But… what followed was not the brutal, earth-shattering battle the Veynar had fully prepared for.
Sol stood calmly in the open gateway, the massive ironwood doors still swinging wide behind him. The Dreadwing Blade rested loosely in one hand, its sapphire edge dark with the blood of the captains. He did not advance or retreat. Instead he calmly stood there without any fear.
From the switchback below, the Veynar vanguard was already surging upward in a roaring tide of shields and spears, fully committed to the charge.
From the open stone flats ahead, the remaining Gray Marauders were doing the same.
Hundreds of massive, ten-foot-tall giants had recovered from the first shock of the captains' deaths and were now thundering toward the gate with stone clubs, bone javelins, and axes raised.
