Veer smirked, shaking his head. "Terrifying," he muttered fondly, before leaping up the wall after her, with Cutie scaling the rock face right beside them using his massive claws like ice picks.
The climb was grueling, but they moved with brutal efficiency. By the time they hauled themselves over the jagged lip of the canyon's rear wall, the sky was just beginning to turn a faint, bruised purple in the east.
They dropped silently into the shadows of the upper parapets.
Kaya immediately held up a hand, signaling them to stop. Ten yards away, guarding the rear entrance to the inner sanctum, were two massive Snake Tribe sentries. They were heavily armored, gripping long venom-tipped spears.
But Kaya's tactical assumption had been entirely correct.
