The Ambush #
The return of a single, battered wagon confirms the worst: the land route is dead. Bandits have taken everything. The shouting of creditors doubles.
Gaius stares at the ruin: "We are landlocked. We are dead."
Marcus points toward the Tyrrhenian Sea: "The land is dead, Gaius. The bandits own the road. But they don't own the water."
"The wind is against us until spring," Gaius counters.
Later, alone in his secret chamber, Marcus writes a desperate question on the Stone: THE LAND IS DEAD. THE WIND IS DEAD. CAN WE PUT THE FIRE ON THE WATER?