The map had fourteen marks on it that had not been there the morning Beorn returned from the eastern gate. Most were red chalk, militia engagements, each one a position held or taken or lost. Three were in plain charcoal for locations where the intelligence was uncertain enough that committing a color felt like false confidence.

The marks clustered in the slums and the passage between the warehouse district and the miners’ quarter in a way that told its own story about where the last weeks struggle had happened.

Godric had been standing at the map’s left since since the session began, and he was still in the same position when he continued.

"The sixth hideout from Lewin’s list."

He said plainly. "We cleared it four days ago. Two of their men were killed, one of ours."

He touched the map near the slums’ southern section without pointing specifically, the way a man indicates a position he has looked at too many times to need to point.

"The seventh we found had already been abandoned. The fire pit was still warm when the squad went in."

Beorn made a mark on the map. "Where did they go."

"We tracked signs east, but the refugee traffic through the slums makes movement difficult to trace. They are somewhere in the district."

Beorn looked at the distribution of marks without adding anything for a moment.

"How many of the twelve hideout locations have we cleared," he said.

"Seven confirmed clear," Godric said. "Three we know have relocated. Two we have not yet reached."

"The unreached ones. What is the obstacle at each."

Godric described them.

The first was a street that had been barricaded since before the city split. Taking it directly cost men at a chokepoint. He needed three squads and a clear day to do it without leaving bodies at the entrance.

The second was inside the warehouse district proper, which Beorn did not control and could not enter without a full district engagement.

Aestrith was at the window with her arms crossed, facing the road below. She did not contribute yet.

"How many dead in total," Beorn said.

"Seventeen," Godric said. "Fifty-six heavily injured. Nineteen light, in restricted patrol."

Beorn looked at the map. He did not add anything to it for the span of five seconds, which was longer than he usually held before writing. Then he wrote the figures in the right margin, not as operational notes, but as numbers that needed to be somewhere he would look when he returned to this page. He moved back to the map.

"Tell me about the barricade street," he said. "The building above it."

Godric described it. There were two floors on the east side, partial upper floor collapse from a skirmish in the third week, but the load-bearing part intact and the hole in the facing wall accessible from the next door roof if the militia came over from the north building.

The southern end of the street was exposed from the barricade itself. The crossbowmen behind it had a good angle on anyone at ground.

"A crossbow detachment in that upper floor before we move on the street."

Beorn continued. "From two positions. I want one at the eastern side and one at the midpoint."

Godric considered this, the brief pause of a man checking whether he had missed the constraint. "When."

"Immediately" Beorn said.

He wrote a brief note in the upper margin, not a plan with names and positions, just the order. "The warehouse district hideout we leave for now. When the high quarter’s supply breaks, the warehouse hideout loses its back route and becomes a simpler problem."

"The high quarter hasn’t changed," Godric said.

"No."

Beorn looked at the mark there, the chalk circle that had been in that position for one week. "The food supply running into it from the north district. Has it degraded."

Godric answered, "Their provisioning is running through a route that connects to the north district. A prolonged engagement on that route would cost us access to the repair site on the northeastern wall."

Beorn had already been looking at that section of the map when he spoke. "We keep the cement supply. The wall matters more than the timeline on the high quarter." He drew a single line through one of the marks and wrote a brief note beside it.

The mine convoy suspension came up briefly when Godric moved to the eastern sector summary. The southern and eastern routes had been closed for four days. The last convoy before the suspension had carried the nitre and iron the foundry currently required, and the last batch of food from merchants.

The fracture events and increased monster presence on those roads had made resuming unsafe.

"The granary is well-supplied," Beorn said. "I do not need that route open immediately."

"Should we feed the refugee influx as well," Godric said.

"We’ll need to ration the meals, but yes."

Beorn looked at the map’s overall picture.

The marks told him that the slums and the miners’ quarter were where Coss’s network was concentrating its resistance, the hideouts had not given up their positions without fighting, and the ones that had relocated had moved toward each other, which suggested either network consolidation or preparation for something coordinated.

He added a note in the lower margin about the clustering movement and put a question mark at the end.

"How many of their men have been identified since the influx began." Beorn asked.

"Nine confirmed between the refugees."

Godric briefly checked a note. "Seven detained, two got into the city before we could close on them."

"And from the seven detained, anything about hideouts positions or structure."

"Three gave general information about operations before the city split."

His tone did not change when he delivered the next part. "Each hideout knows its own location and its signal. They do not know the others."

Beorn had expected this. Coss had been cautious for decades. A network built by a cautious man did not have a breach that could expose the whole structure when it was broken.

He looked at the multiple marks in the margin. The map showed him positions. The margin showed him cost. He kept both but not in the same place because looking at them together made the analysis harder rather than clearer.

then a knock came from the door. A militia runner, not one of the regular staff attendants, the distinction was evident before the man had fully entered.

"Lewin is at the south gate," the runner said.

Beorn closed the ledger. He stood and told Godric to hold on the barricade operation until he had heard the field report, because the report might change the timing. He moved toward the door.