Marius seemed to squat in the long grass, then motioned Cade to follow, shuffling slowly in a bowlegged stance. It was going to be a long night.

The fort stretched into the dark sky, ominous in its scale. It was a veritable mountain, as if a giant spar of red rock had buried itself vertically in the earth, all cracks, gullies, and ridges. It reminded him of the Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, a naturally formed “butte” he had once visited on a metal-detecting trip with his father.

The Grays must have carved their fort from the bones of a natural rock formation, but Cade could only see apertures at the very front, above where the door was set in the stone.

And what a door it was. Even from a distance, Cade could see its stature, tall as ten men by his estimate, and just as wide. A dark line down the middle told him it was an entrance that could be opened, for the rust that had formed on its exterior blended closely with the red of the stone surrounding it.

“They must not care for the light, then,” Cade whispered as he stared at the forbidding sight.

“Oh?” Marius breathed back.

“No windows from what I can see. One entrance, and only slits at the front, probably to throw spears or fire arrows. They don’t need natural light like we do.”

Marius shrugged. “It makes attack harder.”

Cade wasn’t so sure. “Let’s say we charge the door from here,” he said. “They will send projectiles at us as we attack, right?”

Marius nodded, his brows furrowed.

“But what if we go in from the sides?” Cade said, motioning in a pincer movement with his hands. “They can’t hurt us until we’re directly underneath. Or at least, if there are some holes for them to attack us from, there aren’t as many as the front.”

Marius stared, then groaned and shook his head.

“That is a good plan,” he said, scratching his beard. “We haven’t considered a direct attack for quite some time, but I had not thought of that.”

Cade grinned. “Fresh pair of eyes,” he whispered. “Now, here’s the other problem. We get those doors open, they’re going to rush to close them again. Remember, it’s only the bar that we can break. We don’t follow up, they’ll close them and shove their spears where the bar was.”

Marius rubbed his eyes and sighed. “So even if the cannons work, it might all be for nothing?”

“If we’re lucky, the doors will come off their hinges, but there’s no guarantee that will happen. All I need from you is for your men to be ready to charge as soon as I give the signal.”

Marius closed his eyes. “The only way my men reach those doors before the Tritons do is if we stand close—even if we do come in from the sides.”

“That’s what the testudo formation is for,” Cade said, not unkindly.

“You know about the testudo?” Marius asked.