The survey rope was down.
That was the first thing Batu noticed from the near edge. The foundation lines had been marks on felt since the start of winter. Now they were rope and pins on the actual ground, four rectangles pulled from the blueprint onto the earth in exact proportion, each corner and interval marked and the rope run taut between them.
Three buildings at the north end of the site, the largest at the center flanked by smaller buildings to the east and west. A fourth rectangle further south for the market area, pinned but not yet detailed.
He walked the south face of the central rectangle. At the corner he crouched and sighted down the rope. It was straight.
Khulgen was a step behind him.
The timber staging area ran along the western edge. Weeks of prisoner labor had worn the track from the river margin into the frozen earth, the surface packed and dark from the foot traffic.
