Chapter 346: The Open Link (1)
The wind from the northern ash plains blew harshly against the stone platform above the gatehouse. In the yard below the parapet, the day-watchers were changing, as was evident by the sounds of metal rims of wheels and voices of the soldiers on guard duty.
Nyx and Lyra descended down the narrow stone steps with the wax telemetry sheet in its oilcloth wrapping, while Draven and Cole stayed behind at the brass receiver dish.
Cole did not descend after them. He was standing there with his big, greasy hand resting on the cool bronze cover of the dish, staring beyond the frozen ramparts at the fifty miles of cleansed land where the towers of the Miasma Clearers glowed in the gloomy sky.
"They are really just sitting out there," Cole grunted, his breath fogging in the freezing air. "Two Kings and ten thousand beasts, parked on the ash like a supply train waiting for a signal lamp."
