"No," Adel repeated. "It's too long. And the city…"
She turned around. I followed her gaze: fires were slowly, inexorably creeping through the streets. The flames were taking block after block.
"Roger, Rhine, take her to Solemir. Narem will cover you. Blake and I will deal with the city. They won't reach the Tower anyway," she spoke quickly, harshly. "That would waste time."
I saw his eyes darken. Anger mixed with sorrow, weighing down into something heavy. Blake did not step away from me for a single moment. I waited for his decision, catching every movement.
"Solemir has only just recovered," Roger intervened. "Do you think he can handle it?"
"With Nimor — yes. Right now Solemir is our most reliable option. You know it yourself: liquid poison is the most difficult. I'm not sure Nimor can cleanse her alone."
Adel stood straight, not averting her gaze. Her eyes betrayed her: they filled with tears she did not allow herself to shed.
"Adel," Blake finally interjected.
"I need a lot of clouds. A great many." she cut him off immediately.
Blake finally stepped away from me, went to the edge of the wall, extended his hand, and closed his eyes. The veins on his arm, face, neck strained. The silver light flared brighter than usual in his palm and in his chest. His face changed, distorted by effort, as if he were lifting something. Was it really hard for him? I was seeing this for the first time.
I was watching him and did not notice how the clouds around the city began to thicken. They slowly converged until they covered the entire sky — above the city and far beyond it.
"This…" I did not understand what was happening. I did not believe my eyes.
Everything changed in a single instant.
"He drove all the clouds in the area together with the winds," Rhine helped me understand, holding me by the waist. "That's why the weather changed. The temperature too."
"But why?" burst out of me. It was truly a great force of magic.
I could not even imagine what Blake was truly capable of. He had simply pulled all the clouds together. It was power beyond anything human.
"Keep watching," said Narem, standing nearby with his arms crossed. Anticipation rang in his voice.
I lifted my gaze. The entire sky was covered, and I widened my eyes when I saw the first lightning strike, then the second. Rain poured down in a solid sheet.
I lowered my eyes and saw Adel. She stood motionless, and silvery light emanated from her chest.
"Divine symbiosis. Wind, water, and pressure," Narem clarified.
"But it's almost winter now…" slipped out of me in astonishment.
And suddenly I felt heat rise to my thigh. I clearly sensed the poison spreading through my body. Cold rain fell over us, cooling that heat.
"We need to move," Adel said.
She turned and, passing by me, headed for the door. I noticed: restrained tears had still remained on her face. But she held herself together. Controlled herself. It became clear why she was his right hand.
Blake turned and looked at me once more.
"You should move out. The poison is spreading quickly. How much time will you need?" he shifted his gaze to Roger.
"About five hours. If we aren't delayed."
Blake touched my cheek. He seemed completely unbothered by the fact that Rhine was holding me. As if Rhine simply did not exist.
"Protect her at the cost of your lives," he ordered and stepped back.
He held my gaze until the very last moment, and then leapt from the wall and headed toward where the city was already collapsing.
"All right. Bian, listen carefully," Roger pulled me away from the sight of Blake retreating. "We'll move in my shadows. It's faster. And through Rhine."
I looked at Rhine questioningly.
"I'm a mage of space and fire," he clarified, catching my look.
"But there is one peculiarity. In my shadows you can stay no longer than twenty breaths," Roger was utterly serious. "No matter what happens. The main thing is to count your breathing. I'll control you, but we don't know what might be waiting for us on the way. If there's an attack, I'll leave you in the shadows."
"And what should I do when the twenty breaths run out?" I asked.
"On the eighteenth, scream. In the shadows you'll feel weightlessness, like in water, but without liquid. I'll hear you and pull you out. But remember: scream."
"All right… sounds not too difficult," I exhaled.
But inside everything was tightening with fear.
"As soon as he pulls you out of the shadows, I'll catch you and teleport," Rhine continued. "The distance will be shorter than through shadows, but still faster than on foot or even on horseback. You may feel nauseous, so just say 'stop,' and we'll take a break."
I looked at them in surprise. They truly looked like a coordinated team. I couldn't help admiring it.
