and make sure.’
The commander glanced at the others, who had already gathered in one spot. He ran through the numbers in his head and sighed resignedly.
‘Our team will go and check it out, and the rest of you are to wait here.’ Cedric waited until everyone had nodded in agreement. ‘Right, let’s go.’
Draco adjusted both his swords so they wouldn’t get in the way and checked his gloves and helmet somewhat nervously. Everything was in place, so there was no point in delaying, and he ran off to catch up with the rest. They walked in single file in silence, and when the trees thinned out and an open space became visible between them, they began to creep forward, keeping to the thorny bushes. The bushes were conveniently situated enough that they managed to reach the very edge of the forest behind them, where Noah was waiting in the ravine, watching the hill opposite intently. All four of them pressed themselves flat against the ground near the parthir, peering out only with their heads above the crest of the slope.
Just as Zane had described earlier, the hill was quite heavily fortified. The rampart at the top of the hill was surrounded not only by a low palisade but also by an earthen embankment; it was clearly prepared to be manned by field guns, the range of which could easily reach the tree line, and perhaps even a little further. The trenches halfway up the slope, reinforced with logs, looked deep and wide enough for soldiers to pass each other comfortably, even whilst carrying heavy weapons. The riflemen remained largely hidden even whilst firing volleys at the approaching enemy. It looked like a perfect example of military engineering, almost like a final-year project. Given where they were, the dragon would not have been at all surprised if that were indeed the case.
‘I haven’t seen anyone the whole time,’ Parthir said after a moment. ‘If there’s someone sitting there, they’re hardly watching the area, or at least not from this side.’
‘It’s hard to say whether going
