Freda Pov
Elder Silas held the stone seal over the wet parchment sheet, his fingers grey from the charcoal dust. "WolfTrail has fourteen names on the board, and the frost is already six inches deep in the potato patch."
"The fourteen names held the line against the axes this morning."
"The axes broke the judge's bench, Freda," the second judge countered, shaking his bay reins until the brass bits rattled loud. "A pack that cannot protect the Council table cannot protect the mountain gap when the winter rogues come down from the high pines."
"Viktor brought the axes, not Urdon."
"The law doesn't care who brought the iron plate."
