Leonard turned and began issuing orders. Tents. Rotations. Fires small and low. The guards moved with a practiced rhythm. Red Band and Sand Hunters set quiet snares, not for meat but for warning. They had done this before.
Kael pulled Seris aside. "We go now."
She nodded. "Here or somewhere quiet?"
"Quiet," he said.
They walked beyond the ring of campfires until the trees swallowed everyone. The smell of sap and wet bark filled the air. Kael held out his hand, and the ring on his finger pulsed once, soft blue. The portal line opened like a slit of clear water in the air and widened.
Seris didn't flinch. She never did. Together they stepped through.
Basement darkness wrapped around them at once. The cool, clean smell of sawdust and new varnish replaced forest damp. Kael closed the portal and exhaled.
He climbed the basement steps and opened the door to the hall. Afternoon light angled across the floorboards.
They went back down.
