The prisoner was the first to react.
Seren had barely finished explaining what they'd found when the man leaned forward against his restraints.
"Six?"
Morrow looked at him.
"That's what he said."
The prisoner ignored him. His eyes were fixed on the folded paper in Seren's hand.
"You actually saw them?"
"Yes."
"On the bridge?"
"Near the far end. There was a wagon and several people."
The man's expression changed.
"Was there a boy?"
Kael looked up.
"A boy?"
"Young. Dark hair. About this tall."
The prisoner lifted his bound hands as far as the wire allowed, indicating a height somewhere around his shoulder.
Kael remembered the boy standing beside the wagon, pointing toward them.
"There was one."
The prisoner went still.
"What was he wearing?"
"I couldn't see clearly."
"Was there something blue around his neck?"
Kael tried to remember. He had been so focused on the impossible bridge that he'd barely noticed the boy's clothes.
"I don't know."
The prisoner lowered his eyes.
Morrow set aside the piece of bread he'd been eating.
"Interesting. Now you're worried about somebody."
"Leave it," Seren said.
Morrow looked at him.
"This man tried putting a bolt through someone lying helpless on the floor. I'm finding it difficult to feel sorry for him."
"I'm not asking you to."
Seren approached the prisoner.
"Who is the boy?"
The man said nothing.
"Is he someone you know?"
Silence.
Seren waited a few seconds, then unfolded the note.
"Six people are alive. Two cannot walk, and they're nearly out of water. Whatever you know about that crossing could help us reach them."
The prisoner stared at the paper.
"You can't just walk across."
"We weren't planning to."
"You saw the bridge, didn't you? It looked solid."
"Yes."
"And then it disappeared."
Seren nodded.
The man swallowed.
"That's what happens."
"How do you know?"
"I've seen it."
"Seen what?"
"Someone try to cross."
Kael stepped closer.
"What happened to them?"
The prisoner looked away.
Seren crouched in front of him.
"Listen carefully. We have no intention of sending anyone onto that bridge without understanding what it does. But those people need help now. If you know something that could keep them alive, tell us."
For a moment, the prisoner seemed ready to answer.
Then he pressed his lips together.
Seren stood.
"Very well."
He turned toward the others.
"We're taking supplies to the crossing."
Talia was already opening her field bag.
"Water first. Food if we can manage it."
"How much can we spare?" Seren asked.
Morrow considered the supplies stacked inside the shelter.
"Enough for them to drink today without leaving us dry. Not enough to support six people for long."
"Then today is what we solve first."
Kael liked that answer.
They didn't know how to rescue the stranded travellers. They didn't even know when the bridge would appear again.
But they knew the people were thirsty.
That was a problem they could do something about.
Lyra rose from her place beside the injured survivor.
"I'm coming."
Seren glanced toward Morrow.
"Can you manage here?"
Morrow looked at the prisoner, then at the survivor.
"I've got one man who can barely stand and another who shouldn't try. We'll be fine."
"Keep both of them away from the exposed entrance. If the attackers return, don't pursue them."
"I know."
"Morrow."
The large man sighed.
"I won't chase anyone up a mountain. Happy?"
"Considerably."
Lyra collected her blades.
Kael began filling the spare water containers.
He had just tightened the stopper on the second when he noticed the prisoner watching him.
Not Grayshard this time.
The water.
The man looked as though he wanted to say something, but remained silent.
Kael stopped beside him.
"If you know that boy, you should help us."
The prisoner looked up.
Kael waited.
There was no answer.
He picked up the supplies and headed for the door.
The crossing was silent when they returned.
Nothing had changed since their earlier visit. The broken road ended at the ravine, and the remains of the bridge stood far below, weathered and useless.
Kael found himself staring at the empty gap.
An hour ago, he'd seen people standing where there was now nothing.
A woman had thrown him a message.
He still found that difficult to believe, even with the paper safely tucked inside Seren's coat.
Talia set down her equipment beside the old survey marker.
"We need a way to send supplies across without anyone stepping onto the bridge."
"Throw them?" Kael suggested.
"That would be the simplest method, provided we can reach the other side."
"How far?"
"Roughly twenty-five metres."
Lyra looked across the gap.
"That's possible with something light. Less comfortable with a heavy water container."
Seren examined the broken road.
"What about a line?"
Talia nodded.
"I've got enough cord."
She removed a small leather sling from her bag. It was a simple throwing tool, with a shallow pocket for holding a stone and two cords attached to either end.
Kael recognized it immediately.
"You're planning to throw a rope?"
"A thin cord. We tie it to a stone, send the stone across, and let the people on the other side pull a bag toward them."
"What happens if the bridge disappears while they're pulling?"
Talia glanced at him.
"That's what worries me."
Lyra looked down at the ravine.
