[h2]Tyaethe Radistirin[/h2]

For her part, the vampire just glanced at the corpses--the smell of old blood was strong enough, annoyingly, that it was clear the violence had started yesterday. And yesterday, a mortally wounded man had come racing from this fortress to the capital to report that something was wrong. Obviously, whatever was going wrong had [i]finished[/i] by the time they got here, unless the previous mercenary group had spent all night and most of the day slowly killing the soldiers stationed here. Though with the chaos here? That seemed unlikely.

As for other indications Alette couldn't have done it... well, they weren't necessary, but the gate was probably the biggest one. If she had been the one behind this distress signal, how would a slowly dying man have taken a horse and fled down the straight path towards the capital without being caught or pursued? Her group would have been waiting outside ready to grab anyone who tried to get past. Besides, if they outright broke in--whether by a mage or a half-giant or even a full giant--then it would have been obvious to the defenders and far more of bodies would be here, not to mention--again--the unlikely scenario of taking over a day to do it and then still being at the gate to meet them.

Not important, now, aside from what else it told them. This gate, and the road beyond it, went straight to the capital. You would have to be [i]extremely[/i] unwise to traipse an armed band around the countryside here, let alone come past a supposedly-active fort where you could be detected. Since Alette had broken in from this side rather than further out, which would be more reasonable...

"You came from Aimlenn. Who sent you?" Because whoever was behind [i]her[/i] presence must have known about this before the messenger came in.