Chapter 919 - 919: Nana Breaks The Door She Guarded

Todd sent the rope back without himself attached.

Nana hauled the severed red cord through the judgment gate until a brass packing end struck her metal palm, bringing one long cut above six shorter ones into the lamplight. Gray crown wax filled the deepest groove.

Across the work pit, General Mattison lowered his chisel.

"Tell me Todd carved those marks before the floor ate the rest of him."

"Todd carved them because the long cut starts at the wrong edge for a route stamp."

Nana turned the brass under the lamps. Todd had pressed too hard on the fourth short cut and corrected it beside the first line. He always tried to improve a mark before admitting the tool had slipped.

The twelve masons watched from behind the old judgment arch. Their foreman, Tiral Voss, kept both hands on the timber brace supporting the petrified Cross Link Blade.

"The climbing line came back cut, which means the trial ends and the lower floor stays sealed."

"The line came back carrying Todd's direction, so the trial moved somewhere worse."

Nana pulled once.

The brass end dragged sideways across her palm.

Behind Tiral, the stone blade answered with a dry knock inside its shell. Dust dropped from the crossguard. The knock traveled through the arch and stopped at a service door beneath the west stair.

Every mason looked toward the door Nana had spent three weeks guarding.

Mattison stepped between her and the stair. His bandages were gone, but the left side of his breastplate still sat higher where old repairs pinched beneath it.

"The royal recovery writ covers one sealed relic chamber under supervised restoration. Opening that service door changes the work into an unsanctioned breach."

Nana tied Todd's brass marker around her red wrist. "Does the writ pull him out if I leave the door polite?"

"It keeps these twelve workers paid and out of a relic court."

Tiral drove his shoulder into the timber when the blade knocked again. "My crew signed for stone removal, Lady Nana. We lose six months of back pay if this gate becomes a theft scene."

He pulled a folded wage strip from inside his vest without taking weight off the brace. Twelve names ran down one side. Rent stamps, meal deductions, and replacement tool fees filled the other.

"Relic court freezes every line while the houses argue custody. Two workers already borrowed against this pay, and one widow collects for the man Griswald's ceiling killed."

Nana read the widow's mark at the bottom. "Keep the strip with Mattison's seal. My breach belongs on my name after he removes me from the crew."

"Todd is below your gate because I put the rope around him."

"Todd went below after the shard, while eleven of my people voted to stop testing."

Nana looked across the crew. No one corrected him. The youngest mason kept his sleeve over a split thumb and stared at the floor where Todd vanished.

Their silence counted six months of wages against the man below. Whoever wrote the contract had built a better lock than the iron straps.

The brass marker pulled again. Its wax warmed against Nana's wrist.

The service door had six iron straps and no handle. A royal seal covered the center joint. Nana's matching recovery seal hung from the climbing harness at her waist.

Mattison touched the harness seal with two fingers. "Cross that joint while wearing this, and the court attaches your action to everyone named under my command."

"Remove my name and keep the workers under yours."

"The seal also keeps Griswald's loyal houses from arresting you before breakfast."

"They can wait until I return Todd before arranging breakfast."

Mattison's stare already listed her under damages, which suited Nana better than admiration. She tightened Todd's brass marker against her wrist and pulled until the cord pointed down.

Tiral shifted one hand from the brace. "General, if she breaks custody, my crew leaves before the first hinge moves."

The blade struck inside its stone shell.

The timber jumped against Tiral's chest. His boots slid half a foot through the dust before the other masons caught the brace.

Nana passed the loose climbing line around the west stair post and pulled it tight. The brass marker lifted toward the sealed door rather than the stone blade.

Todd had given her a second route.

He had also given her one long cut above six short ones, Griswald's old crown under damage. Whoever traveled with him carried a captain road.

Mattison unhooked the recovery seal from Nana's harness.

The little silver plate held her royal name, his command number, and all twelve mason signatures on the back. He pressed it into Tiral's palm.

"The gate crew remains under supervised custody. Nana acts outside my order after this removal, and no worker follows her through the joint."

Tiral closed both hands around the plate. "My report will state that she threatened the brace before you removed protection."

"Your report will state what your twelve people witnessed, including the vote Todd ignored and the warning Nana received."

Tiral slipped the plate inside his coat with his jaw clenched. Before Nana could tighten Todd's cord around her waist, Mattison caught the knot.

"Use the double loop because one route has already cut the first."

He tied the second loop himself, then stepped back.

"I cannot send soldiers after you without converting the recovery detail into an invasion."

"Hold the sword, pay your workers, and let me make the smaller mistake first."

Nana climbed beneath the west stair. The service door's lower strap had rusted where wash water once ran under the frame. She pushed her living fingers into the gap and found no movement.

Her red metal hand closed around the iron.

The material shifted over her knuckles, growing narrow ridges that fitted the strap. She pulled until rust broke from the lower hinge and the west stair settled against her shoulder.

Tiral swore behind the brace. "That stair carries the gate's left weight, and breaking it drops the blade toward my crew."

Nana wedged her back under the lowest step. "Move the timber two hand widths east while I hold this side."

"Your order has no seal behind it now."

"Then follow Mattison's order when he repeats the useful part."

Mattison pointed across the pit. "Shift the timber east and keep every boot beyond the white mortar line."

The masons moved. Their brace scraped under the stone blade. Weight entered Nana's shoulder through the stair, forcing her left knee onto the floor.

The youngest mason shoved a wedge under the step beside her boot. He kept his injured thumb inside his sleeve and looked toward Tiral before striking the wedge with his heel.

"I am protecting the brace because my pay depends on it, Lady Nana. This is not permission to collapse beside me."

"Then collect your pay before anyone edits the useful part of your report."

She wrapped Todd's red cord around the rusted strap and fed the brass marker through the door joint.

The cut marks caught on something inside.

A wooden step knocked once against the other side.

Nana pulled.

The service door folded along its sealed center. Iron tore away from the upper hinge and swung inward, taking half the royal wax with it. Behind the stone frame, a stair made from mismatched wood descended between walls carrying pieces of six different buildings.

Todd's boot had split the edge of the third step, leaving green skin on a nail above it. His cord drew Nana toward the lower turn.

A second scrape crossed the wall at ankle height. White stone dust clung to a strip of torn sleeve, and three drops of blood led down rather than back toward the gate. Todd had entered with someone hurt badly enough to lean.

Nana wrapped the cloth around the brass marker. The crown wax pressed through the stain and pointed toward the next flight.

Mattison came as far as the broken threshold. "Once you cross, the loyal houses can name you a relic thief before you find another court."

Nana stepped onto Todd's damaged tread. "Make them spell my name correctly while they wait."

The stone blade knocked behind her. Tiral shouted for the east brace, and twelve pairs of boots moved across the pit.

Nana drew the broken door against her back until the gap narrowed enough to take weight from Mattison's crew.

She left the silver recovery seal in Tiral's coat and followed Todd's red cord down Griswald's wooden stair.