"The cord might fall."
"Or break," Talia replied. "Depending on what happens to anything stretched between the two sides when the crossing closes."
Kael considered that.
The woman's paper bundle had remained in their world after the bridge disappeared.
But it had already landed on their side.
A rope stretching between the two places might behave differently.
Seren looked at the supplies.
"We start with a small amount. We don't risk all the water on an experiment."
Talia agreed.
They prepared a narrow bag containing one sealed water skin and a little dried food. Lyra helped tie the straps so that the bag could be pulled without turning over.
Kael checked the knot.
"That should hold."
Lyra tugged it once.
"If it doesn't, I'm blaming you."
"You tied half of it."
"Exactly. My half will be fine."
He smiled.
They moved to the edge of the old road.
Talia set up her measuring instrument, the small frame with a sighting ring they'd used earlier. She pointed it toward the far bridge support.
"Seren, can you watch the opposite side?"
He nodded.
"Lyra, keep an eye on the ridge. We've been attacked here before."
She moved to a position where she could watch both the ravine and the higher rocks.
Kael crouched beside Talia.
"What are we looking for?"
"The same changes we saw before. When the distance reading starts shifting, we may be getting close to another opening."
"May?"
"We've only observed it properly once."
"Right."
She looked at him.
"If this were simple, we would already be carrying those people home."
Kael nodded.
Then they waited.
Several minutes passed.
A light wind moved through the ravine, stirring dust along the broken paving.
Talia checked her instrument repeatedly.
Nothing changed.
Kael looked toward the far bank.
He wondered what the people on the other side were doing.
Were they standing beside the bridge, waiting for it to return?
Could they see the Hushbound now, even though the Hushbound couldn't see them?
And if the crossing disappeared from their view as well, what did the road look like from where they stood?
He was still considering that when Talia spoke.
"Kael."
He turned.
"The reading's moving."
He looked through the sighting ring.
The far support had shifted slightly from its earlier position.
Only in the instrument's view. The actual stone seemed unchanged.
"Seren!"
"I'm watching."
Lyra joined them near the edge.
"Anything?"
"Not yet," Seren replied.
Kael heard the first knock.
Then another.
His heart began beating faster.
"That's them."
Seren raised one hand.
"Get ready."
The air above the ravine seemed to ripple.
For a moment, Kael saw what looked like a pale line stretching between the broken supports.
Then the bridge began to appear.
Stone paving formed across the gap, followed by a damaged parapet and the timber supports he'd seen earlier.
The wagon stood near the far end.
The woman with the metal cup was already looking toward them.
"HELLO!" Seren shouted.
She raised one arm.
"We have water!"
The woman turned toward the others beside the wagon.
Kael saw the boy run forward.
A blue strip of cloth was tied around his neck.
He noticed it immediately.
The prisoner had been right.
Talia placed a stone in her sling, with the thin cord tied securely around it.
"Stand clear."
She swung the sling once, then released.
The stone flew across the bridge.
For a moment, it looked as though it would land near the far parapet.
Then a sudden gust caught the loose cord.
The stone struck the paving near the middle.
"Too short," Talia muttered.
The woman started toward it.
"NO!" Seren shouted.
She stopped.
He waved both arms.
"STAY THERE!"
Kael could see her hesitate.
The bridge had been solid for several seconds now.
Long enough that it was tempting to believe it might remain.
Then the far parapet began to fade.
"Back!" Lyra shouted.
The woman retreated toward the wagon.
The boy stumbled as he followed.
For an instant, Kael could see through the bridge's paving to the empty ravine below.
Then the entire structure vanished.
The stone and cord dropped.
Talia caught the loose end before it disappeared completely and hauled it back.
The stone struck the rock far below.
She stared at the cord in her hand.
"Well."
Kael looked over the edge.
"That didn't go well."
"No."
Lyra joined them.
"At least nobody tried crossing."
Seren looked toward the empty gap.
"And now we know they can hear us."
Kael frowned.
"We already knew they could answer the knocks."
"Hearing a knock and understanding a warning aren't quite the same thing."
He looked toward the far bank.
"The woman stopped when we told her to. That's useful."
Kael considered that.
It was a small result.
But it was something.
They weren't simply watching an old event unfold.
They were communicating with people who could respond to them.
And those people seemed to understand how dangerous the bridge was.
Talia sat on a flat stone and examined the cord.
"The sling is fine. The wind caught the line."
"Could you use something heavier?" Kael asked.
"Yes, but then we'd risk striking someone on the other side. I would rather not injure a person we're trying to rescue."
Lyra looked across the ravine.
"What about sending the cord without the water attached? Then they could pull the bag across."
"That's the plan. The problem is getting the cord to them."
Kael looked at the stone Talia had recovered.
It was smooth and round, small enough to fit in the sling.
