"Now, Miranor," Gallus said, trying to defuse the werevulture's fervour, "That's noble of you, but let's not volunteer to dance with danger unless we know we have to. Our planning is not over yet."

Gallus returned his attention to the map. "If we want to try and bring the ladders closer for support, I'm not sure that it will be a matter of them noticing. We could not guarantee that either way. No, I would rather it be a matter of forcing them to split their forces into unequal portions so that either the gate assault or the ladder assault has an easier time taking the walls. It seems to me that keeping the ladders away from the gatehouse -- at least obscured by the keep from the gatehouse -- would sow the most discord amongst their command. As well, the fewer archers focussing on the gatehouse will be positioned to fire upon a ladder assault." Gallus pointed to the point at the walls where the ladders might be raised, "Of course, we can reduce the distance appropriately as you say."

[hr]
Fendros continued to listen with interest. He had gone from being uncomfortable with Irenya's presence to fully curious about her story at this point. Perhaps it was a connection with his Dunmer heritage or perhaps it was him no longer worrying about ulterior motives from Irenya.

He was cautious when asking his next question, given that the loss of Irenya's father must have been sore. "And your mother? What became of her?" Fendros asked.