By the next hour, Lan and his new entourage had gone their separate ways to begin preparations for the campaign ahead.
Wren had already vanished into the alleys to gather reconnaissance. Thorn began preparing supplies for travel. Halmer busied himself with maps and routes, while Garran barked orders at the Mad Vipers now mobilizing under Lan's rule.
Only Venom remained, riding beside Lan in silence as they made their way toward the southern roads.
The cold bit at their cloaks, but neither paid it any mind. Before them was the mouth of the Ranevian mines—at a time it was the pride of the region, but currently a wound in the mountainside, surrounded by skeletal scaffolds and broken tracks.
Venom grunted as he stepped ahead. "It used to be loud, this place. Back when I was still cutting my teeth as a runner, the forges down here never slept. We mined steel that fed a significant portion of the kingdom's weapons."
