By the time they neared the outer perimeter of Veyrhold, the sky had begun to lighten only slightly, turning the dark above the treetops into a deeper gray rather than true dawn. The forest thinned in broken patches. Old road stones appeared beneath roots, drainage channels lined the ground, and fragments of ruined walls emerged from the mist like the bones of some buried settlement.
The air felt heavier here, pressed down by the presence of Veyrhold's outer defenses. Through the trees ahead, the great wall rose in damaged sections, taller than Asher expected and dark against the mist collecting at its base.
He slowed.
The others did too.
Then he saw movement along the top of the wall.
