A Piece of Timber I Need Back

I had not intended to involve you in this. You already have enough to concern yourselves with, and I have spent too many years learning that every favor eventually becomes part of someone's ledger.

Still, word has reached me that you have been asking the right questions, and more importantly, that you have been listening to the answers. A few people whose judgment I respect have spoken well of you. That is sufficient for me to risk an old matter becoming your problem.

Years ago, before anyone had reason to worry about black sap, spoiled timber, or what might be growing beneath the forest, I bought several exceptional darkwood beams from a harvest near Reiver's Right. Most were used long ago. One was not.

It was an oversized heartwood beam, straight-grained and nearly without flaw. Too good for ordinary cabinetry, too expensive to cut merely because I happened to have it. I left it seasoning in one of the sealed dry-storage sheds near the camp, intending to retrieve it when the proper commission came along.

That commission has now arrived.

I have a replacement order bound for Kerse, and that beam would make the centerpiece exactly as it should be made. More importantly, it was cut and stored well before the current trouble. If it is still there, and if whatever has happened at Reiver's Right has not reached it, I would rather trust timber whose history I know than take chances with another shipment.

The beam is marked at one end with my artisan's sign: two carved leaves joined at the stem. The mark is shallow but distinct. If you find several stored beams, that is the one I want.

Do not cut into it carelessly. If you need to check the heartwood, take a shaving no wider than your smallest fingernail from the lower rear corner, beneath the artisan mark. A clean interior should be dark, dense, and even. If you see black veining, wet discoloration, or anything that looks as though it is moving when the wood is still, leave the beam where it is and tell me.

You will not carry it out under one arm. It is heavy enough that even four strong laborers would curse me for choosing it. Find it first. Determine whether the shed is safe. If the beam is sound, secure the place and we can arrange proper transport once I know what remains of the road and camp.

If you recover it for me, I will pay 30 gold pieces. More importantly, you will have the use of my workshop when you return to Macridi. Repairs, fitted wooden equipment, commissions, and other work I would normally make people wait for will move to the front of my bench.

There is one other matter. If, while you are there, you find proof that corrupted timber was responsible for the failure of the Kerse work, bring that proof back with you. I have spent enough time wondering whether I made a mistake that should have been impossible.

Find the beam if circumstances allow. Do not risk yourselves for a piece of wood merely because I happen to value it.