The Dragon Warlord's Silent Bride

DIANA’S POV

The first record came from the Citadel’s Rellan administrative file twenty minutes after Diana asked for it.

Another copied account followed from territorial stores.

The live maintenance and entry records still had to come through Rellan’s relay.

The relief corridor outside the infirmary remained crowded, but Mistress Hale had found Diana a small administrative room nearby where the household clerks could work without forcing families to listen to every discussion.

The woman whose son was missing from the official list sat just beyond the open door. Diana had written Joren Vale at the top of her slate so she would not lose the name among the rest.

Daric placed the main shift record on the table.

”This is the Citadel copy used to register Rellan’s original trapped-worker count.”

Diana opened it.

Thirty-one workers were recorded underground in the affected sections when the collapse occurred. The pages listed names, assigned galleries, crew supervisors, and entry times.

Joren Vale did not appear.

Alma stood beside Diana while two household clerks sorted newly arrived family registrations.

Daric said, ”The foreman confirmed this count before the first rescue dispatch.”

Diana wrote: THE MOTHER SAID MAINTENANCE.

”Yes.”

Daric waited.

Diana turned several pages.

The pages contained no separate maintenance section.

She wrote: WHERE ARE MAINTENANCE WORKERS?

”Some are included with ordinary shifts.”

SOME?

Daric looked at the clerk who had brought the record.

The young man swallowed.

”Rellan has permanent maintenance workers assigned to the main crews, Commander. Specialized crews can also be scheduled separately.”

”Where would that be recorded?” Alma asked.

”Maintenance office.”

Daric said, ”Request it.”

The clerk left.

Diana reached for the next record, the meal allocation.

Daric leaned one hand against the table.

”You asked for this why?”

Diana looked at him.

He amended the question.

”What are you comparing?”

Better.

She wrote: PEOPLE WHO ENTERED.

Then pointed toward the meal count.

Rellan’s lower crews received packed meals before beginning deep shifts. The kitchen ledger did not record names, only quantities sent to each work level.

Thirty-seven meals had gone below before the collapse.

Daric read the number.

”Could include surface crews.”

The clerk beside him answered.

”Not this allocation. Surface workers eat at the upper hall.”

Diana looked at Daric.

He did not leap to the answer.

”Could be extra meals.”

Yes.

Diana wrote: NEXT.

The lamp-issue record came next.

Rellan used numbered safety lamps in the deeper working sections.

Thirty-seven had been issued before the collapse.

Diana put the meal allocation beside it.

Thirty-seven meals.

Thirty-seven lamps.

The main shift record still said thirty-one.

Two matching numbers were enough to justify another question. They were not enough to put six additional workers underground.

Six extra meals could have been packed and never eaten. Lamps could have been issued for work that changed before anyone entered. Two records agreeing with each other did not make the missing six people appear underground.

She wrote: SAME SIX?

Daric looked at the lamp code.

”We do not know yet.”

Joren’s mother had risen from the bench outside. She could see the two columns of numbers through the open door.

”Thirty-seven?”

Diana looked at her.

The woman came closer.

”There were thirty-seven?”

The question carried too much hope for evidence they did not have.

Diana wrote: TWO RECORDS SAY THIRTY-SEVEN.

Then: WE STILL NEED THE NAMES AND ENTRY.

The woman read both lines.

”So it could be them.”

Diana could not honestly shake her head.

She also could not nod.

She wrote: IT COULD.

The woman pressed her lips together and returned to the bench.

Daric waited until she was out of easy hearing.

”You could have said we found six unexplained allocations.”

Diana looked at him.

That sounded better.

It was not more certain.

She wrote: SHE ASKED HOW MANY PEOPLE.

Daric read it and nodded.

”Fair.”

Daric looked at the two numbers again.

”That proves the allocations disagree with the main roster.”

Diana waited.

”It does not prove six additional people went below.”

She nodded.

The distinction mattered.

Diana wrote: ENTRY RECORDS.

”Yes.”

Six lamps had been issued under a single abbreviation.

MNT-L6

”And if they were a separate maintenance crew, I would not assume they used the main workers’ gate.”

Alma looked up from the family registrations.

”There is a lower service entrance.”

”Separate record?” Daric asked.

”There should be. Supply crews use it too.”

”Request the lower service-gate book with the maintenance schedule.”

The clerk left.

Diana pointed toward the code.

WHAT IS THIS?

The remaining records clerk leaned closer.

”Maintenance lower six, I think.”

”You think?” Alma asked.

”It isn’t my office.”

Daric said, ”Find someone whose office it is.”

The man left much faster than the first clerk.

Joren’s mother remained on the bench outside.

She had refused to go to the family hall until someone checked.

Diana returned to the main record.

Thirty-one neat names.

Everyone had believed the number because the page looked complete.

She knew better than most people what a clean record could leave out.

A field messenger arrived with a new Rellan dispatch before the live maintenance records did.

Daric opened it.

”Eleven workers now reached. Seven injured. Rescue still progressing toward the deeper galleries.”

The public board changed again.

31 OFFICIALLY LISTED UNDERGROUND AT TIME OF COLLAPSE.

11 EXTRACTED.

20 REMAIN ON THE CURRENT RESCUE COUNT.

Diana looked at the last number.

It was accurate only if thirty-one had been accurate first.

The records on her table were beginning to suggest otherwise.

A family near the outer room began asking for names.

Daric handed the public copy to a clerk and returned to Diana.

”Nothing about a separate maintenance section.”

Diana tapped the crew code.

He understood.

”If they were there.”

Yes.

Diana hated that phrase.

It was still the correct one.

The next relay from Rellan arrived late the following day carrying a copied maintenance schedule.

Daric took it from the clerk.

”Maintenance office?”

”Yes.”

Diana opened the record.

The first pages listed repairs scheduled throughout the week.

Ventilation inspection.

Lamp-line checks.

Support measurement.

Drain clearing.

She turned to the day of the collapse.

One entry had been written before dawn.

Lower ventilation and service-route inspection. Six-person crew. Entry before first main shift.

Diana stopped.

The page listed no names, only the supervisor’s mark.

Kollen.

The name Joren’s mother had almost remembered.

Daric read over her shoulder.

”Six-person crew.”

The lower service-gate record had not arrived yet.

Until it did, Diana still had a scheduled crew rather than confirmed entry.

She looked toward the open doorway.

Joren’s mother was watching.

Diana did not signal good news yet.

They had a scheduled crew. They still needed proof that the six had actually entered.

The next relay case reached them with the lower gate record.

Daric took it.

Diana opened to the final completed page before the collapse.

Six entries had been recorded before sunrise.

Separate from the main shift.

Separate from the thirty-one.

The last column showed only one thing that mattered.

ENTERED.