They moved without speaking.

Adan knelt by the stream first, rinsing blood from his blade before wiping it dry on his cloak. The others followed, their movements efficient. Ennu washed her knives. Gilbert dunked his hands in the water, scrubbing at the dark stains under his nails.

Mera cleaned her palms last, the water running red between her fingers before the current carried it away.

Tess was already mounted.

The horses shifted beneath them as they climbed up, their breathing still labored from the previous run. No one checked the saddles twice. No one suggested waiting another hour.

Gabriel sat slumped, head resting backwards against Ennu, his weight pressing into her chest. Her arms came around his waist without hesitation, holding him upright as the horse started forward.

He kept his eyes open through sheer will.

The pain helped. It kept him focused, kept the darkness at the edges of his vision from closing in completely. Every breath pulled at his ribs. Every shift of the horse beneath him sent fresh waves of agony through his shoulder.

He didn't let himself pass out.

Mera rode beside them for the first mile, her gaze drifting to Gabriel every few seconds. Her jaw was tight, her posture rigid despite the exhaustion that should have pulled her down.

By the second mile, she'd fallen back.

The distance grew without discussion. She stayed close enough to see him, far enough that she couldn't reach out if he fell.

Gabriel noticed.

He said nothing.

The forest thinned as they pushed east, the trees giving way to open fields that stretched toward the horizon.

They rode through the night.

No stops. No rest. The horses moved at a pace that should have killed them, driven forward by riders too exhausted to care. The moon tracked across the sky, disappearing as dawn broke pale and grey over the flatlands.

The sun climbed. The day stretched. No one spoke about the hunger gnawing at their stomachs, the three days since any of them had eaten anything more than dried scraps. Gabriel's weight grew heavier against Ennu's back as the hours blurred together, his consciousness fading in and out with each mile.

Mera swayed in her saddle but stayed upright through sheer stubbornness.

By the time the towers appeared on the horizon, the sun was already beginning its descent toward evening.

The road appeared gradually.

Dirt at first, packed hard by years of travel. Then stones, laid in patterns that smoothed the path for merchants and pilgrims heading toward the capital.

Traffic increased.

A farmer passed them heading west, his cart loaded with empty crates. He glanced at the group once, took in their bloodied clothes and exhausted horses, and looked away.

Galveston rose in the distance.

The towers came first, stone spears cutting into the grey sky, visible for miles across the flatlands. The central district gleamed even from this distance, its white stone buildings clustered around the cathedral whose bells reached across the kingdom.

They didn't ride toward the centre.

Tess guided them east, following the outer roads that curved away from the main gates. The traffic shifted with them. Fewer merchants. More labourers. Carts loaded with fish and scraps instead of grain and cloth.

The buildings changed.

Stone gave way to rotting wood. Towers became hovels. The streets narrowed, pressed tight between structures that leaned against each other like they'd collapse without the support.

The smell hit them before they saw the slums.

Sewage. Fish left too long in the sun. Human waste running in channels between the buildings, where it mixed with refuse and standing water. The stench was thick enough to taste, overwhelming everything else, burying the scent of blood that had clung to them since Eldenreach.

Gabriel's breathing steadied slightly.

The pain was still there, constant and grinding, but something else shifted. A tension he hadn't noticed until it eased, like a weight lifting from his shoulders that had nothing to do with his injuries.

The crowd made him harder to find.

He didn't understand why, but he felt it. The noise, the movement, the sheer mass of bodies and smells and sounds pressing in from all sides. It made him smaller somehow. Less visible.

Less there.

The streets grew more congested as they pushed deeper into the slums. Beggars lined the walls, their hands out, their eyes empty. Children ran through the filth barefoot, their laughter jarring against the decay around them.

A woman emptied a chamber pot from a second-story window. The contents splashed across the stones, adding to the muck already coating the street.

No one looked at them.

Not the dockhands stumbling toward their shifts. Not the fish-wives hauling their catches in buckets that leaked across the cobbles. Not the sailors passed out in doorways with bottles still clutched in their hands.

Gabriel's head lolled forward, his chin dropping toward his chest before he caught himself. He forced his eyes open, focusing on the movement around them, using it to anchor himself.

Ennu's grip tightened slightly, steadying him without speaking.

The horses slowed as the streets narrowed further, barely wide enough for a single cart. Buildings pressed so close overhead that the sky disappeared, leaving only shadows and the constant drip of something foul from the eaves.

Tess dismounted first.

She led her horse through the crowd on foot, cutting a path toward where the slums met the waterfront. The others followed suit, climbing down with stiff movements.

Gabriel tried to slide from the saddle.

His legs gave out immediately.

Ennu caught him before he hit the ground, her shoulder wedged under his arm as she took his weight. He leaned into her heavily, his breathing shallow.

Mera moved forward instinctively, then stopped.

She stood three paces away, her hands at her sides, watching as Ennu guided Gabriel through the press of bodies toward wherever Tess was leading them.

The distance held.

Adan took Ennu's horse, leading both mounts behind the group as they pushed deeper into the slums. Gilbert limped beside him, one hand still pressed against his ribs.

The crowd swallowed them whole.

Just another group of travellers heading toward the docks. Bloodied, exhausted, broken.

Unremarkable in a place where everyone looked half-dead.

Gabriel's vision blurred at the edges, the buildings around him blending together into indistinct shapes. He forced himself to focus on Ennu's shoulder beneath his arm.

On the slick stones under his feet, on the next step.

The waterfront opened before them suddenly, the buildings falling away to reveal water stretching toward the horizon. Ships lined the docks, some loading cargo, others sitting empty with their sails furled. The harbour stank worse than the streets, the smell of rotting fish mixing with tar and bilge water.

The smell hit him all at once.

His grip on Ennu's shoulder loosened. His legs folded without warning, the strength simply gone.

"Gabriel-"

The word reached him distantly. The docks tilted, sky and water sliding past each other, and then there was nothing.

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