Dreth marched his vanguard toward the furrow breach while fifteen captured workers and Ressa waited beneath the mercenaries' loaded crossbows.
Beyond the scorched bridge abutment, the second road crew and its militia escort stood disarmed in the mud under mercenary crossbows.
Dreth's patrol seized them overnight while they reinforced the southern culvert, far beyond the first crew Hajin brought home.
Captain Dreth stood upon a mound of piled river stones, his black command baton resting against his armored thigh.
"You took an oath to the Duke when your fathers settled these salt valleys," the warlord spoke in a venomous hiss.
"Yet you built escape highways for a slum-born rebel and cheered when his winged demon butchered my cavalry!"
Ressa, a twenty-year-old militia shield-maiden with bruised knuckles and torn chainmail, stepped in front of a teenage runner.
"We built roads to save our families from your butcher's blades!" the brave girl shouted back with fierce defiance.
