The first shot struck the lamp beside Hesh’s head.
Glass burst across the passage. Hesh dropped against the wall. Jora pulled him behind the corner while Iven put lattice across the open sight line, the rebuilt lance’s iron shoe planted on the sound inner curb.
A second shot rang through the chamber.
The shell caught the fragments it threw from the corner stone. Not a rifleproof room. One angled defense, between one firing lane and the people behind him.
“Back to the long window,” Iven said.
Sera had already turned. Neri took Elian’s shoulder and moved him away from the exposed line. Kesh followed them, keeping her lamp low. The guards divided between the rear passage and Jora’s position without waiting to be assigned each footstep.
Ahead, a man’s voice shouted from the records chamber.
“Leave the tools and you can go.”
