CHAPTER 58: THE ROAD GOES ON
By late summer, the roads hummed with movement in a way no one could remember ever seeing before. Supply caravans traveled between valleys without guards or hidden tolls; families walked across old border lines to visit kin they had not seen in decades; riders carried news and seed and tools instead of threats and demands. The council met in a different settlement every month, so no single place ever became the seat of power, and every voice felt equally close to the decisions that shaped their lives. We had come far from the quiet valley where we had first dug up the truth, and for a little while, it felt as if we might finally have found steady ground.
But one afternoon, a messenger arrived breathless at Black Rock, carrying word from the easternmost edge o
