Chapter 91: The Broken Gate
The thirty five men of the coastal militia moved out from the ditch, their heavy boots dragging through three feet of powdery snow as they advanced toward the main entrance of Alderwood Manor. The screaming gale howled down Crestline Avenue at fifty knots, driving fine pellets of ice across the open driveway, yet the bitter cold could not check the frenzied momentum of the starving crowd.
They approached the ornamental entrance where two massive stone pillars, constructed from cut granite blocks and capped with lead cornices, framed the primary approach.
Between those pillars hung the decorative wrought iron gates, soaring twelve feet into the gloom, their black vertical pickets tipped with ornamental spear points that had guarded the estate since its origina
