Harrow called from three places before Jiang stopped shaking.
The first late-third beat came from below the western wall. The second crossed the egg-flight road. The third sounded far beyond Sablehook, faint enough to feel like memory until every homebell in the nearest aerie answered it.
Bracken lifted his head from the blue strand between his claws.
Jiang lay under a dry hide with the emperor pair pressed along his sides. His new feathers held warmth better than the ruin they had replaced. They could not make his lungs finish a breath.
Above the inner shelf, a nursery flight broke through cloud.
Four wyverns carried padded shell cradles beneath their saddles. Rain streamed from the covers. Riders bent low over the straps, trying to reach the warm ledges before the next squall closed the road.
One infected bell rang the nursery's clear-landing call from an empty bridge.
A second bell answered from a stone wall.
