Bodies lay scattered across the street and against the walls. Blood darkened the frozen ground, footprints cutting through it in overlapping paths.
The fighting had stopped.
Tess wiped her blade clean against a fallen cloak and scanned the rooftops one last time before she sheathed it. Her breathing was steady, but her shoulders stayed tight, waiting for something else to move.
Gilbert leaned on his spear for a moment longer than necessary, jaw clenched as he rolled one shoulder and tested the stiffness in his arm. "That's the last of them," he said.
Adan stood near the gate, eyes unfocused, listening past the quiet. "Here."
Torchlight began approaching from the streets.
The rhythmic marching of boots followed.
A small column of town soldiers rounded the corner in uneven formation, shields up, spears lowered, faces pale as they took in the scene before them. They slowed instinctively, steps faltering as they counted bodies that shouldn't have been there.
