Dunmere was smaller than Sage had expected.
After spending weeks inside the Royal Capital, where a single district could swallow several ordinary towns, arriving at a settlement of several hundred stone-and-timber buildings felt almost strange.
Dunmere sat between broad stretches of farmland and rolling pasture, with the dark green mass of Greyfen March rising several miles beyond its northern fields. A low wooden wall surrounded most of the settlement, while watch platforms had been erected along the northern side.
Those platforms looked considerably newer than the wall itself, and the armed villagers standing on them were watching the distant forest instead of the road.
Rowan noticed that before anyone else.
He slowed his horse as they approached the gate, studying the watch platforms, the freshly sharpened stakes driven into the earth and the livestock crowded unusually close to the settlement.
