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He reached the bottom of the Entry Tower and blitzed up the stairs, glad to see that every floor was already empty of people. It took a while to reach the top, and he probably could have been moving faster with creative use of materialization, but he wanted to be able to sense everything ahead of him beforehand.

Once he reached the big double doors that led out onto the surface, he stopped. They were still closed, but he didn't need to open them. They weren't airtight, so the Scarf could sense what was on other side just fine.

The area immediately around the entrance seemed to be clear. He concentrated, trying to sense as far away as possible.

Still nothing.

Hmm.

He decided to text Pauline again.

how close r they?

Her response was fast, as usual.

About a hundred meters or so.

Oh. That was pretty far. And with the decoy iron castle up there, he could probably exit the Entry Tower just fine without being detected.

He opened the doors and stepped out, pouring all of his focus into the Scarf. The wind wasn't all that strong, but it helped a little. He could sense the full shape of the decoy castle, small as it was. No one was that close by yet.

'They're east of your position,' came Pauline's telepathic voice.

Ah. She no longer felt the need to text, huh? Hector searched for her with the Scarf and soon found her. She was indeed in her roost, just as she'd said.

That was helpful. She might actually prove invaluable in this situation, Hector thought. Hell, she kinda already had.

He moved east as she said.

When he neared the edge of decoy castle, he began to sense it. A small crowd in the distance, just standing there.

No, wait. Some of them were inching closer.