Adon glowered at the corpses in the courtyard, nodding severely at Raizel's pronouncement.  Somehow, it hadn't even entered his mind to question who the attackers were.   

"Is there still one more?"

Adon's severe expression wavered; his brow knit anxiously and he quietly muttered, "Let's go see."  If there was--after all those bullets--there were probably no survivors in Yon's flat. He stabbed his finger towards the stairway leading up to the second story of the complex and, taking the steps two at a time until he cleared the flight.  Pressing his back against the wall, he could just barely curve his head around to make out the threshold what presumed was #207.  The door was blown off his hinges, and though Adon could see inside, he could not see a soul.

"Yon?" he called loudly.  "It's Adon.  I'm coming in!"

Glancing back to Raizel, he lifted his wand at the ready and nodded.  Adon moved boldly, decisively, and crossed into the apartment, entering the sitting room.  From somewhere to the right--just out of view--Adon heard a metallic noise as a new clip was loaded into a handgun.  Stopping dead in his tracks, every muscle on fire, he held his hands up, his thumb curling around the wand to keep it in place as he presented both palms.  "Easy..." he whispered.  He did not like this--this unknown gunman flanking him. 

"Don't move," the voice cut in sharply.  Adon could not so much as turn his head to see who it was.  But he had little doubt.  A member of Topuluk would not use a handgun on him.  But neither would Yon. 

"... Where's Yon?"

"Busy."

Adon grit his teeth.  "And we are busy trying to save your asses.  Put it down."

She had acquiesced to let Adon call the shots as soon as the phone call had come in, but that didn't mean that he was calling the right shots.  Raizel scowled as soon as the Auror called out to announce their presence at the door.  Anxiously, she stayed close behind him, trying to keep both a protective eye on Adon and a wary one on the now-still courtyard that was now below them.  This was Jerusalem; with shots getting fired, there was no way that it would stay quiet for very long.

No one had answered Adon's first call, but the sound of the handgun being loaded was unmistakable.  Adon froze, but Raizel didn't; she quickly stepped forward until she was even with the much-taller mage, peering sharply around him.  A young man, probably several years younger than she was and nearly the same height, was standing in what looked to be the sitting room, his gun aimed directly at her friend's head.

This was not the time to stand around and talk, not with another potential enemy out there, not with a weapon pointed at Adon.   Baring her teeth in a snarl, Raizel flicked her wand and Vanished the gun.

The effect was instantaneous. 

"Ma l'azazel?!"  Their would-be captor gaped at her, and then let out a fluid stream of Hebrew that would not have been considered polite commentary on the female gender, not even back in  her Army days. 

"Silencio!" Raizel snarled.  Stepping forward in a fluid movement, she raised her wand and pointed it threateningly toward the younger man's face.

The Muggle understood that gesture, at least.  He froze, his dark eyes locked on hers, looking like he was wrestling with emotions mixed somewhere between malevolence and pure, utter terror.  Raizel glowered back, completely unmoved.  As much as she might identify with Muggles, this one had lost any chance he had of gaining sympathy from her the second he had decided to point a gun at her friend. 

"He said," she informed the Muggle man, in curt, hard Hebrew, "that we are here to help you.  So that was rude."  She held his gaze pointedly for a moment longer, as if trying to bore the message straight into his soul, and then finally risked a glance back at Adon.  "The room is clear," she added crisply, if a bit unnecessarily.

So much for starting off on the right foot.  Hurricane Raizel'd whipped in and had her way. 

"The room is clear," she pronounced.

 "Yes," Adon input irritably, jerking his head to the left, "with a body over there," though Raizel had probably seen it well enough herself.  The fallen mage--lying face-down in his own blood--seemed to have done as Adon had and fallen into the line of the roommate's gun.  After blasting the door open, the mage must have paused long enough for Yon's roommate to riddle him with bullets. 