"What if you shorten the loose part?"
Talia looked up.
"Explain."
"The cord started pulling sideways as soon as the stone left the sling. You had a lot of it hanging loose."
"It needs enough length to reach the other side."
"I know. But could we keep most of it wound around something and let it unwind as the stone travels?"
Talia considered that.
"That might reduce how much the wind catches at once."
Seren crouched beside them.
"Would it still release freely?"
"With the right spool."
She looked inside her bag.
Then smiled.
"I have one."
Kael watched as she removed a small wooden reel. She normally used it to store the fine wire she carried for field work.
Talia wound the cord around it, leaving only enough loose length to connect to the stone.
She fixed the reel to a metal peg between two paving stones.
Then she pulled the cord sharply.
The reel turned.
"Good."
Lyra examined it.
"That should behave better."
"Should," Talia said.
Kael grinned.
"You're very fond of that word."
"I'm fond of not making promises I can't keep."
Seren checked the far ridge.
"We'll try again when the crossing appears."
Kael looked toward the ravine.
The first attempt had failed.
But they had learned why.
And now they had a better method.
He found that strangely encouraging.
He'd spent much of his life taking things apart and trying to understand why they didn't work. Broken traps, damaged tools, old locks. The principle was usually the same.
Find the part that failed.
Change something.
Try again.
The fact that the problem involved an impossible bridge didn't entirely change that.
It just made the consequences considerably more serious.
Talia returned to her measuring instrument.
"The reading hasn't settled yet."
Seren looked up.
"Is that unusual?"
"Compared with the first time, yes."
Kael joined her.
The far support still appeared slightly out of line.
He looked through the sighting ring.
"Maybe the crossing hasn't fully returned to its normal position."
Talia made a note.
"Possible."
"What if the road doesn't appear all at once?"
She looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
"Last time, the far side seemed to form before the middle."
"I noticed."
"And the sound started before we could see the bridge."
"Yes."
Kael thought about the woman's response to Seren's shout.
The opening had lasted long enough for them to see and speak to her, but not long enough to get the cord across.
"What if we can tell when it's about to open before the bridge actually appears?"
Talia tapped her pencil against the paper.
"That's why I'm watching the measurements."
"Right. But maybe we shouldn't wait until we can see the bridge before preparing the throw."
She considered that.
"We could send the stone as soon as the alignment begins to change."
Lyra looked toward the gap.
"And hope the bridge is there when it arrives?"
"Something like that."
Seren shook his head.
"Not with the supplies. We can test it with the cord first."
Talia nodded.
"A fair compromise."
Kael looked at the instrument again.
They were making progress.
Slowly, perhaps.
But he could feel the shape of the problem beginning to emerge.
The opening wasn't entirely without warning.
Something changed before the bridge appeared.
The trick was learning to recognize that change soon enough to act.
The next opportunity came sooner than expected.
Talia had just finished recording another measurement when the far support shifted in the sighting ring.
"Seren."
He approached immediately.
"Again?"
"Yes."
Kael looked across the ravine.
There was no bridge yet.
But he could hear something faint beneath the wind.
A wheel turning.
Then a knock.
"They're coming back."
Lyra moved beside Talia.
"Ready?"
Talia took the sling.
The cord was wound tightly around its reel, and the stone rested in the leather pocket.
She looked toward Seren.
"Now?"
He studied the gap.
"Wait."
The air shimmered.
A pale line appeared between the banks.
"Now."
Talia released.
The stone flew across the ravine.
The reel spun rapidly, feeding cord into the air behind it.
For one terrifying moment, Kael thought the stone would fall short again.
Then the bridge appeared beneath it.
The stone bounced once on the paving, skipped over the far parapet and landed beside the wagon.
"YES!" Kael shouted.
The woman looked toward it.
Seren waved.
"THE LINE! TAKE THE LINE!"
She hurried forward, keeping well away from the middle of the bridge.
She caught the cord and pulled it taut.
Talia immediately tied the other end to the supply bag.
"Help me."
Kael grabbed the bag.
Together, they guided it onto the bridge while the woman began pulling from the far end.
The bag scraped across the paving stones.
It moved slowly at first.
Then faster.
"Come on," Kael muttered.
The woman hauled it toward her.
The boy ran to help.
"Stay back!" she shouted at him.
He stopped.
The bridge began to flicker.
Talia's expression tightened.
"Seren!"
"I see it."
The woman pulled harder.
The bag crossed the last few metres.
She seized it.
Then the far parapet faded.
"LET GO!" Seren shouted.
Talia released the cord.
It snapped out of her hands and fell toward the ravine.
The bridge vanished.
For a heartbeat, nobody moved.
Then Kael looked at the empty space where the woman had stood.
"Did she get it?"
Talia stared across the gap.
