even if the cold returns, they are safer in your cave.”

Nia accepted the second jar. Mari marked both for return to Nia’s cave.

The larger stone jars still covered most of the table. Selvan crossed into Sera’s main room and tested the low stone ledge along the inner wall. Sera and Nia moved the heavy jars there. Shen placed Sera’s smaller containers on a dry shelf near the store entrance after Selvan checked its supports.

Rovan returned carrying the empty wrap basket. A message strip was tied around his wrist.

“Kael closed the narrow path below the west channel,” he said. “One of the marker posts leaned when the ground softened.”

Sera took the strip. “Was anyone on the path?”

“No. He stopped the next carriers before they reached the turn. Everyone is using the central route.” Rovan set the empty basket beside Nia’s jars. “Tarek sent rope, probing poles, and short digging tools. Kael has been at the channel since morning.”

Sera read the marks and handed the strip back. “Tell him the grain is raised and nothing spoiled.”

Mari added another line to the count cloth. “I’ll check the wall again before evening.”

Rovan tucked the message strip beneath the tie at his wrist.

By midday, the vulnerable food was clear of the wet seam. Selvan’s replacement support kept the shelf away from the wall. Sera returned the smoked strips to a dry rack near the main-room entrance while Mari corrected their location on her cloth.

Shen replaced one stretched tie around the covering of Nia’s oil jar, then placed both of her jars inside the basket Rovan had brought back.

“Keep this one upright,” he told Rovan, touching the oil jar. “Carry the basket from beneath.”

Rovan lifted it with both hands and left for Nia’s cave.

Nia took the smaller basket of roots and greens. Shen followed with the sealed meal bin. Outside the store, Hearthfang’s passages had already changed with the thaw. A hunter sat on a low stone bench removing narrow ice grips from his boots and tying on broad ridged soles for mud. Two carriers lifted a loaded basket from its sled frame and threaded poles through its side loops. Farther down the corridor, ropes, probing poles, and short-handled tools moved toward the west passage.

More people used the central route than the day before. Workers called warnings before turning blind corners, and damp marks followed every load brought in from the outer paths.

At Nia’s cave, Rovan had set the jar basket beside the preparation table. He was waiting near the low ledge because the market basket still occupied the space Nia and Shen had discussed.

Nia set down her roots. “Hang the market basket from the peg near the entrance.”

Rovan lifted it from the ledge and carried it to the peg. Shen set the meal bin on the preparation table, then reached for the seed jars on the upper kitchen shelf.

Nia passed the first jar down to him. Together they moved the seed jars to the low ledge beside the sleeping wall, leaving space between them so each could be lifted without disturbing the others. Rovan placed the oil jar at the far end and set the second sealed jar beside it, both away from the basin path.

Shen wiped the upper shelf. Nia checked the wood with her palm, then nodded. He lifted the sealed meal bin into place and waited while she set it far enough forward that the lid and woven sides did not touch the stone.

Their basket of dried greens and red roots went beneath the preparation table.

Nia crossed once from the hearth to the basin with an empty bowl. She turned beside the table and came back without brushing the jars, the shelf, or Rovan.

“The path is clear.”

Shen rested one hand at her waist as he leaned past her to check the space behind the meal bin. “There is room to reach the back.”

“For now.” Nia looked at the scored spring line beneath the measuring cord. “The new shelf still needs more depth than this one.”

“We measured for it.”

“And I want to see what becomes available in spring before I settle the final depth.”

Shen’s fingers pressed once against her side before he stepped away.

Rovan bent to collect the empty basket.

A runner called his name from the passage. Rovan stepped outside and returned with an empty wooden bowl wrapped in hide.

“Tarek sent this for Kael,” he said. “The workers ate what they carried. Kael has not left the west channel, and Tarek says he has not eaten.”

Nia looked toward the hearth. Thick grain porridge remained in the pot, and two plain flat cakes sat beneath a cloth beside it. The extra red roots were already within reach beneath the table.

“Set the bowl here.”

She cut one root into thin pieces while Shen uncovered the pot. Nia loosened the porridge with water, added rendered fat, then folded in the root strips before the dried greens so they would soften without losing all their bite.

Shen watched the pot and handed her what she reached for before she asked. When she offered him the tasting spoon, he took a small mouthful and waited.

“It needs a little salt after the greens,” he said.

Nia tasted it herself, added a pinch of salt, and stirred once more. “That is enough.”

She filled the empty bowl. Shen wrapped two pieces of smoked meat and the two flat cakes in cloth while Nia covered the food tightly against the damp air.

Rovan reached for the bowl. “I can take it.”

“Put it in the empty basket,” Nia said. “Shen and I are going with you.”

Rovan settled the covered bowl inside the basket and lifted it from beneath. Nia carried the wrapped meat and cakes while Shen walked beside her. The passage toward the west channel grew cooler, but the floor was wet beneath their broad-soled boots. At the first junction, a worker redirected two loaded carriers toward the central route before they reached the hide barrier stretched across the descending path.

The air beyond the barrier smelled of wet stone, loosened soil, and moss crushed beneath work boots. Water tapped somewhere out of sight.

Tarek met them before the restricted turn. Mud darkened the lower half of his boots. His gaze moved from Nia to the barrier.

“I’m staying on this side,” Nia said. “Kael still needs to eat.”

Tarek looked at the bowl in Rovan’s basket. “He has not left it since morning.”

He called Kael’s name down the slope.

Kael stood below the next rise with two route workers and an older hunter. The leaning marker remained in the ground, roped to a stone anchor. One worker pressed a long pole into the softened earth beside the path. Another knelt at the wall, clearing only enough mud to expose a narrow crack; the short digging tools remained on the stones behind him.

Kael listened to the hunter, looked along the channel wall, then turned when Tarek called again. He climbed to the barrier without hurrying. Mud streaked one side of his boots and the edge of his lower wrap.

Rovan lifted out the bowl, and Shen passed it to Kael.

“Sera said the grain is raised and nothing spoiled,” Rovan said. “Mari will check the wall again before evening.”

Kael nodded, and Rovan turned back toward Sera with the empty basket.

“The wall behind Sera’s lower shelf was dry yesterday,” Nia said.

Kael ate several spoonfuls before answering. “The same line of meltwater reaches this wall. We know where it appeared in the store. We do not know yet how far it runs beneath the path.”

He looked back toward the worker with the probing pole. The pole sank deeper on one side of the marker than the other.

“The central route remains open,” Kael said. “The west path stays closed until I inspect the ground above and below it.”

“Tonight?” Nia asked.

“Not in the dark. We keep the barrier here, watch the water through evening, and begin the full route inspection at first light.”

Shen handed him the wrapped meat and cakes. Kael took the bundle.

“I will return after the evening count.”

Nia touched his wrist. She felt his concern through the bond even with workers waiting below.

“We’ll keep the hearth hot.”

Kael closed his fingers around hers for one brief moment, then stepped back toward the slope.

Nia and Shen waited while another pair of carriers passed along the central route. Beyond the hide barrier, old ice still clung to the shaded stone. Beneath its white crust, a narrow stream carried dark grit toward the lower path.

The surface remained whole. Water was already moving underneath.

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