Master Neris released an invisible force like a shockwave while Saint Vorn unleashed a devastating tide.
The combination of powers extinguished the fire and sent an eruption of mud and debris into the air.
Noble did her best to avoid the soil-filled rain, navigating the people who were now with her through the torrent as well. However, the mud still covered her face and armor, stinging her skin where it managed to reach.
Ignoring the pain, Noble continued to move her human passengers away from the hectic scene.
While some of the group were powerful Awakened, many were mundane and did not require much of her essence to transport them. Noble couldn't move them indefinitely, but as long as they didn't actively fight against her control, she could maintain their flight for a considerable amount of time.
Noble's communicator buzzed, and an emergency message blared from it, reverberating from inside her armor.
"Dangerous activity detected in your area. Evacuate immediately!"
"You think?!" Noble had never felt quite so close to throwing her communicator as she did at that moment.
The government had never been so slow to react to a crisis in the NQSC, but then again, nothing like this had happened before as far as Noble knew.
She was all too happy to heed the call with her guests. Only, where would they go?
"What is going on?" Aether could hold his curiosity no longer. "Master Noble, why did Neris call you out before attacking?"
Noble spared him a glance while she searched for a safe place to land. The smoke continued to fill the air from multiple locations, limiting visibility of the city.
"That wasn't Neris. That was Mordret, former Prince of Valor, and current ally of Clan Song. Vorn and his son are also Mordret. It seems he can possess multiple bodies at once. Who knows how many others he has replaced in your Clan to cause all this trouble."
"Even Vorn..." Rather than argue, Aether quietly balled his fists. "Thirteen...that makes thirteen Saints, Naeve."
The man with hair that shimmered like water shook his head. "I knew something was off, but I didn't want to believe it. How could we have missed it?"
"Don't blame yourself." Noble could feel the man's emotions shifting to self-doubt. "Mordret is good at hiding even in plain sight. He didn't want you to find him, and so you didn't."
"But you can sense him?" Saint Aether raised an eyebrow at her.
"I can sense his emotions. They are rather distinctive. He can use their appearance, but he can't change who he is underneath." Noble sometimes thought her Ability to feel emotions was a bit of a curse, but it certainly had advantages too.
"Is everyone else with us..." Naeve paused. "Themselves?"
Noble allowed a small smile. "I wouldn't have brought them with us if they were Mordret."
Both Naeve and Aether were relieved. They didn't want to suspect their own family members and friends, so it was nice to have the confirmation that they hadn't missed the signs.
"Hold your breath!"
Dragging them through a particularly thick patch of smoke, Noble tried to obscure their path across the city. The poor people already had enough coughing from their close encounter with fire not long earlier, but traveling by the sky wasn't exactly a covert way to travel. They were in the more affluent part of the city, so there were few tall buildings and no skyscrapers.
Coming out of the other side of the thickest smoke, Noble couldn't help but ask the obvious question.
"Where am I taking you?"
They couldn't float around all day, and precious time was already being wasted with indecision.
"If Mordret is with Song, then that changes things..." Naeve pondered aloud.
"Mordret?" Dawn came near enough to hear the name. "The disgraced son of Lord Anvil? What does he have to do with this?"
Naeve shook his head. "Everything, my dear."
Dawn paled. "Was that what your uncle wanted to share?"
"Most likely. If it was, then it's no wonder Mordret struck today." Naeve rubbed his forehead. They had been so close to connecting the dots, only for them to realize that they were being monitored all along.
"But where does that leave us? Our main contingency plan was to seek help from Song, but those emissaries never returned." Aether's words caused Noble to avert her eyes so none of them would see how they swirled.
'News of more fallen brethren is not what they need just now…'
"Master Neris knew our safe houses." Neave turned to look at the pyres burning across the city. "I don't think he left any for us to run to."
Noble hated how the group had been cornered. She would have been willing to hide them in the Academy if she didn't think it would put her students in danger. She could still feel Mordret's anger, and he didn't seem like the kind of person who would stop chasing his prey just because there were innocent people involved.
Indeed, this group had children in it, as did the family that Noble helped earlier that morning, and Mordret had no qualms with wiping either of them out in one fell swoop.
'I bet the father of those two who attacked Triteon was one of the other Saints that Mordret replaced.'
It made sense; Triteon had said that the elder was not acting right, hadn't he?
If that were true, then Mordret had manipulated someone else's children into destroying the homes and lives of people they should have been protecting.
The whole idea made Noble sick to her stomach. And he wasn't the only victim…
'Thirteen Saints all taken!'
And now, Noble was trying to help two of the last Saints of their Clan to escape the same fate.
If only she had met Saint Bloodwave and knew his emotional signature, then Noble could see if the elder was in the NQSC. She only hoped he wasn't the fourteenth Transcendent victim of the Prince of Nothing.
That would be devastating. Noble flew faster.
The conversation continued around her as the clan members finally came to a decision.
Neave sighed.
"I know you don't like it, Aether, but we are really only left with one option."
"I understand." The handsome young Saint steeled himself with a nod. "Don't worry about me. I broke the marriage contract, but I will do whatever needs to be done to keep our people safe, even if it means renewing that pledge."
"Aether, you can't!" Dawn clutched her chest. "Surely it won't come to that!"
"They may not take us at all." Naeve stopped his wife from her fitful worrying. "But we won't know unless we try."
The two Saints of the House of Night came to an agreement, and Naeve coughed to gain Noble's attention.
As if she could ignore them when they were so close!
"Master Noble, if you would be so good as to direct us toward Valor's home, we won't trouble you further." Naeve's polite tone reminded her of Aether.
"Uh, that's great, and I would love to, only we have a problem..." Noble banked hard to the far.
Dawn gasped as something shot through the air to their right.
Child of Promise nodded, her face grim.
"He found us…"