Sandreena followed Kaspar, Laromendis, Magnus, and Jim Dasher up the dry riverbed, while Pug rejoined Brandos, Amirantha, and Gulamendis. They slowly counted ten minutes, then Pug said, “Laromendis, be ready to make us look like a pile of dirt.”

The elf smiled slightly and said, “That should be no problem, assuming no one is looking very hard at our pile of dirt and we don’t have to be dirt for too long.”

Brandos chuckled, then turned to listen. “Someone’s coming,” he whispered and they all scooted close to the face of the basin, looking upward.

A demon sentry walked close to the edge and glanced downward, blinking for a moment. He had a bovine head with massive red eyes and a prodigious pair of horns that swept up and out. He grunted once, blinked, then moved on.

When he was away, Pug turned and asked the elf, “Dirt?”

“Dirt,” answered Laromendis. “Next time, try to get me a little more warning.”

“Those cattle heads tend to be fairly stupid,” said Amirantha.

“It also helps they’re nearsighted,” said Brandos. “That fact alone has saved my head more than once.”

Pug shook his head. “A nearsighted sentry?”

Brandos whispered, “It makes them nervous. They jump at any motion they detect. If we stay in the dark and don’t move, they’ll probably miss us even without the spell of seeming that brother elf just cast.”

Pug said, “Let’s go that way,” indicating the direction from which the sentry had walked. They crouched low and moved up out of the basin, keeping low along the edge of the depression.

They reached the road that led to the switchbacks up the hill, and the sentry post Sandreena had described was gone. Pug assumed they cleared everything from the perimeter once the gates and wall were finished, keeping the area around the walls free of any possible concealment.

Into the darkness on the opposite side of the road they crept, finding another depression behind which they could crouch. Slowly they moved away from Kaspar’s group.

Sandreena held up a balled fist, indicating those behind her should stop. Kaspar gently put his hand on her shoulder, letting her know he was coming up behind her so as not to startle her. She signaled there were sentries ahead, indicating two of them. He slowly rose up to peer over the edge of the dried riverbank and saw two demons walking a patrol before a small gate. They had traversed the perimeter halfway around the structure and had yet to see a safe approach. The fortification looked as if it were able to withstand attacks for a short time, but not able to withstand a long siege. There was no central structure beyond the walls, so any storage and quarters were either in small buildings nestled inside the walls, or nonexistent.