Before anyone reaches the inner passages, three deliberate taps sound from behind the fresh masonry. Dust trembles loose, and the sealed stones answer with a faint hollow resonance.
Mara Vell
Away from the mouth. All of you. Nobody touches those stones.
Mara steps between Eno and the collapsed entrance, one hand raised. Sella draws the secured bundle close, while Tovin remains beside the ledger table, listening.
Tovin
Three taps, pause, three taps. No, only three. That is an obsolete guild emergency code. Someone behind there expects an answer.
A thin strip of blue wax pushes between two newly settled stones. Its broken surface bears part of House Orsayn’s three-crowned mark, bright against the gray mortar.
Sella
That seal came from the bundle. Whoever is behind the wall knows exactly what we recovered.
Mara Vell
Tovin, identify the code. Sella, keep the jewelry covered. Eno, stay where I can see you. We decide whether to answer before anyone moves.
Identify the person behind the sealed passage