Hour thirty-four.
Isole said "two minutes" at the end of wave eight's cleanup and then didn't move from her position near the vault stairs. She stood with her staff in both hands and her eyes closed, which was her normal posture for the early warning intervals. Then she said, without opening her eyes: "There are people in the tree line. Not constructs. People."
Vane was at the east window. He turned.
"How many."
"Many. More than one group. They are waiting." She paused. "They have been there for approximately twenty minutes."
Wave nine was twelve minutes out.
He took the north battlement and looked at the tree line.
The afternoon light was flat and even, no shadows to read at this hour. The tree line was dense enough that he wouldn't see them unless they moved, and they were clearly not moving. Which meant they knew the sensor range of the stronghold and were staying outside it deliberately. Which meant at least one of the groups out there had someone worth listening to.
