---
Another guard screamed as a kobol knife hit his shoulder.
Shhk!
He staggered, trying to keep his blade up.
Sekhmet's mind snapped to a decision.
They could not stay here.
They could not win a war of numbers in a confined hollow.
They needed to break out.
They needed to run.
The guard captain's eyes met Sekhmet's briefly, both of them understanding the same truth in the same heartbeat.
He shouted, "Split! Evacuation!"
The formation shifted.
Three guards stepped outward, taking the front line with brutal determination, faces set like stone.
"Go!" one shouted toward Lily's shield.
Two guards tightened around Lily, grabbing her arms gently but firmly, pulling her backward.
Lily resisted instinctively.
"No," she snapped. "My men—"
The guard captain roared, "Lady Lily, move!"
Lily's face twisted with pain, but she obeyed, because she was trained, because she understood that dying here helped no one.
