The siege camp outside Suvano, afternoon.
The sun scorched the crowded tents and muddy ground, raising a stifling haze that mingled the stink of sweat, cheap tobacco, and filth not yet buried.
At Polka's request, the Blue Banner Army had stayed inside the camp today instead of heading out to work on the siege earthworks.
Polka walked at the front, his magnificent deep-blue mage robes looking like an incongruous patch of pristine ground amid the dust of the camp.
Two church representatives walked beside him. One was Hector, a middle-aged priest of the Earth Mother Goddess Church, a stocky man with a face like weathered stone and eyes as steady as the earth.
The other was Lydia, High Priest of Demeter, the Goddess of Agriculture. She was young, with delicate features and a farmer's wheat-colored complexion. A small bundle of dried wheat ears and a few plump beans hung at her waist.
Several sturdy Blue Banner Army soldiers followed them, wearing breastplates and carrying long-shafted bladed spears or swords and shields marked with curved blades. They scanned their surroundings warily.
They were not looking for the camp's usual disputes or thefts, but for a deeper, more clinging shadow... Polka had discovered traces of last night's unusual activity while patrolling the camp today.
So, first thing that morning, Polka had urged the two church representatives to get to work and stop slacking.
Hector stopped in a secluded corner near the fence on the eastern side of the camp.
This was where Home Alone had first discovered the unusual impressions, and where Mia had first identified the giant snake's trail.
Countless footprints had trampled the mud beyond recognition, but Hector gently pressed his broad, weathered palms against the damp ground, as though they could sense the soil's pulse.
He closed his eyes,