Chapter 684: The Man in the Shipment

Chapter 684: The Man in the Shipment

They watched the western yard through the following day.

There was little to reward the attention. Porters brought sacks into the front compound, argued about their count, and carried several out again. The foreman ate his midday meal beneath an awning. Beyond the second gate, the four guards changed positions at regular intervals.

Nobody opened the inner shed.

Leon took his turn observing in the afternoon, then returned to the rooms before dusk to compare what they had seen.

"The night crew stays in the front yard," Qingyue said. "They unload late carts, but the river deliveries stop once the landing lamps are put out."

Vyra had confirmed the same arrangement through the freight office. Neither had needed to mention the western shed.

Seraphine pointed to a stack of timber on her sketch.

"From here we can see over the inner fence. The loading awning blocks the view from the road."

Leon nodded. "We’ll take it after dark."

Ira and Loriel would remain near the public landing, close enough to respond without gathering six unfamiliar people around one fence. Vyra and Qingyue would keep the rooms, the evidence, and their route back clear.

Before leaving, Leon checked Ji’s reporting plaque. Their daily update had gone through. Any discovery worth acting on would receive a separate report.

The covered wagon arrived well after sunset.

Leon lay beside Seraphine beneath the edge of a tarpaulin, watching through a gap between stacked beams. They had a clear view of the second gate and most of the ground before the shed.

The wagon bore no house mark.

Its driver waited while one of the guards inspected a token. Then the gate opened, and he brought it inside.

The four outer guards left their usual positions to receive it. Two stayed near the wheels while the other two watched the approaches. A fifth guard emerged from the shed with a middle-aged man carrying a small, dark case.

The man looked like a clerk. Plain sleeves, tidy hair, no visible weapon.

He checked the case’s clasp while the wagon stopped.

Two escorts climbed down from the rear.

Between them, they brought out a prisoner.

Leon shifted closer to the gap.

The captive appeared to be around fifty. He wore a stained inner robe, and his feet dragged briefly before he found his balance. The escorts held him under the arms, supporting enough of his weight that Leon could not tell whether he was injured, exhausted, or both.

His eyes moved around the yard.

Conscious, then. Aware of his surroundings.

Bindings circled his lower forearms, holding them together in front of him. They were narrow and dark, with a faint pattern Leon could not distinguish at this distance.

His hands remained free.

One escort adjusted his grip as they lowered the captive from the wagon, taking care not to catch the man’s fingers against the wooden side.

Leon felt his attention sharpen.

They need those intact.

The clerk stepped closer.

"Can he reproduce the seam-cutting?" he asked.

One of the escorts nodded. "And the depth work. He trained the two at the Moonfall shop."

Leon glanced at Seraphine.

She was watching the men below, her expression still.

"He’ll need a proper bench," the escort continued. "And tools."

"They’re being arranged," the clerk said. "I want him working by the end of the week. We’ve already lost enough time replacing the Moonfall staff."

The prisoner said something too quietly for Leon to catch.

The escort answered, "Inside."

No shout. He simply tightened his grip and turned the man toward the shed.

The fifth guard opened the door. Both escorts took the captive through while the clerk remained outside, speaking to the driver.

A few minutes later, the escorts returned without their prisoner. One accepted a receipt from the clerk. They climbed onto the wagon, and the driver took them back through the gate.

Leon counted them out.

Driver and two escorts departing. Four guards resuming their positions around the compound. The fifth staying inside with the captive.

The clerk checked his case again, then entered the shed.

Seraphine waited until the wheels had faded beyond the yard.

"Replacement staff," she said softly.

Leon kept looking at the door.

Fourteen people had died in the Moonfall workshop. The men here spoke about replacing them as though a broken furnace had interrupted production.

The reserved shed had been arranged well before Leon arrived. Whether this particular prisoner had already been in their hands or had been redirected afterward, the organization had been preparing another supply route.

They had not needed to know anyone was investigating them.

That made the room full of bodies in Moonfall worse somehow.

Leon drew his attention back to the yard.

"We have five guards remaining," he murmured. "Four outside, one with the prisoner. The clerk is inside too."

Seraphine nodded. "The escorts have gone."

"I couldn’t read the bindings from here."

"Neither could I."

That was the first problem. Not the guards.

Leon could remove ordinary restraints easily. He could also kill everyone in the yard before most of them understood they were under attack. Neither fact told him what those bands might do when disturbed.

The man wearing them would bear the consequences of a careless guess.

"The case may hold a control," Seraphine said.

"Possibly." Leon watched the lit window. "He kept checking it, but it could be payment or documents. We need to see whether he uses it around the prisoner."

"And whether the fifth guard has anything similar."

"Exactly."

Below them, one of the outer guards paused to speak with a porter through the fence. The porter pointed toward a stack of empty crates. After a short exchange, the guard moved them aside and returned to his route.

Ordinary workers still had reasons to come close.

Leon waited until the porter had left.

"Have Ira check the river side of the shed," he said. "Doors, windows, anything we can use to bring him out. No entry yet."

"Loriel?"

"She stays near the landing until we know his condition. Once we move, I want her ready to receive him."

Seraphine studied the gap between the shed and the outer fence.

"We can bring him through there if it’s clear."

"Check where the night workers can see it. I don’t want a frightened carter raising an alarm before we’ve left the compound."

She nodded and began easing backward beneath the tarpaulin.

Leon caught her sleeve lightly before she went.

"Tell Vyra what we heard. I’ll send the contact report."

Seraphine touched his wrist in acknowledgment, then slipped down from the timber.

Leon waited until she was clear before taking out Ji’s plaque. Sheltered beneath the covering, he kept its light screened while recording the essentials.

They had located a captive formation master. The receiving agent had explicitly connected his work to the murdered workshop. The final handover remained scheduled for tomorrow night. Leon intended to extract him once they had identified his restraints and secured a route out.

He sent the report and put the plaque away.

There was no need to ask his master to repeat the authority she had already given him. There was every reason to tell her what he planned.

A shadow crossed the shed’s window.

Leon could not tell whether it belonged to the clerk, the guard, or the prisoner. He watched until it disappeared.

Until tonight, the delivery had been a useful piece of evidence: something to follow, intercept, and trace back to the people who supplied the formation-breaking tools.

Now he had seen the man expected to make them.

He wondered whether the captive knew what had happened to his former students in Moonfall. Whether the guards had told him, or whether he still believed he could finish whatever work they demanded and go home.

Leon shifted carefully, finding a more comfortable position between the beams.

Tomorrow night is their deadline.

He intended to move before it.

For now, he watched the doors.