The outer ring didn't lead into halls, but narrow corridors. Pale stone, tight turns, rank marks veining through the walls - every few paces, the corridor let off into sealed doors and side passages leading to staff rooms, storage alcoves and smaller offices that still held people who didn't anticipate a breach in the middle of the watch cycle. Warning lights bled ahead of the group, marking the progress of the lockdown.
Rhel kept them to a service line that should have been comparatively quiet. Which it was, for three heartbeats.
"Two forces," Istra muttered. "Wardens pushing from the back, different marks on the other side."
Lucian could feel the difference in the neutral ring pressure, as well - ordered and simmering from behind, sharp and personal up ahead. Veynar's people had either been close enough to hear the gate alarm, or they'd bought their way in when it went off.
Sera walked with her shoulder to the wall, hand on her binding. "So we're being boxed in."
