“Codex, do we continue following the sun tomorrow?” Cade asked.

The Codex floated silently, and ignored his question.

“Great,” he groaned before turning to the group.

“I know we’re all tired. But we have to take advantage of the light before it gets dark. Let’s split into two groups—Amber, Grace, Scott, you circle left. Bea, Trix, Yoshi, circle right. Anything we can burn, any tools, anything at all, bring it back here. Quintus and I will watch the sleds, see if we can’t get the Codex to tell us what’s going on.”

“Aye aye, Captain,” Scott said, throwing an exaggerated salute.

This earned him a good-natured shove from Grace, and the two groups trudged away.

When their footsteps had receded, Cade sat down heavily beside Quintus on the legionary’s sled.

“You think your legion came here first?” Cade asked, after waving for his friend’s attention.

Quintus shrugged and pointed at the ground where their footsteps had tracked in sand and salt from the desert.

“No marks but our marks,” he said.

Cade sighed. He supposed it was for the best—retreading the same path the Roman army had taken could only lead to their defeat. After all, what could they achieve that three thousand trained soldiers could not?

“Codex, do we fight tomorrow?” Cade called.

Silence.

“Thanks, real helpful.”

Quintus shuffled his feet and kicked a small pebble down the cobbles.

“Come,” Quintus said. “We must see if safe.”

The legionary staggered forward, wincing at his aching muscles. Cade followed suit, but to his surprise, the entrance to the gatehouse and its tower was halfway up the stonework beside the gates, as if those who had once occupied it could fly. But of course, Cade realized, the entrance would have been at water level, which he now knew had been at least fifteen feet above them. The remnants of barnacles, calcified along the gatehouse’s base, confirmed his theory.

They curved right, walking up the slope along the wall, until they found some stairs. There they walked back along the ramparts, peering into the village for a glimpse of their friends. But there must have been at least a hundred dwellings there blocking their view.

If Cade had been hoping for weaponry, or any other useful items on the walls, he was disappointed. The place had been picked clean, likely by the locals who had lived near the ruin over the years, as it lay empty in its harbor. Of course, that would have been before Abaddon had taken it.

They reached the gatehouse, and the tower at its top. This too was practically empty. A broken chair, simple and wooden, lay in the entrance. Dust, rags, the iron rim of an old barrel were within the main room, and an open room adjacent yielded only broken crockery and a splintered table. Nothing but firewood.

Still, there was a spiral staircase built into the inside, and after a brief pause to catch their breaths, the pair mounted the steps. It was like a small lighthouse, and when they reached the peak, Cade could see the remains of two giant braziers there, screwed so tightly into the walls that no one would have been able to scavenge them. These must have been used as signal fires.