The first wave hit the gate before Reeve had even finished pulling his boots on.
"They're through the outer perimeter!" Ottilie shouted, sprinting past the clinic where Reeve was struggling upright. "Vask banners, old colors, at least fifty fighters!"
Reeve grabbed his blade off the wall and forced his body to move despite the wound still healing beneath his ribs. "How's that possible. Vask's remnants scattered months ago."
"Doesn't matter how right now," Ottilie said. "Matters that they're organized, armed, and hitting us while Kane's four days out."
Reeve stumbled into the yard, pain lancing through his side with every step, and found the coalition already scrambling into defensive positions, fighters who'd barely recovered from the last assault forcing themselves back into formation
