Liam sprinted after the ragged boy, heart hammering against his ribs as the clamor of armored knights echoed behind them. The capital's crowded streets had dissolved into a maze of shadows, and every breath burned with the fear of capture. 'Not like this,' he thought, glancing at the two girls keeping pace beside him. They'd come too far for it to end in chains.
The boy darted left into a narrow alley without warning, his small frame slipping through like smoke. Liam followed, the girls close behind. The moment they crossed the threshold, something shifted. He risked a glance back—the knights thundered past the alley's mouth, their gazes sliding over the entrance as if it were empty air. 'What the hell? They didn't see us?'
