Looking at Pug, Brandos said, “Perhaps a direct approach?”

“What do you propose?” asked the magician.

Glancing around at the deep night sky and shrouded landscape, Brandos said, “Unless they have night vision like friend elf here, or a cat’s, I can get close and take a look. It won’t be the first time I’ve crawled on my stomach to get a look at an enemy position.”

Pug thought for a moment and said, “I’m loath to use magic that might be detected until I know what we face. Get as close as you can, then get back here, but secrecy is paramount.”

“Understood.”

Brandos went up over the edge and on to the berm, crawling at a surprisingly efficient rate. Amirantha said, “‘Enemy position’?” He chuckled softly. “He means seeing where the local sheriff or city watch was waiting for us.”

“As long as it works,” whispered Pug.

Time dragged slowly and then they could hear Brandos returning. He snaked down on his stomach to where they crouched waiting, rolled over, and sat up. “There’s a small gate a hundred yards and a bit to the southwest. It looks like it’s the one part of the wall that’s not quite finished. There’s a wooden barrier they have to move to bring anything like a wagon in or out, and there’s only one guard. A demon,” he said to Amirantha with a grin.

“What manner?” asked the Warlock.

“Big battle demon, ram’s head, all decked out in black armor carrying a huge double-bladed axe.”

“Ram’s head?” said Amirantha, looking at Gulamendis.

The elf said, “They tend to be tractable if you can subdue them.”

“If you can subdue them,” echoed Amirantha.

“What are you thinking?” asked Pug.

“If we can subdue that demon, even for just a few minutes,” said Amirantha, “that gives us a point of ingress. If you have the means to get in unseen and look about—”

“I can do that,” said Pug. “I can render myself unseen for a short period.”

“That’s good,” said Gulamendis with a slight smile, “as we should only be able to subdue that demon for a short period.”

“What do we do with him when he stops being subdued and starts shouting alarm?” asked Brandos.

“I expect it will be dead by then,” said Amirantha pointedly.

Brandos rolled his eyes. “They tend to stop being cooperative as soon as you start killing them.”

“Then do it quickly,” he said to Brandos and Gulamendis.

“You hook him,” said Brandos, “and we’ll gut him and cook him.” Gulamendis nodded. “I’ve got one banishment that’s very quick, but it tends to be messy.”

“I don’t mind messy,” said Pug. “If we need to leave in a hurry, we can.”

“What about Magnus and his bunch?” asked Brandos.

“If they hear trouble, they know what to do,” answered Pug.

“I hope so,” said Brandos. “Because I certainly don’t.”