He found them half a mile from the enemy citadel's outer perimeter.
The group was larger than he'd expected. Not just the council members, but a proper force, spread across the ruins of a wide intersection in organised clusters that told you Ivy had been working on the formation rather than just the numbers.
He counted as he walked toward them.
Ivy stood at the front with the composed authority of someone who had been managing this group since before sunrise and intended to keep managing it until the job was done. Eve was beside her, revolver holstered, watching Damon's approach with the quiet assessment she applied to everything. Ning Xiaoyu stood slightly apart, sword across her back, already scanning the surrounding streets out of habit.
Nyla saw him first and broke into a grin that suggested she'd been waiting for his arrival.
Theodore stood at the head of his own cluster, with his arms crossed and a grin he always wore right before the battle.
