With Dyphrities returned and the Darkness loose in the world, Tiashrila moved on the cities. Her plan was simple and old: drown Val Miran. The Eridani River ran beneath the Imperial Knight Bridge, the southern crossing into the capital. Break the bridge, hollow the embankments, summon the storms, and the river would do the rest.
### Israeth and Valnan at the Bridge
The work fell to Israeth Voss, a Temporum battlemage of Savant who had pledged himself to Tiashrila's cause. Israeth was not a soldier. He was a scholar of time and gravity, and he applied both with patience. He hovered along the embankment, terraforming the ground around the bridge's footings until the river had room to bite.
He did not work alone. Valnan Quicktrick, a Herald gnome and a battlemage in his own right, joined the inspection believing the work was repair, not sabotage. Israeth let him believe it. Together they walked the bridge as if they were maintainers, with Israeth asking what could be done to reinforce the steel cables and Valnan answering in good faith. When Israeth asked if the cables could be melted, Valnan loosed flame arrows at them, thinking he was helping. The cables sagged. The embankments crumbled. The Tribunal held the city above them and saw none of it.
### The Order That Never Came
When the bridge had been wounded enough to drop, Israeth contacted his mistress. He told her he stood at Val Miran with Valnan and that he was ready to unleash the waters at her desire. He waited for her instruction.
Tiashrila answered only with a single word. Noted. No order followed. The waters were not unleashed. The Imperial Knight Bridge swayed and held, the Eridani ran in its bed, and Val Miran did not fall that day.
### A Measure of the Lich's Reach
Why Tiashrila gave no command remains an open question. Perhaps the moment was wrong. Perhaps something larger was already in motion and a drowned capital would have served the wrong purpose. Perhaps she was waiting to see who else would come to the bridge before she committed.
What the sabotage did establish was the depth of the lich's reach. A Savant in good standing, a member of Temporum, had been turned. A bridge in the heart of Tribunal territory had been worked on in plain daylight without challenge. The cabals had been infiltrated, and the cities were no longer safe from inside their own walls.
Aabahran