My Infinite System.

Lucian kept them moving until he judged the ridges clear of the camp.

No one questioned it as they fell into step, kept close and silent, the ebb from the containment fields still making some of them unsteady on their feet. Mira leaned against her staff, Finn close behind her, Dorian’s posture tense and angry, his strides too long. Lucy had Althea at the center of their formation, and Reia hovered near Silas’s injured arm, making occasional adjustments to the bandage. Marc came up on one side, still scanning the area behind them. Lucian took the opposite side.

They stopped when the terrain allowed for a shallow ravine to mask their approach. Lucian gave the signal, and they slowed to a stop, drinking heavily.

”Drink,” he said, keeping his voice low. ”Check what needs checking. We don’t stop here.”

They obeyed, the words giving them all the encouragement they needed.

Silas sat on a rock at the edge of their cover, allowing Reia to retie his dressing. She didn’t ask him how the injury felt, her mouth set in a thin line as she worked.

”You should’ve withdrawn before that gate opened,” she muttered.

”I didn’t have time to withdraw,” Silas replied. ”You were in a cage.”

Reia worked his bandage tighter than necessary. ”You should’ve pulled back anyway.”

Several paces away, Lucy had settled on the ground with Althea and Vyn. Althea watched proceedings with her usual quiet intensity, while Vyn rubbed at her wrists. Lucy was murmuring reassurances to them, giving them a chance to hear her voice, steady and normal.

Evelyn remained at Lucian’s side. She said little to anyone since the camp, and when he glanced at her, she gave him a confirming nod, as if making sure he was upright and whole.

Finn was the first to speak. ”They took us clean. One moment we were in the keep, and the next the air had thickened around us, and we were gone. It wasn’t a battle. We didn’t fight them.”

Mira rested her palms on her staff. ”The field suppressed everything cleanly. The spirit threads, the movements, even the noise. It was professional.”

Dorian exhaled sharply. ”I hate that word.”

Marc was crouched near the edge of their cover, peering at the distant ridgelines. ”It was the same as the keep’s defenses. Similar patterns, if the structures were anything to go by. They waited until the primary defenses had been withdrawn before entering.”

Lucian took stock of the people around him, ensuring that all those who had been inside the camp were accounted for. They were bruised and tired but otherwise whole.

”That was their point,” he said at last. ”Not to kill you. To move the board.”

Reia looked up at him. ”The Warden?”

”Her people,” he corrected her. ”If the Warden had been present at the keep, its defenses would’ve been considerably more challenging. As it was, they were designed to slow me down, not stop me entirely. This was a secondary operation meant to divert attention and test the outer defenses’ response time.”

Silas flexed his fingers. ”Did we pass the test?”

”We took them back,” Lucian said. ”That is the only result that matters right now.”

Evelyn was the next to speak. ”They wanted you out of the keep, away from us. They took their time, but it worked for long enough to extract everyone cleanly.”

”Yes,” Lucian said.

”And now?”

He turned his gaze to the keep, then away. ”We cannot return directly if there is even a chance the enemy knew our route. We fall back to another location, hold there until we can determine an alternative plan of action regarding the keep. It might be abandoned entirely if we cannot secure it.”

Marc gave a slow nod. ”I can find us somewhere stable enough to hold for now. It won’t be far.”

Lucy smoothed Althea’s hair away from her face. ”We aren’t splitting up again.”

”No,” Lucian said. ”We’re not.”

That settled it for now, as much as anything would be settled in the immediate future. They spent more time in quiet before breaking up their camp. Water traveled from one person to the next, Mira giving quiet reassurances to those who had taken particular strain during the extraction. Reia finished with Silas and sat on her haunches for a while before allowing herself to relax. Finn and Dorian traded quiet words about the events at the keep. Vyn listened more than she said.

Evelyn came closer to Lucian while the others were distracted.

”You took the center route,” she observed in a quiet voice.

”It was the shortest one,” he replied.

”I know.” She looked him over briefly. ”You’re tired.”

”I’m functional.”

There was a flicker of amusement in her expression before it vanished. ”We’ll need more than function soon enough.”

”I’m aware,” He glanced away. ”We’ve been through too many battles where function wasn’t enough.”

Marc stood when he finished his turn at the ridge. ”The path is clear for now, but if we’re going to fall back, it should be soon. People won’t start sweeping the back trails for long, and if anything spares us the trouble, we won’t have a second opportunity.”

Lucian gave a slow nod. ”Up. We move while we have the chance.”

They gathered themselves together with little complaint, injuries attended to as best as possible, the formation falling back into place with quiet efficiency. Lucian took the front with little argument, Marc coming up on one side, and Silas on the other despite his injury. The others fell into place behind them, keeping to the formation as if being taken again was an experience they weren’t eager to repeat.

They left the shelter of the ravine and emerged into the wider world.

For a while, the only sounds were the swish of boots against stone and the sigh of the wind over the ridges. The immediate danger had passed, but it left echoes in the form of the larger confrontation to come. The keep stood empty somewhere behind them, its defenses dismantled by the enemy, which said more about the Warden’s abilities than those of her subordinates. The Outer Gods still pressed at the edges of everything, waiting for an opening to take root.

Lucian kept his senses sharp as they traveled. Near the edges of awareness, something unfurled and shifted. Something distant, but not far enough, not quite gone. He didn’t speak of it as they traveled, and they would discuss it later when they had found stable ground and there was a reason to stop.

For now, they simply walked, as one battered group of people who had survived something and would survive the rest.