The Gembound: The Price of Keeping Chapter 142: Volume 5: Chapter 125 — Deep Cover and Misdirections

Read chapter 142 of The Gembound: The Price of Keeping by Taliorn on NovelPedia.

Volume 5: Chapter 125 — Deep Cover and Misdirections Gate Watch Day 143, late afternoon Korrin had been on wall duty long enough to know the difference between danger and noise. Danger moved fast. Noise made a show of it. The outside force was noise. Flaming horses, armored wolves, and a force that marched with impeccable precision, but there were no teeth behind the bark. They had been there for days now, too orderly to be a mob, too patient to be raiders. Camps lay out with military neatness. Fires banked properly. No probing attacks. No testing of the gates. Just… presence. Korrin leaned on his spear and squinted down the mountain road. “Caravan,” he muttered. Durn beside him shifted, beard brushing the rim of his helm. “Ours?” Korrin followed the wagons with a practiced eye. Six carts. Canvas-covered. Mule teams in good condition, not overworked. The banners were folded, but he recognized the merchant marks burned into the wood. “Quartermaster’s seal,” he said. “Grain and ale, if I had to guess.” Durn grunted approval. “About time.” They watched the caravan roll closer. And slow. Korrin frowned. The surface camp had noticed them too. Not with horns. Not with soldiers pouring out. Just a handful of figures walking out calmly to meet the wagons at the edge of the road, far enough from the hold’s border that no one could accuse them of trespass. “They’re not stopping them,” Durn said. “No,” Korrin agreed. “They’re… talking.” From the wall, it looked almost polite. A tall, broad-shouldered surface officer, no visible weapon, spoke with the lead merchant. Another figure produced a ledger. Coin glinted in the sun. Too much coin to be a bribe. Real payment. Measured. Counted. Durn’s grip tightened on his spear. “They can’t,” he said. “Those goods are contracted.” Korrin didn’t answer. He watched the mules. They were being unhitched. Slowly. Carefully. No shouting. No panic. The merchants weren’t being threatened; they were nodding. One of them even smiled, a small thing, like relief. Korrin felt something cold settle behind his ribs. The surface force wasn’t stealing the caravan. They were buying it . “They’ll report this,” Durn said. “Quartermaster will raise hell.” “About what?” Korrin asked quietly. “A merchant selling goods?” Durn opened his mouth, then closed it again. Below, sacks were unloaded. Barrels rolled into neat lines. Coins changed hands openly, gleaming as they were counted twice. Then the worst part. The wagons turned. Empty. The caravan started back down the road, lighter, faster, banners still folded. No cheers rose from the surface camp. No jeers toward the walls. They simply… moved on. Durn swore under his breath. “That was ours.” Korrin nodded. “It was.” They stood in silence as the sun dipped lower. Then the fires began. Not signal fires. Cooking fires. The surface camp came alive not with frenzy, but with routine. Bread torn and passed hand to hand. Barrels tapped. Mugs raised. Someone produced a fiddle. Someone else laughed, not loud, not mocking. Just… at ease. Korrin watched men eat like they had nowhere else to be. “They’re celebrating,” Durn said, disbelief thick in his voice. “No,” Korrin replied. “They’re dining.” Below them, the surface force ate bread that had been measured for dwarven mouths. Ale foamed into cups meant for underground halls. And no one hurried. Korrin felt it then—the shift. Not hunger. Not fear. Displacement. That food should have gone into the hold. Should have eased ration tallies. It should have taken pressure off the stores, which everyone pretended weren’t tight yet. Instead, it was being consumed in the open air by people who looked… comfortable. A younger guard further down the wall muttered, “They didn’t even look worried.” That was the line that stuck. Korrin turned it over in his head. They weren’t desperate. They weren’t trying to starve the mountain. They were demonstrating that they didn’t need it . Durn exhaled slowly. “Quartermaster’s going to ask questions.” “So