Book One – Chapter 18

Where the borman took over, all of it went to shits. They did not maintain the established organisation of things, because they were either too savage to uphold order or too stupid to actually understand civilised administration in the first place. No structures lasted. No archives held.

Maintenance is in a peoples’ culture, not in their nature, Tria had said once. It is the choice to live a more strenuous and restrained present, in exchange for a safer tomorrow. It is in the culture of those who live for the generations that come after them, not for their own selfish, momentary pleasures.

It was not just incompetence — though there was plenty of that. It was deliberate. It was useful to them.

Disorder is a weapon. A way to disrupt and dispute and destroy the trail of tairan heritage and, with it, their rightful claims to these lands. To let bormen take over is to set back a cultured society three hundred years. It is a passive war, Tria had said.

From what Yu had seen, he believed her.

Outside the Barnstreams, and now Yu meant the rest of the world, records and regulations were something else entirely. Most beastkin peoples lived in remote clusters, secluded and self-sufficient. Some tribes never built any form of infrastructure at all, let alone systems of record. They did not travel beyond their tribal territories unless forced to, and when they did, they clung to traditional routes carved by generations of wanderers. Rulers like the King Brothers tolerated this, apparently. A convenience, or perhaps indifference.

But this guild demanded passes.

The raider guards wanted names. They wanted to know who they were facing.

Deltington’s voice cut cleanly through the distance. “You must have papers for that human, at least,” he said.

A human?

There was a pause.

Yu was very good at hearing. He was good at hearing voices, and equally good at hearing pauses. This one was not hesitation. It was calculation. A breath held, tested for how long it could last before it sounded false.

“Yes, of course.”

Another pause.

“Kel-Khadar has them. The borman.”

“Right.”

Disgusting. That was the other reason to hate bormen. It also explained why the borman cared so much.

After that, it was guild and room layout, drying rooms for wet clothes and gear, room keys and meal schedule.