"He said he wouldn't wait," the guard repeated. "What's your answer?"
Rennick's eyes cut to Gad. "You know why he's here."
"I have an idea," Gad said, already moving toward the door. "He wasn't supposed to approach at all. He said he'd wait at the ridge."
"Then something's changed," Doran said, following close behind. "Vesk doesn't make moves without reason."
They climbed toward the outer wall quickly, Rennick calling for defenders to hold position but not engage.
Word spread fast through the exhausted ranks that the siege commander himself had walked toward the wall under a flag of parley.
By the time they reached the ramparts, a small crowd of defenders had gathered, watching the scene below with a mixture of hope and suspicion.
Vesk stood alone at the base of the wall, unarmed,
