Exiting the oppressive inner hall, they followed the stone steps and corridors as the path wound slowly upward with the mountain's slope. They passed through another tall archway, solemnly guarded by the Peric Clan's Heavy Armor Guards, and the view suddenly opened up before them.
Beyond the archway lay a meticulously maintained open-air courtyard, set high within the fortress.
Twilight was falling, and the last sliver of crimson still clung to the horizon.
Several tall, stone braziers had already been lit in the courtyard. Oil-soaked pinewood burned within them, their leaping, orange-red flames driving back the deepening night and clearly illuminating the scene.
This place was utterly different from the other parts of the fortress they had just passed through, or even seen from afar.
