Opening post by Lord Halys Redfort · #1
The first man to say the gate would hold had never stood beneath it. When I abandoned Stonewatch in winter, I expected to save the chapel bell after the mules and men were out. I got three mules and forty-two men down the road; the rope had frozen to the tower, and the bell stayed behind.
You can count that bell among the things a retreat costs. I lost the keep, the chapel’s voice, and the time spent trying to carry what could not be carried.