"I'll cover your transfer points," Narem added.
He was surprisingly cheerful, as if something exciting, almost amusing, lay ahead.
But something told me: they had been in far worse situations.
"Ready?" Roger asked, stepping closer and taking me from Rhine's arms.
"I think so," I answered confidently.
I did not have time to say anything. In the next moment I felt myself falling somewhere downward, into darkness. In front of me, high above, hung something like a mirror, reflecting the world in which I had just been standing.
"Don't forget to breathe," I heard Roger's voice, but I did not see him.
I looked around.
"Count," he repeated.
"Three… four… five… six…" I said as loudly as I could.
It felt like an endless, slow fall into an abyss.
"Eighteen," I said.
In the next moment it was as if someone grabbed my wrist and sharply pulled me upward. In front of me again appeared something like a rift, a slit into the real world.
I did not see a hand, nor Roger himself, but I clearly felt his grip.
A jerk — and it was as if I was thrown outward. I greedily inhaled air and found myself between two houses. It was already dark in the street. Strong arms of Rhine immediately caught me, not letting me touch the ground.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
I was stunned, but overall everything truly was fine. While I was in the shadows, I did not even feel the agony in my leg. But as soon as I returned, the pain immediately reminded me of itself.
"Ready?" he warned.
I nodded lightly.
The world swam. An instant — and we were already on another street, behind trading stalls.
My stomach clenched, my vision spun. I instinctively began to push him away. Rhine carefully set me on the ground but did not let go. I turned away, unable to hold back the nausea rising to my throat.
Roger appeared. He slightly bent me forward, supporting me like a sick person.
"Meat's coming," I heard Narem's voice behind me. "No one ever withstands it the first time."
His remark angered me. I even tried to hold back, but the nausea washed over me, and I retched onto the gray stone.
Roger held out a black handkerchief. I took it, realizing my whole mouth was smeared with saliva.
They waited patiently while my body expelled everything we had snacked on at the tavern. Only Narem kept glancing around.
"I feel their presence, but I can't observe visually," he commented.
"The main thing is that they don't feel us," Rhine corrected.
Their interaction, even their appearance, seemed brotherly.
"Bian, it's undesirable for us to linger in one place," Roger patted my back.
My leg began to burn with infernal fire, and against this pain the nausea seemed a trifle. I caught myself wanting to be back in the shadows again, just to cool my leg a little.
"Yes…" I drawled weakly. "I'm ready for the shadow."
I again did not have time to come to my senses before I found myself in darkness. Roger kept reminding me to count. After the eighteenth he pulled me out again, and Rhine caught me just as confidently.
But at that moment I felt heat.
A burst of flame tore out nearby, piercing a creature not far away. It was strange: it resembled a human, then something inhuman. A mixture of earth and beast, a twisted form in which the human could be guessed only in fragments.
I began to gulp air greedily.
"Who is that?" I asked, trying not to panic.
I clutched at Rhine. His armor turned out to be too smooth and slippery, and I shifted my grip higher, to the collar — closer to him and farther from the creature, which was already moving toward us. Streams of fire with difficulty, but still, restrained it.
I darted my gaze around, trying to understand what was happening, but the pain in my leg prevented me from concentrating.
"A-ah…" I moaned when the pain flared with renewed force.
It pulled upward, toward my groin. I doubled over and almost slipped out of Rhine's arms.
Roger immediately caught me.
"Careful."
He took me from Rhine, and Rhine was finally able to put his full strength into the strike, finishing the creature with fire.
"What is happening?" I nervously looked around.
Narem appeared in front of us. He moved too fast — inhumanly, almost imperceptible to the eye.
"Monsters have already leaked into this part of the city," Narem reported.
He moved quickly and precisely, but there was no fuss in it; everything looked easy, almost mesmerizing.
"No surprise. But why haven't we seen a single dark mage yet?" Rhine looked around.
He disappeared and almost immediately appeared again.
"Some of the monsters are moving toward the center and the Tower of the Keepers. But I still haven't noticed a single mage," from his tone it was clear: this was a bad sign.
I did not ask. Even speaking already seemed painful.
