Marked by the Four Beast Lords After Transmigration

The outside-market notice stayed on the eastern cord of the route board for four days before Kael took it down.

Nia noticed the empty cord while she was cutting yesterday’s flatbread into strips for the morning meal. Shen had already set broth near the edge of the hot-pot stone to warm, and Kael stood beside the route board with the notice spread against his palm. Two narrow route strips lay beside it.

“Did you check the road?” Nia asked.

“The road inside our eastern mark.” Kael slid one route strip beneath the notice. “The lower section dried yesterday. The soft edge near the second marker still needs another layer of gravel before carts use it.”

Nia set the knife down and wiped the crumbs from the board into the food-scrap bowl. “Has Aurel checked the road beyond the marker?”

“Aurel has been watching the traffic coming through. Tovin spoke to sellers who used the road from the meeting ground.”

That was the part of the notice that had stayed in Nia’s mind. It was not another Hearthfang market with visiting traders brought safely beneath Kael’s markers. Several routes met beyond Hearthfang, and households from other territories could travel there if their roads were open.

Kael returned the notice to the board instead of tying it back to the eastern cord. “Tovin will be near the lower agreement tables after first bell. I need to speak with him before I answer this.”

Shen turned the broth pot slightly so the heat reached it more evenly. “We can eat first.”

Kael sat, and their breakfast remained simple: warmed broth, flatbread, and the last of the browned roots Shen had cooked the evening before. Kael finished first, but he stayed at the table until Nia had eaten most of her bread. When she reached for the last strip, he pushed the broth bowl nearer to her.

“Are you coming with us?” she asked.

“Yes.”

Nia finished her breakfast, and by the time they left, the lower passages were already busy. A pair of workers carried fresh gravel toward the north turn. Someone near the pottery row was testing a new carrying pole with two empty clay jars tied at either end, and farther down, a seller argued with a cart driver about whether wet rope counted as part of the cart weight. Kael listened long enough to make sure neither man was blocking the passage, then continued.

The lower agreement tables stood near the edge of the spring market area. Most of the large seller slates had already been cleared from the previous gathering, but two tables remained in use for traders waiting on repairs or arranging later deliveries.

Tovin stood at one of them with three narrow strips laid flat in front of him. “The wetland seller is leaving tomorrow if his rear wheel stays straight through the lower turn. He goes to the outside market most springs. He said the first sellers are already there, and more will come if the river stays inside its banks.”

Kael stopped at the table. “Did he use the east road?”

“Part of it. Another seller came up from the lower south road and joined it near the river.”

Tovin shifted one strip closer to Kael. “The wetland seller takes more stock there than he brings into Hearthfang. He takes watergrain, reed fiber, and oilseed when he has enough. He expects more buyers because several roads meet there.”

Nia leaned closer to see the marks. “So he saves the larger loads for the meeting ground.”

“Partly. He knows he can move more there.”

Two small measures of watergrain had already made Nia careful with every handful. A market that drew buyers from several territories could justify a much larger load.

“Does sunbell sell there too?”

“The flower sellers go early. Whole blossoms move quickly there.” Tovin gathered one strip and set it atop another. “A red-fox buying house from farther south has been taking good flower lots before midday. They also buy grain, dried fruit, spice, and oilseed when the quality is good.”

“Do they control the market?” Kael asked.

“No. They buy heavily and pay quickly. Sellers still complain when the best lots disappear before they finish setting out everything else.”

Aurel descended beyond the agreement tables and folded his wings as he approached. The leather guard along one forearm was pale with road dust, and a narrow route pouch rested against his side.

Kael turned toward him. “Eastern watch?”

“Clear inside the mark. Six travelers came through since sunrise. One empty cart turned back at the soft edge rather than risk the wheel.”

“And beyond it?”

“The road is being used. The first rise is dry. The shaded descent after it still has mud along the inside edge, so travelers are walking animals through one at a time.”

Aurel pulled a narrow strip from his pouch and set it beside Tovin’s. “The trade shelter is open. The roof survived winter, and the sleeping platform is dry. One side screen tore loose.”

Nia looked at the route strip. “How long would it take us to reach the meeting ground?”

“For a light party, you can reach the shelter before dark if the road stays dry. The meeting ground is beyond that. You can reach it the next morning without rushing.”

