The Gembound: The Price of Keeping Chapter 72: Volume 3: Chapter 66 – A Gate Opens

Read chapter 72 of The Gembound: The Price of Keeping by Taliorn on NovelPedia.

Volume 3: Chapter 66 – A Gate Opens Day 14 – After Dark Rain turned to a clean mist. The curfew bell rang and enjoyed its own voice. Face went through a service door that the Registrar “should” know about. Spark crouched at the north gate's latch and tested it carefully. The mechanism moved slowly and sluggishly, and the grit and wax-pitch from yesterday did their job. Tired metal is predictable metal, and predictable was precisely what they needed. Inside, Index moved the patrol schedule board, swapping assignments so guards ended up in the wrong positions. The mistake looked like someone else's error; no one wanted to admit they hadn't caught it. Raptor watched as three different patrols turned down wrong streets, following the patterns the Scars had been teaching them all day. At the bell tower, Slash's wire trap kept the trouble bell ringing intermittently, pulling guards toward the noise and away from the gates that mattered. Outside, the chainwolves waited in the rain, perfectly still. Bruno raised two fingers. Corvin moved the wolf units forward in groups of three, silent and coordinated. Yara moved with them. Sam stayed in the middle, the bears on either side, Harry on her left. The Greatsword of the Cosmic Rift rested across her back. She could feel the sword's awareness, alert and ready. "Teeth," she said. "Forward." The Gem purred. No breaking. Just bending. This is how you take what doesn't yet know it's yours. The first contact wasn't much. City guards aren't soldiers. They follow procedures, not tactics. A shield went up because a bell had been ringing too long, and someone thought they should look official. Bruno directed the wolves with small gestures. Moren, the pack's morale keeper, shouldered into a guard's shield at an angle that made the man step aside without understanding why. Jorick positioned himself in a doorway and simply stood there. The presence of a seven-foot chainwolf was enough. No one tried to pass. Yara saw guards forming a defensive square and fired two quick force blasts at the corners. The formation collapsed. The guards fell back into a line instead. Lines were easier to move around. The wards reacted to her magic, pressing against her like an invisible weight. The Gem wanted to push back harder, to force through. She touched the ward-web briefly, felt the ache start in her teeth, then pulled back. Not worth the cost. Not yet. Weaver's voices whispered in her mind, sending images instead of words. A dry culvert. A rope creaking in the bell tower. Blue chalk dust on a ledger shelf. Yara absorbed each piece of information and filed it away. Face: “Registrar’s door is open.” Spark: “North hinge is yawning.” Index: “Two carts through. Eyes busy elsewhere.” Raptor: “Trouble bell holds. Loop B stalled at the bakery.” Slash said nothing. Silence is proof of his part works. The north gate opened smoothly, as if it were routine maintenance. Two tired guards watched it rise and assumed it was scheduled. The west service gate also opened. Neither guard questioned it. Petra's unit went through first. Three wolves moving in a tight wedge, low and silent. They entered the north gatehouse room before the guards inside could react. No violence happened. Just presence. One guard opened his mouth to shout. Moren stepped close, towering over him. The guard closed his mouth. Sat down. Stayed sitting. Rhys's unit took the granary lane. They found two clerks doing inventory by lamplight. The clerks looked up, saw the wolves, looked at each other, then back at their ledgers. One whispered, "This is above our level." They kept counting grain sacks. The wolves let them work. The two unnamed pack members moved with Darrin's mobile unit, learning interception tactics. When a patrol rounded a corner too early, one of the young wolves simply stood in the middle of the lane. The patrol stopped. Stared. The wolf stared back without moving. The patrol turned around and chose a different street. The young wolf's tail swe