This page was a turning point in the narrative where I shunted it down a path I hadn't fully thought through yet. In the outline I'd made of Black Peak, the mercenaries only barely existed. They took up about three lines out of the 66 lines of outline. I'd decided right here to give them a bigger role, though, I think in part because I didn't want the ride to be over yet and I knew I had it in me to go longer.