The sounds of moving water and the tired groan of turning cogs and shifting metal hailed the dawn as timely as any rooster. The drawbridge"s calls rousing those who had camped outside. The small groups hurried to gather their meagre belongings, unaware the lowering of the bridge would take almost thirty minutes.
There were two systems in place for this feat. The first, for the daily operating, a slow timely raising and lowering, the result controlling the position of the portcullis as the bridge made its final movements. The other was one for times of warfare and linked directly to the portcullis itself. There was a safeguard in place which meant any time the portcullis was lowered, the drawbridge would raise at a speed exceeding its dawn and dusk movements.
The ground let out a mighty r
