Cade nodded. “We studied the Romans in school.”

This time, it was Marius’s turn to grin. “When this is over, I must hear more about your world.”

Cade smiled back. “You can count on it.”

CHAPTER

25

Cade stood in silence, waiting for the legionaries to catch their breath as they came to a stop ahead of him. There was no hiding their approach—the carriage carrying the cannons saw to that. By now, the men had disguised the cannon muzzles with bundles of grass, so the Grays would be none the wiser.

At least, not until Cade enacted his plan.

Marius had already given instructions to his centurions, and now, two groups of ninety men were crawling through the grass, circling the fortress to wait on either side. At the firing of the cannon, they would charge in from the sides, before running along the fortress’s curved edges to meet at the front doors.

Meanwhile, the remaining twenty men would walk between the campfires they were setting up, making it appear that the rest of the army was sitting down, below the tops of the grass.

This had been Marius’s idea, and Cade was all for it. And those twenty men would be needed soon enough.

Cade had originally intended to follow a similar route to the pincers with his carriage, but as he and Marius had crawled closer, they had seen that the ground on either side of the doors and beyond was strewn with rubble and uneven patches—too dangerous for the carriage’s rickety wheels. He and his group would need to attack head-on, down the clear, well-trodden path that the Grays took when they moved in and out of the fort.

“Cade.”

Scott’s voice jarred Cade from going over his plan, and he found the other contenders waiting for him, worry upon their faces.

“Hey…,” Cade said, a flash of guilt pushing through his belly.

He had hardly spoken to them since Marius’s interrogation. There had just been so much to do, so much to plan with Marius. Between sleep, work, and planning, they had hardly exchanged glances, let alone words.

“What’s the plan?” Grace asked. “Even those guys know more than us, ’cause the centurions told them in Latin.”

Quintus crossed his arms, giving Cade a worried glance.

“I’m sorry,” Cade said, wiping a hand across his forehead. “I just … I knew what we had to do. I should have asked you for help.”

“Our help?” Yoshi said. “What about our opinions? We trust you, man, but you didn’t even let us decide if this attack is a good idea.”

Amber stepped forward to stand next to Cade, if a little apart.

“We understand that we’re running out of time,” Amber said. “But we’re about to charge an enemy fort with some rusted old cannons, right? Couldn’t you have let us in on it a little?”

Cade felt a wave of exhaustion come over him. He sat down and clutched his knees.

“I really am sorry,” he whispered. “I’m trying. I really am. I don’t want us to die here. That’s all I want. If we had more time—”