The Gembound: The Price of Keeping Chapter 141: Volume 5: Chapter 124 – Conversations in the Dark

Read chapter 141 of The Gembound: The Price of Keeping by Taliorn on NovelPedia.

Volume 5: Chapter 124 – Conversations in the Dark Day 141–143 Drakk waited until Yara was not surrounded. Not because he feared the others, but because this was the kind of report that changed where the weight settled. You didn’t announce that sort of thing in a room unless you wanted it to ripple. He stood near the edge of the widened chamber, helmet under one arm, hands bare. The stone around him felt attentive in a way it had not before, as if it were listening through him. “The deep forges are running thin,” he said. No preamble. No apology. “Quality ore’s dropping. Not enough to stop production yet, but enough that the numbers won’t hold.” Yara looked up from the map spread across the stone table. “How long?” she asked. “Days,” Drakk said. “A week, if they pretend nothing’s wrong. When the yield reports don’t match demand, they’ll push.” “Where,” she asked, though she already knew. Drakk tapped a section of the map farther down than the active works. Old ink. Old seals. The kingdom had closed its routes, not because they were exhausted, but because they were slow and dangerous. “Deeper,” he said. “Older veins. Places inspectors don’t like, and foremen don’t argue for. Stone that doesn’t forgive mistakes.” Precisely the kind that remembered itself. Yara folded her hands once, considering. “That will bring crews,” she said. “And oversight.” Drakk nodded. “And questions.” As if summoned by the word, the pressure behind Yara’s ribs flared. Harry’s shard pulsed violently against her awareness, sharp enough to steal her breath for half a heartbeat. Not pain. Direction. Two levels down. Past the active forges. Yara closed her eyes briefly and let the sensation settle into certainty. “That’s where it is,” she said quietly. Drakk didn’t ask what she meant. He had learned better than that. She opened her eyes and turned, gaze already finding Daryl at the edge of the chamber. He was pretending not to listen. He wasn’t very good at it. “Those tunnels aren’t mapped cleanly,” Yara said. “Not the way we’d need them.” Daryl was already moving. He crossed the space in quick strides, charcoal and parchment appearing in his hands as if they’d been there all along. He knelt, spreading the map and turning it so the deeper layers faced him. “I can do it,” he said, too quickly, then forced himself to slow. “I mean. I should. If they’re going to push crews down there blind, someone’s going to die.” Yara watched him carefully. “Why you?” she asked, not unkindly. Daryl swallowed and tapped the stone floor beside the map. “Because I can see where it’s lying,” he said. “Not just cracks. Stress. Places that look stable until they aren’t. I can tell where the mountain wants to break.” Silence followed. Not doubt. Assessment. Yara nodded once. “Go,” she said. “Map ahead of them. Quietly.” Daryl let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “I’ll take Shadow—” “She’ll already be there,” Yara said. Drakk watched him go, posture straight, steps quick but careful, already thinking in lines and load paths instead of fear. “Sending him deep,” Drakk said. “Yes,” Yara replied. The Gem stirred, pleased but restrained. Pressure seeks release, it murmured. Better to know where. Yara turned back to the map, already marking places she would need to watch next. Behind her, Daryl vanished into older stone, exactly where the mountain would start telling the truth. The tunnels past the active forges did not welcome speed. Daryl felt it the moment he crossed the last worked brace. The stone didn’t tighten. It didn’t threaten. It simply refused to hurry. Sound lingered longer here, footsteps carrying farther before the mountain decided they were finished existing. He slowed without being told. Charcoal slid free of his pocket, parchment unrolled against his knee. The habit was automatic now. Lines first. Orientation. Then feeling. Fracture-sight bled into the world like ink into water, the same cold clarity that had first opened under Eldania’s spire and never quit