Draven had put a boot on the proposed escape route.
Not on the map. He stood between two benches Veylan had ordered moved into the middle of the room, looking down at the space left between them.
"How wide is the litter?"
The assistant beside the board checked his sheet. "With the handles folded, less than the passage."
"And the people carrying it?"
Veylan set his red pen down. I had arrived early enough to claim a chair near the end of a table. Apparently, I had still missed the interesting part.
"Sit down, Valdrake," Veylan said. "You aren't carrying anything today."
I lowered my bag beside the chair. The instruction removed one excuse to leave. I opened the route sheets instead.
Four days from now, our class would enter the Abyssal Training Ground through the foundation entrance. The exercise covered a surveyed teaching loop, with two chambers for practical tasks and a return through the same controlled threshold. Nobody had permission to descend beyond the marked stairs.
