The Eastwatch Stair

The Eastwatch Stair is Caerdun stripped to height, hunger, and weather. Forts cling to the exposed roads like old knuckles. Signal mirrors flash between ridges when the clouds permit mercy. Iron ration hooks, wind-scoured steps, locked beacon rooms, and numbered watch posts make the frontier feel measured even as the mountains try to erase men from it. Every post keeps a watch-ledger, every relief column swears its watch oath before witnesses, and every gate captain knows which district must answer if a height goes dark. The wardens sleep in their cloaks and learn to send warning before asking for rescue. They know a delayed flame can become a funeral, and that the first village lost is often the one no singer bothers to name.