“A cart would be slower,” Kael said.

“Much slower if the shaded descent gets more rain.”

“If we go, we will not take a cart.”

Nia smiled and looked back down at the route strip.

Shen had been quiet beside her. “For an overnight route, I want the water divided between more than one container. And one medicine packet where I can reach it without unpacking the food.”

Kael nodded.

Shen looked at Nia. “Anything damp, medicinal, or strongly scented should come back wrapped separately.”

“That sounds reasonable.”

“It will matter more after you see the market.”

Nia smiled.

Aurel pointed to the scratch representing the shaded descent. “If rain comes before you leave, this needs another check. Water cuts across the lower half before the upper stone looks wet.”

“I will have it checked again,” Kael said. “Any dispute on the common road?”

“None reported this spring. The lower river territory has two men watching the crossing during daylight.”

Tovin stepped away when a worker approached with a tied slate and needed a spring delivery mark corrected. He moved with the man to the second table, leaving Aurel’s route strip beside Kael.

“The market ground itself is open,” Aurel said to Nia. “There are covered seller rows, but the paths between them are exposed.”

Nia pictured a market without Hearthfang stone curving above it, sellers arriving from roads she had never seen, and goods that had traveled farther than anything she had bought so far.

“How crowded does it get?”

“It changes by day. More travelers have been using the road this spring than last.”

Kael turned the route strip slightly to study the crossing mark. “How much water is at the lower crossing?”

“Below the knee on the marked line this morning. Faster in the middle than it looks from the bank.”

“That gets checked again before anyone leaves.”

Aurel nodded as Tovin returned from the second table.

“If you go, bring more than one kind of trade piece,” Tovin said. “Sellers coming from farther roads do not all want Hearthfang goods.”

“What do the sellers usually want?” Nia asked.

“Good hide, cord, and worked stone usually move well. It depends on who came in from which road.”

“Medicine stock stays here unless Sera or another medicine authority clears it,” Kael said.

Shen nodded. “And anything sold as medicine gets checked before we treat it like medicine.”

Nia looked between them. “I can work with that.”

Tovin gathered his seller strips into a stack. “The wetland seller said small trade pieces are useful too. Trade values change from seller to seller, and some would rather take several modest exchanges than one large one.”

That interested Nia almost as much as the food. Her first Hearthfang markets had taught her how little she understood about what people considered ordinary. An outside market would add several territories’ ideas of ordinary at once.

A route runner appeared at the far turn, and Aurel glanced toward him. “I need to go back up.”

Kael slid Aurel’s route strip back toward him. “Have the next watch mark any change beyond the second eastern marker. Check the shaded descent again before dark.”

Aurel tucked the strip into his route pouch. “I will send word.” He left toward the open ledge rather than the stairs.

Tovin lifted the small agreement box from beneath the table. “Tell me before you choose trade pieces. I can tell you what the sellers who passed through were taking.”

“We will,” Nia said.

He carried the box toward the next table while Kael watched the lower route for a moment. Instead of taking the shortest path home, Kael led Nia and Shen along the eastern lower turn, where the territory path widened toward the marker.

The market noise thinned behind them as they walked. Workers had already spread fresh gravel across one damp section, and a patrol male crouched beside the drainage cut, clearing small stones from the channel with a wooden scraper. Farther down, sunlight reached the outer path in a long pale strip.

Nia had passed the eastern turn before, but she had never walked this close to the marker while considering what lay beyond it.

Kael stopped several paces before the marked boundary. Nia came up beside him, and Shen joined her on the other side. The road continued downhill between spring-dark stone and new green growth. Water from the last rain had left a darker line along one edge, but the center of the path was firm enough to show recent footprints. The marker was the only visible sign that Hearthfang ended there.

Nia looked toward the turn where the road disappeared. She could no longer see the market behind them from this angle, but she could still hear pieces of it: a cart wheel creaking over stone, someone calling for another basket weight, and the steady knock of repair work farther up the passage.

Kael pointed toward the lower road. “Two route men will walk to the trade shelter tomorrow. They will check the water points, the shaded descent, and the crossing beyond it. If the route stays usable, I will answer the notice.”

Nia nodded as Shen’s fingers brushed the back of her hand. She took his hand while Kael remained beside her, looking down the road.

Ahead, the eastern road disappeared past the marker and kept going.

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