Minutes crawled by as the Grays watched and waited. Cade was growing nervous, the sight of the two bodies before him driving the reality of the situation home.

And then, with a screech that set his teeth on edge … the formation charged.

“Bea! Trix!” Cade bellowed as he threw himself back, his sword sticking in the grate before being yanked free in his desperation to pass through the gates.

He seized the rope and yanked, feeling his feet lift from the ground almost instantly. Slowly, ever so slowly, he was hauled up.

The Grays piled into the gatehouse as stones tumbled from the battlements above. Cade caught a glimpse of a rock thudding into the masses, blue spray accompanied by squeals of pain.

The frontrunners pressed into the gates, momentum of those behind pressing them into the grating, preventing them from squeezing through. Cade swung himself forward, using an armored foot to climb up the grate squares, as spears jabbed at him. The gates began to topple, the rope holding them in place fraying and snapping.

They slammed into the ground, and the Grays stampeded through. For one heart-pounding moment Cade dangled above the enemy, and felt the clatter of outstretched spearheads slicing at his feet. Then he was out of range, swinging as the army below trilled in anger.

He was safe … for now.

CHAPTER

12

They were outnumbered five to one, if not more. And as they watched the Grays stumble into the sandy basin of the old harbor, this became ever more apparent.

A few were limping, injured by the falling rocks, and Cade knew at least one had died. But it did not make their odds any better.

They had faced greater numbers of vipers, it was true, but these creatures were more advanced. These were sentient beings, fighting in formation and armored from head to toe. Defeating them seemed impossible. The best they could hope to do was make them pay so dearly that they gave up trying to kill them.

“What now?” Yoshi whispered.

They were peering out of the sea-gate entrance, which Cade had scrambled into moments before.

“It’s a siege,” Cade muttered back. “Just not of the fort. Of this gatehouse.”

Below, Cade saw the black eyes of the leader swivel in their overlarge sockets, and moments later fluted orders split the Gray army in two.

“Shit,” Scott whispered. “They figured that out fast.”

They were headed up the beach, where the wall met the ground and they could run along the battlements to the two doorways on either side of the large room they were in.

“Do we defend the doorways?” Amber asked.

“No,” Cade said. “We stick to the plan. Up the stairs, now.”

They ran, stumbling in their panic up the steps, and it was twice as hard in Cade’s armor. He collapsed at the top, the group gathering around the entrance with their blades drawn.

Cade took a moment to catch his breath. To think.

There was advantage in their retreat. The enemy did not know their numbers, even now. And if Cade held the stairs, the Grays would not know how many warriors were crowded at the top of the tower with him.