The envelope contained a ledger, a statement, and three signatures.
The statement said Ash, Caleb, and Lila had stolen medical supplies before leaving Vale's territory. It assigned the loss an extravagant value, added penalties for disruption, and declared their labor pledged until the debt was paid. The signatures appeared at the bottom of a page marked voluntary agreement.
You read it twice.
"This isn't a debt," you said. "It's a cage with arithmetic on it."
Lila sat across the map table, one hand resting on her healing leg. Her face had gone colorless, but her voice remained steady.
"We signed a winter ration sheet. He said the stores were low and everyone had to acknowledge what they took."
"Did you see this page then?" Micah asked.
"No."
Caleb leaned over her shoulder. "He kept the lower half of the sheet covered with a clipboard. I remember because Ash complained about having to sign on a slant."
Ash nodded. "He told me to stop making a scene."
June laid the ledger flat. "The medical stores were not stolen. Lila needed antibiotics after she cut her leg. Vale's medic gave them to her."
"Vale says the medic wasn't authorized," Rowan said.
"Vale knew," Lila replied. "He was in the room."
The silence that followed had weight.
Rowan traced the bottom edge of the agreement without touching it. "Iona can witness the signatures, but she can't see what was under a clipboard two months ago."
"Then we find the medic," you said.
"His name is Orren," Caleb said. "He left before we did. He was tired of Vale charging people for treatment."
"Where did he go?"
"Nobody knows."
You looked at the map. The old quarry road curved along the northern boundary before vanishing into a maze of smaller logging tracks. If Orren had escaped that way, someone might have seen him. If Vale had arrived the same way, his presence could explain the fresh cut Ash found on the granite marker.
"I'll go look at the marker," you said.
"With me," Rowan replied.
"With Ash. He found it."
Rowan glanced at Ash. You could see him weighing risk against trust.
"Micah too," he said. "Two radios. Return before dark."
Ash straightened. "I know the way."
"Then lead," Rowan told him.
It mattered. You saw it in the way Ash took up his coat.
After the others left, Rowan remained beside you.
"You're angry," he said.
"I'm trying not to be."
"You don't have to perform calm for me."
You closed the ledger. "He made them sign away their futures by hiding the bottom of a page. Then he walked up here and called it voluntary."
"I know."
"And he's going to make us prove the obvious while he gets to stand there looking reasonable."
"I know."
His quiet agreement made the anger harder to hold upright. You leaned into him. He folded one arm around your shoulders.
"I want to hit him," you admitted.
"Get in line."
You laughed once, without humor.
"Why a witness?" you asked. "Why not just tell him to leave?"
"Because Vale knows every neighboring pack is watching how I handle this. If I bar the door and refuse to answer, he can claim I took his people by force. Some will believe him. Some will pretend to, because it is convenient." Rowan's voice hardened. "A witness doesn't give him authority. It takes away his hiding places."
"Unless the witness believes the ledger."
"Then we show her more than the ledger."
The room smelled of ink, coffee, and the woodsmoke drifting down from the chimney. Outside, the first flurries of the season began to spin through the daylight.
You had seven days.