Siobhan grimaced. “A little of both. Good news is, we’ve found the reason why they’re so adamantly against the trade agreement between you. It is, in fact, blatantly obvious if you get close enough to Coravine. They’re building a bridge.”
“A bridge?” Hammon repeated in shock, eyes wide in his face.
“It’s quite sizeable.” Siobhan’s hands rose in illustration as she tried to describe it. “Not as wide as the Grey Bridges, I’d say it’s about half the width, but that’s more than large enough for trade caravans and such to go across. According to rumor, it’ll connect directly over to Wynngaardian soil, just northeast of Quigg.”
Jarnsmor turned in his seat to look at the map hanging on the wall nearby. “There’s no cities or villages in that area.”
“Yet,” Lirah corrected, mouth a flat line. “You know as well as I that if you build a bridge that connects there, then a city will develop around it by default. Trade always has such an effect on places.”
“She’s right,” Hammon agreed. “No, the lack of city or such doesn’t matter in the long run. I think whoever is building that bridge knows it, too, which is why they chose to build a bridge the shortest distance possible.”
Siobhan couldn’t help but agree with all of this. It was very similar to Sylvie’s conclusions. “They haven’t been working on it long, about four or five months. They’re years from completing it.”
“Of course they would be.” Jarnsmor sat back in his chair, making the leather sigh. “That’s no easy feat, building a bridge that far. But how in the world are they financing this? We’re going to just build on top of an existing bridge and it’s taking three guilds to finance that!”
“They must have been planning this for years, working up to it,” Hammon hypothesized. “I can’t imagine how they’re doing this otherwise.”
Lirah put her head in both hands and spoke to the table’s surface. “At least I now understand why I was attacked. Years of planning would be destroyed instantly when a trade monopoly was formed.”
“Sending assassins after you was a delaying tactic and nothing more,” Siobhan agreed, although she winced at the harshness of her own words. “Although, really, it still doesn’t make sense to me that they chose to attack instead of join in. If they had, then they might well have been able to convince you to help them build the bridge.”
“Not necessarily,” Hammon disagreed, his expression smooth and unreadable. “Our agreement was based upon the market trends and economics of the world as they stand. Making trade easier with Orin would not be to our benefit.”
Which someone in Orin had obviously realized, hence the lack of effort to join the monopoly. Siobhan let out a resigned sigh. If people had been thinking less about lining their pockets and more about the good of the world as a whole, they wouldn’t be in such a mess right now. “Bad news is, I couldn’t get any information about the new guildmaster of Fallen Ward. Even the people in the city don’t know anything. Ever since the death of the old guildmaster, the main compound has been completely sealed tight. It’s hard for anyone to even approach the gates.”
“Hence why I can’t get in contact with my people,” Jarnsmor sighed. He rapped his fingers against the tabletop. “But you didn’t hear anything? Not even rumors?”
“Not a thing. It’s very strange.”
“Yes, so it is,” Nuel Hammon agreed slowly.
Siobhan was left with the obvious question. “So what now?”
“We ignore it.” Jarnsmor’s mouth twitched in a brief, dry smile. “Oh, we’ll keep an eye on them and make sure that we’re prepared for more assassins, if they choose to send them after us. But really, with the monopoly now formed, there’s not much they can do. We know the bridge is there—it loses its threat because it’s incomplete. The money that they’ve managed to save can’t possibly be enough to complete the project.”
She searched his face, looking for some insecurity or worry, but he seemed entirely confident of his own opinion. “You think ignoring them will work?”
“Yes.”
“We’ve little other choice,” Hammon added, tone reassuring. “We must focus on the renovations of the Grey Bridges. If we lose them, then it’s not just the economy of Orin that will take a plunge, but all four continents.”
Well, he had a good point, but….
“Speaking of,” Jarnsmor caught her eye, “Miss Darrens and I have been discussing logistics. We have a team of architects that