Clyde and Asqa exchanged a faint smile as the portal closed.
"That went better than I expected," she murmured.
"They're already tired of living in this graveyard," Clyde answered. "A door out is easier to accept than all of this even though they have no idead where it lead."
They spent the next hour combing the ruined ward-halls, coaxing scattered stragglers from cracked corridors, flooded courtyards, and rusted watch-posts.
Most were young and lost. With a few words that they will have food, shelter, and training and that were enough to nudge them toward the shimmering gate to Sivagadh Fortress.
But the final courtyard told a different story than before.
A jade-blue statue of Susanoo—one of the few still intact—rose in the center of a yard choked with withered trees.
