Foreman Hendrick's Log Book
23 Erastus
Good cutting north of the road. Carver's crew brought in eleven sound trunks before midday and six more before rain. River running high enough to move the lot tomorrow if Sella's people arrive on time.
Smith wants another barrel of charcoal. Told him to make do until the next supply wagon. Lower crew broke two picks and bent a wedge again. I told Brannick I am not ordering new iron every time his men forget how to swing a hammer.
26 Erastus
Sent eight men to Lower Works after breakfast. Official sheet has them on retaining-wall repair. Keep it that way.
Another four braces requested. Carpenter says the dimensions are too short for anything we build topside. Told him he is paid to cut timber, not inspect where it goes.
No trouble otherwise.
2 Arodus
Good week. Mill taking everything we can send. Thirty-seven logs marked for Karland, nine held back for camp use.
Lower Works asked for more lamp oil again. Double the standing order next shipment. Add chain, two pulley blocks, drainage pipe, and another coil of heavy rope. Put them under site maintenance.
Too many questions being asked about oil consumption. Spread purchases between suppliers.
5 Arodus
Three men refused the night detail. Said there is knocking below even when nobody is working. Told them stone shifts and timber settles. One laughed. One crossed himself. One asked to be put back on river duty.
Reassigned all three. I need workers, not stories.
8 Arodus
Gray clay coming back on everything from below. Boots, carts, tool heads, even harness traces. Smith says it gets into joints and sockets and dries like mortar.
Had the bunkhouse floors scrubbed. No reason to have the whole camp tracking it around.
11 Arodus
Another section opened. Better progress than expected. Had carpenters increase production of the short sets. Same measurements as Batch 19. Braces, cribbing, wedges.
We are using more timber below than I was told we would. If anyone from Macridi asks, bluff reinforcement is taking longer than planned.
14 Arodus
First report of black sap. Orren thought he had cut himself until he saw it coming from the root. Root was twenty feet below ground where there should not have been a living root at all.
Told them to cut around it and continue.
That was probably a mistake.
15 Arodus
Two more roots today. Same black seep. Same red-gold lines under the bark. Men will not touch them bare-handed now.
Sent a message upriver requesting the consultant. Marked urgent.
No mention of roots in the ordinary dispatch.
18 Arodus
Consultant arrived before noon. Expensive coat, clean boots, too many cases. Asked for every sample we had before asking where he was sleeping.
He wants boiled water, sealed stores, nothing gathered locally, no river fish, no fresh greens. Cook thinks he is a lunatic.
I do not.
19 Arodus
Consultant spent six hours below. Came back pale and angry. Would not explain much in front of the men. Said the growth is not fungal and not any ordinary forest blight. Said we are to stop cutting affected roots until he understands what they are.
I asked if the work stops.
He said no.
21 Arodus
Night crew increased to twelve. Cook complained about the extra meals. Told her to keep a separate count and stop asking who eats them.
More shoring ordered for the eastern face. Another cart axle cracked hauling spoil uphill. Stablemaster says the horses hate the lower track now. One team refused it entirely and nearly overturned a cart trying to turn around.
23 Arodus
Tremor shortly after second bell. Not strong enough to damage the camp, but enough to shake dust from the rafters in my office.
Lower crew reported a support set twisted out of square. No collapse. One worker missing after the count. They insist he was with them before the tremor.
Searched until dawn. Nothing.
24 Arodus
Found black residue on the missing man's gloves in his bunk. His boots are still there. Purse too.
Told everyone he was reassigned.
I am tired of lying badly.
25 Arodus
Consultant says the roots are spreading toward the excavation rather than away from it. I asked what that means. He said he does not know. Then he packed three more samples into leaded jars and told me not to touch them.
He keeps asking about the deepest cut and the original survey bearings.
Whatever they sent us here to find, he believes we are close.
26 Arodus
Horses restless all night. Two kicked through their stall gates before dawn. Stablemaster found black sap on roots beneath the rear wall.
We have it topside now.
I ordered the affected ground covered and told everyone it was pitch spilled from the roofing barrels.
27 Arodus
Four sick from Lower Works. Burning skin. Bad dreams. One keeps saying something is moving under the floor. Another scratched his forearms bloody trying to get "the lines" out.
Consultant says isolate them.
No room to isolate anyone in this camp.
28 Arodus
Another tremor. Stronger. Clock stopped at 2:17.
Lower Works closed until I inspect it personally. No one goes below without my order. No carts past the bluff. Nonessential traffic restricted.
I have sent no message to Macridi yet.
Later — same day
Went below.
The eastern face is wrong. Roots where there were none yesterday. Black sap everywhere. Timber braces warm to the touch. One of the men said he heard breathing from inside the stone.
Consultant wants more time.
We do not have more time.
Final Entry
Something broke through the lower gallery. Men scattered. Could not get a proper count. Lamps went out first, then the shouting started.
I ordered everyone topside. Some never came. Others came back changed.
There is a piece of it in my arm. Small. Splinter-sized. I pulled at it and it moved deeper.
If anyone finds this book, the work below was never bluff stabilization.
Seal the Lower Works.
Do not cut the roots.
Do not burn them.
And if the Hand sends someone asking whether we reached the marked chamber—
tell them no.