The first shout went up behind them, sharp and guttural — the sound of discovery.
Eliakim didn't waste breath. "Move!"
They hit the cliff face hard, fingers finding jagged holds slick with moss. Torchlight slashed the darkness below, weaving between shadows as the patrols surged toward the tunnel mouth they'd just left.
Skyling fluttered beside Eliakim, her wings straining uselessly under the null-binders. She clawed at the rock, but the cuffs dragged at her like lead.
She was slipping.
"Hold still!" Eliakim hissed.
From his wrist, the Collar of Veyrun_Chain in thumb uncoiled with a hiss of metal. It lashed out, wrapping snug around Skyling's body, locking her close against his side like a coiled serpent. With one arm now burdened, he pulled himself upward with raw, calculated strength.
Below, a torch flared brighter. Ezra's low-burn distraction had worked for a moment, but now the guards were splitting, half rushing toward the cliff base.
Gideon was already halfway up, hauling himself with the ease of a man who'd climbed siege ladders under fire. Caleb was a few paces behind Eliakim, bow slung tight, teeth bared as rocks shifted under his boots.
"Faster!" Gideon barked.
"I'm carrying two!" Eliakim shot back, jaw tight.
Skyling chirped softly, her head pressed into his chest. It wasn't fear — it was trust.
Arrows began to thud into the cliff, shards of stone splintering past Eliakim's ear. One shaft skimmed his cheek, leaving a hot line of blood. He ignored it, muscles burning as he hooked a knee over the next ledge and dragged Skyling higher.
"Top's close!" Caleb called, but his voice was drowned by the echo of a horn — deep, resonant, and far too close.
The patrol above had heard.
Eliakim's mind split in two — one part climbing, the other already running the angles. If they crested into an ambush, they were finished.
He looked down once, just enough to catch the torchlight flooding the ravine, then back up to see a shadow shift along the cliff's rim.
A tall, still silhouette. Watching.
Vaeryn.
And the captain didn't move to stop them. Not yet.