The Pendelton Estate yard was usually a study in controlled motion by the sixth hour of the morning. Today, the motion had stopped.
Arthur walked out of the main hall and immediately registered the deficit. The staging area near the eastern wall, designated for raw material intake, was entirely empty. There were no heavy timber wains unloading cured pine. There was no acrid smell of fresh lime dust. The forge fires in the secondary smithy were banked low, lacking the fuel and raw pig iron required to cast the heavy bracing brackets for the next phase of the road.
Zack was standing near the empty loading bays, his clipboard gripped tightly in his hands. He looked up as Arthur approached, his expression tight with visible frustration. He didn't wait for Arthur to ask.
