It was midnight when the boys scaled the stone walls of Burmaan. The rags they had wrapped around their ankles and calves to stave off the ocean of grooperd teeth were in tatters, and they discarded them as they heaved their bodies onto the walkway that ran along the top of the wall.

“Follow me,” Enkerai whispered, beckoning to Oré. Enkerai’s tree climbing past meant he was light-footed, and stealth came naturally to him. The much larger Oré, however, found sneaking around a lot harder.

They made their way to the inner side of the wall and crouched low, peeking over the edge. The town was completely void of life, the windows were shuttered, street lights were out, and even the cats were sleeping under the shelter of carts. This is what they had hoped for when they created this plan.

It had not been a hard decision to break into the town. Witnessing the injuries to the queen grooperd had disturbed them, and the breaking apart of grooperd families had bothered the boys on a personal level. They needed to find out exactly what was going on here and this was the only way to get answers.

“What are we looking for?” Oré asked quietly.

“First, that there are no guards around, and second,” Enkerai squinted, “For a building that looks like it may house animals.”

“Like that run down barn?” Oré pointed to a small shack a few buildings away from where they were perched on the wall.

“Like that run-down barn,” Enkerai repeated in agreement.

The boys skipped like grasshoppers across the wooden roofs of the buildings, careful not to make too much sound. They moved swiftly, Oré being sure to let his feet follow directly in the footsteps of Enkerai so as not to slip and fall into the currently unaware hands of the townsfolk. They paused only on one occasion, when Enkerai landed heavily on the edge of a small stone bungalow, his feet sliding on the steeply angled wooden roof until he was brought to a stop by the rusted drainpipe that ran the roof’s perimeter.

The boys froze, wide-eyed, as the lights turned on in the room below.