“What can they do to stop us? We’re inside their main walls. We can find a way to breach the Keep. You didn’t see any strange magic stop us from getting through the gates once they were opened from the inside, did you? No, we’ve got them! Our right to finish them off is clear enough. They attacked us first; they brought it on themselves. That’s what we’ll tell everyone. There are plenty of witnesses to corroborate the story.”

He grabbed Stoon’s arm. “Come with me. Let’s find a place to watch it happen.”

Atop the battlements of the Inner Wall, Aphenglow and Bombax stood watching the Federation soldiers scurry about the courtyards below, removing their dead and injured and readying themselves for a fresh assault. Ten of Krolling’s Druid Guards were dead and another five too badly injured to fight. The fifteen or so who were still sound enough to do so had taken up positions on the Inner Wall battlements to await the expected attack. It was not entirely clear yet what direction it would come from, but it was clear that it was inevitable.

“We can’t hold back so many,” Bombax muttered, watching the soldiers as they began to form up their lines. “Not if they find a way to get inside the Inner Wall, too.”

“It’s not your fault they got this far,” she answered quietly. “We were all fooled by that boy.”

“I’m the one who brought him inside the Keep. I’m the one who trusted him when I should have known better.” Bombax shook his head. “I should have seen the truth.”

“You were drugged by whatever liquid the Mwellret poured into your gag. You were unable to speak or move properly, and you couldn’t reason things out.” She glanced over. “None of us would have done any better.”

Bombax looked unconvinced. “I just hope I live long enough to get my hands on him. Five seconds would do it.”

“We’ll settle with him one day.” She scanned the courtyards and the Outer Wall. “What became of him after he opened the east gate?”

The Borderman grimaced. “He slipped out to join his friends. If he were still inside the Keep, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

They were silent for a few minutes, standing close, lost in separate thoughts focused on finding an answer to the same question: What would happen when the Federation attacked the Keep? Aphenglow thought she should go inside and say something to Woostra. But what was there to say? That they were under attack? That they were all in grave danger? Woostra would already know as much. They were all trapped, and advising the old man of what that meant was unnecessary.

“It would help if we hadn’t lost the airships,” Bombax murmured.