"I think so."
"You think?"
"She had the bag when the bridge disappeared."
Lyra let out a breath.
"Then we'll count that as a success."
Kael looked toward the far bank.
One water skin.
A little dried food.
It wasn't enough.
But it was something.
For the first time since they'd discovered the people trapped beyond the crossing, they had managed to help them.
Seren lowered his hands.
"Good work."
Talia sat down on the nearest stone.
"Next time, we're bringing more cord."
Kael laughed.
He couldn't help it.
The plan had worked.
They had taken an impossible problem, broken it into smaller parts, made a mistake, corrected it, and achieved something real.
He wanted to celebrate.
Then he remembered the note.
Six alive.
Two unable to walk.
Water almost gone.
One skin wouldn't be enough for long.
The relief faded slightly.
But not completely.
They had proved supplies could reach the other side.
Now they needed to find a way to send more.
And eventually, a way to bring the people themselves home.
They returned to the shelter with a little less water and a great deal more information.
Morrow was standing near the entrance when they arrived.
"You're all alive."
Lyra looked at him.
"Disappointed?"
"A little. I was hoping for something interesting."
"We sent water across an impossible bridge."
Morrow blinked.
"All right. That's interesting."
Seren went straight to the survivor and checked on his condition.
Talia began unpacking her notes.
Kael was still smiling when he noticed the prisoner watching them.
The man's eyes moved between their faces.
"Did you see them again?"
Kael nodded.
"Yes."
"The boy?"
"He was there."
The prisoner leaned forward.
"Was he wearing blue?"
Kael's smile faded.
"Yes."
For a moment, the man said nothing.
Then he lowered his head.
Kael approached.
"Who is he?"
The prisoner stared at the ground.
Morrow moved closer.
"That's twice you've asked about him. Either you tell us why or you stop wasting our time."
The man's shoulders tightened.
Seren looked up from the survivor.
"Morrow."
"What?"
"Give him a moment."
The prisoner took a slow breath.
Then another.
When he finally raised his head, his eyes were wet.
Kael hadn't expected that.
The man looked toward the western hills.
"His name is Evin."
Kael waited.
"He's twelve."
The prisoner swallowed.
"He was travelling with my aunt. They were supposed to reach the western settlements before the roads became dangerous."
Seren approached quietly.
"And?"
The prisoner looked at him.
"They never arrived."
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Kael thought of the boy beside the wagon.
The blue cloth around his neck.
The way he'd pointed excitedly when he saw the explorers.
"Who is he to you?" Kael asked.
The man looked at him.
"My brother."
Morrow's expression hardened.
"Your brother."
The prisoner nodded.
"And you were part of the group attacking the very caravans that might have helped him."
The man flinched.
"I know."
"People were hurt."
"I know."
"You fired at an injured man lying on the ground."
The prisoner's jaw tightened.
"I know what I did."
Morrow stepped forward.
Seren put a hand against his arm.
"Enough."
Morrow looked at him.
Then stepped back.
The prisoner remained silent.
Kael studied him.
He didn't know whether to believe everything the man had said.
Perhaps the boy really was his brother.
Perhaps it was another attempt to manipulate them.
But something about the prisoner's reaction had changed the way Kael saw him.
Until now, he'd been an attacker.
A man who had tried to kill them.
Someone who knew more than he was willing to say.
He was still all of those things.
But he might also be someone whose family was trapped on the other side of the crossing.
And that raised a question Kael couldn't ignore.
"If you knew he was there," he asked, "why didn't you tell us?"
The prisoner looked away.
"I didn't know if he was alive."
"Then why were you helping the people stealing the maps?"
Silence.
Seren crouched in front of him.
"Now we're getting somewhere."
The prisoner looked up.
Seren's voice remained calm.
"You know the crossing. You've seen someone try to use it. And your brother is trapped somewhere beyond it."
He paused.
"Whatever brought you into this, we need to understand what happened."
The man stared at him.
Then his eyes shifted toward Kael.
For a moment, they settled on Grayshard.
Kael noticed.
Again.
But this time, he didn't interrupt.
The prisoner looked back at Seren.
"You won't believe me."
"Try."
The man drew a shaky breath.
"When Evin disappeared, I thought the road had killed him."
He swallowed.
"Then somebody showed me a way to bring him back."
Seren didn't move.
"Who?"
The prisoner's expression tightened.
"I don't know his real name."
"Then tell us what you do know."
The man looked toward the shelter entrance.
Beyond it, the western hills stood in the afternoon light.
And somewhere among them was a road that appeared and vanished without warning.
Finally, he spoke.
"He said the old crossing wasn't broken."
Kael felt his attention sharpen.
The prisoner looked directly at him.
"He said someone had made it forget where it belonged."
End of Chapter 33 — Before It Closes