Caspian's POV
I found the second boundary marker damaged before the sun fully cleared the tree line, with Zoren already crouched beside it when I arrived.
"Same pattern," he said without looking up. "Damage on the eastern face. Nothing on the outer stone at all."
I crouched beside him and ran my thumb along the crack. It was fresh, a day old perhaps, or less. The pattern matched the one farther south exactly, the same angle and depth, as though whatever had made it knew precisely how much pressure the stone could take before it gave.
"This isn't decay," I said.
"I know what it isn't." Zoren straightened and brushed the dust from his knees. "I'd rather know what it is."
So would I. I didn't say that.
We walked the line another quarter mile before either of us spoke again, checking ea
