Seven weeks after the speech, Cerdic's crew finally dismantled the platform. They took it apart board by board, the same structure they'd thrown together in two days now taking the better part of a week to come down without wasting the timber that would soon become apartment blocks.
Beorn entered it into the ledger the same way he recorded everything else these days, one more line among dozens. The speech was over, but the reports had never slowed.
Recruitment kept climbing well past Godric's first estimates. Every morning brought fresh names to the garrison rolls instead of every week, until the fourth regiment reached full strength and the fifth wasn't far behind.