"If you're ready, you'll go with me again," Roger asked gently, examining my wound.
"Yes… it's better in the shadows," I nodded.
And immediately fell into the shadow.
We made several jumps without stopping. After each teleport with Rhine I asked not to linger; I wanted to return to Roger's shadows as quickly as possible. There the pain dulled.
But on the third jump, when Roger pulled me out of the shadow, he himself lifted me into his arms.
I saw Rhine and Narem fighting dark mages, astonishingly similar to Roger.
"They've already gotten this far?" I whispered in horror.
"It was inevitable," Roger answered bitterly.
I noticed two daggers in Narem's hands. He moved with them predatorily and precisely, cutting down the enemy without doubt or regret — rough, direct, with such speed that my eyes could not keep up.
And only when he stopped for a moment did I realize the blades were unusual.
"Water?.." Goosebumps ran over my skin. I remembered Adel's water sword.
"He's a mage of water and speed. Adel's student," Roger prompted.
Rhine was no less merciless. He pinned the second dark mage with fire, then stepped to him through a teleport, drew already physical daggers from behind his back, and without hesitation severed his head.
Without wiping the blood from the daggers, he easily slid them back behind his back.
"I think we ran into them by accident," Narem looked around. "They aren't searching for us deliberately."
"How far is it to the inner walls?" I asked.
"More than half the way. Even if we speed up. You can't go only through my shadow."
Rhine approached, lifted me in his arms, and immediately made a jump. We ended up in a small house. The nausea surged again; my stomach responded with sharp pain.
Rhine seated me on a chair and brought a wooden basin.
"I jumped very far. It's normal if you throw up again. Don't hold it back."
He noticed that last time I had tried to endure it.
"The thing is, I don't really have anything left," I admitted. "My stomach is just burning."
I pressed my hand to my stomach. Overall it was still bearable.
"And where are Roger and Narem?" I looked around.
"Most likely, they noticed more mages." Rhine unhurriedly went into the next room and returned with a jug of water. "Drink. Of course, it would be better to eat, but on the next jump you'll return everything anyway."
"Can you ever get used to this?" I asked.
"I was born with it. Though during training I often felt sick when trying new distances." He sat down and examined the wound, then bandaged it with some kind of cloth. "Luckily for us, either the poison got in small amounts, or it's weak."
I drank the water in small sips, afraid I would retch again.
Rhine disappeared for a moment and immediately returned.
"We need to make another jump urgently," he said, lifting me in his arms. "Ready?"
I nodded, and we ended up in a narrow alley between houses.
The nausea crept closer. I began to push him away, but he paid no attention.
"No, one more."
An instant — and we were already on a road I recognized. We had ridden here on horseback.
He finally let me go, holding me with one hand. I turned away, expecting another bout, but nothing happened. My body reacted more calmly than I expected.
"They're approaching," Roger's voice sounded nearby. "Ready?"
"Yes," I answered hoarsely.
And immediately fell into the shadow.
We jumped again and again, and my body stopped understanding reality and space. I felt only a strong burning spreading through my whole body, rising to my chest.
In one of the alleys we took a short breather.
"They've sent a large flow of dark mages," Narem reported.
I threw my head back, greedily gulping air, trying to cool myself at least a little. It helped for a moment — and then the agony rolled in again.
And then I saw black shadows sliding over the rooftops. One after another.
"They're here," I whispered.
Rhine and Narem peeked into the street.
"They're not paying attention to us," Narem said in surprise.
"They're just moving somewhere, ignoring the entire city," Rhine confirmed.
"In which direction?" I barely forced out.
"In the same as us," Roger answered.
"But why, if they need Bian, aren't they stopping near us?" Rhine's words sounded louder than thunder.
I froze. Horror I never wanted to remember crashed into my mind.
Kay.
Lian.
Lily.
"I saw a dark shadow in the kitchen," I said aloud, like a sentence.
Rhine and Narem looked at me, waiting for more.
"I know where they're rushing…"
My throat tightened, refusing to accept it.
"Bian…" Roger lifted me in his arms.
"They're going to the academy. For the children."