Page 3151 -- CCLXIX.

Chapter Two Hundred Sixty-Nine: 'O, defending lord...'
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Hector's brown eyes stuck on the message as he took a moment to process what he'd just read.

And then his body was moving. Without even thinking, he was already going somewhere. Where? Strange he had to ask himself that.

The Entry Tower, he realized. The tower that bottle-necked up to the surface.

He needed to warn everyone, though.

'Garovel,' he thought urgently, 'Abolish is already here.'

'What?!'

'I don't know who or how many, but they're here. Make sure everyone is in the Tower of Night.'

'Alright, but--'

Garovel had more questions, of course, none of which Hector had the answers for. He didn't want to just ignore the reaper, though, so he split his focus between that conversation and texting Pauline back.

How many? r u safe?

He waited impatiently for her response as he sprinted across the main courtyard, splitting his focus another time in order to catch whatever the Scarf of Amordiin could tell him about the space directly ahead of him. Empty so far.

He armored up, too. Full plate. Familiar and comfortable.

Her reply arrived.

27. Not including reapers. And yeah, I'm fine. I just got here, but they can't sense me. I'm in my roost. These guys aren't supposed to be here, I take it?

Twenty-fucking-seven? When had they arrived? If they'd been casing the place for a while, then Hector would have sensed them when he was up there earlier.

And if they were using Invisibility, then they must have been trying to be careful.

Goddammit. They were really already here in Atreya? Fuck. Agh. This was no time for incredulity. He had to focus on the problem in front of him. Explanations could come later.

prolly abolish. b careful

He didn't know how she managed to have such immaculate grammar when texting, but he wasn't about to try and match her when he had so much other shit to worry about.