They breached the northern wall at four seventeen in the morning.
Not through the gate — they came over the wall itself, which told us something about their physical capability and confirmed what Nessa had said about the intermediaries being in a different category from the scouts. Standard wolves, even powerful ones, didn't go over a twelve-foot stone wall without tools or effort. These three went over it the way water goes over a stone — with a smoothness that suggested the obstacle had simply not registered as one.
Maren had positioned herself with me in the central courtyard. Not fighting — she had told me flatly that she was seventy-three years old and her value in a physical confrontation was limited, but her value in monitoring what I was doing with my gift and keeping me calibrat
