"Nothing," Max replies, his voice losing its teasing tone. "I've pushed our scouts out a bit, but none of them have reported any Cane activity. No more encounters with their females either."

He pauses for a moment, then continues, "I've been rotating men off the wall every two hours. They're all stretched thin and I'm trying to get them as much sleep as possible in case we have to fight again soon. The engineers tell me that they can raise the walls another three feet by nightfall, and I've got a small team back in the city," his chin jerks toward the still smoking ruins, "trying to figure out how much of the gate we can salvage for reuse in our fortifications."

Another long pause, "You should have stayed in bed."