Only Yon's roommate had not up-and-shot Adon, as he might have--something Raizel could have done well enough to consider before delivering her diatribe.  From what Yon had said, his two roommates had also served in special forces, one even in Sayeret Matkal, though after Adon's time.  A man who had done and seen the things these men had would not give up willingly a sense of control in a violent situation--even to a professed ally, if unknown and dangerous--only minutes after an attack.  This made Adon cast another disapproving glance in Raizel's direction.  "You've a funny way of showing we're here to help, Rai," he quipped before regarding her uncertainly.  Raizel had not been in the special forces.  She'd helped Adon fight off petty bullies at Gaddol.  She'd served in the army, but Adon was not certain what, if any action she'd seen.  And she'd just seen a lot of action.  Moving to her side, he gave her shoulder a light squeeze.  With a raggedly affectionate smile, he leaned in to whisper into her ear: "Thanks."

He turned to also gaze pointedly at Yon's roommate, who backed quickly against the wall as Adon raised his wand.  "Finite incantantem!" he uttered.  The shock-eyed roommate stood there, obviously trying to perceive what had been done to him.  "You can yell at us if you like, now. You just can't shoot us," Adon informed, with lowered eyebrows.  The roommate, experimentally, cleared his throat.

"YON!" Adon barked out, casting his gaze about the flat.  The entry room, and what seemed to be a hallway leading to more rooms to the left.

"Kitchen!" came the young voice he'd been hoping for, and nodding to Raizel that she was to follow, they crossed the small entry room into the hallway.  Five steps deposited them into the small kitchenette, which already seemed over-crowded.  Adon glanced back at Raizel anxiously.  Yon knelt on the small tile floor--seemingly unharmed, but stooping over a very, very pale and rather young man who was looking about, glassy-eyed. Gingerly, Yon palpated the young man's chest--the only response was a weak moan.

Adon swallowed; this was bad.  "Yon--"

"He just came in and--with that weapon; Ori fell back and hit the wall." He snapped as he turned to quickly, accusingly jab a finger at Adon. "I don't even know what the--!" Yon's eyes flickered for a moment over to Adon's female companion, taking in the formal dress and shoes before clearing his throat and turning back to his roommate on the floor.  "It does not matter.  It is very  bad. I think the damage is internal."

Eyes on Ori, Adon surmised it was maybe fatal if treatment was confined to the kitchenette, or even to Hadassah Medical Center.  There was only one thing they could do; they needed a medi-mage immediately.  Which would mean angry Muggles, then obliviated Muggles, and all hell.

Wand pointed upward, Adon shot off a flare which washed the room in red before it travelled upward and into the night sky.  The un-silenced Muggle seemed to have found his voice again--making good on Adon's offer and letting lose a colorful barrage of sharp, accented curses.  Adon sighed, rubbing his face and glancing unhappily at Raizel.  "Yell all you want.  We need to summon medical help," he said with a sigh.

They also would, shortly, he realized, need to deal with the police--who would be responding to the report of bullets, to the Near East Aurors, who would have detected a large magical disturbance, and likely also would need to deal with the increasingly angry and on-edge Muggles as more and more strangers intruded into their home.

What Adon really wanted to do was to get out--to find the Group, to run things by Jonas in England... This last thought brought with it a surge of terror.  "Rai," Adon said, pulling out his phone from his pocket, "I've got to make a few calls. Can you--" he gestured vaguely to the mess in the kitchen.

Raizel had already fixed her gaze on the very young man laying on the cold tile floor.  Ori was young, just a little younger than Benny would have been if he hadn't fall victim to the Group.  He let out a quiet moan as Raizel watched him, his eyes unfocused and his forehead beaded with sweat. 

Adon had taken control of the situation, and for not the very first time, his commanding style was reassuring instead of irritating.  Raizel gave him a small, tight smile as she stepped forward, giving him an acquiescing nod.  Keeping her wand deliberately lowered, she glanced to Yon.

"Can I look?  You, stay," she ordered the Muggle that she'd silenced earlier.  Without waiting for permission, she lowered herself next to Ori.  Her former opponent gave her a murderous look, but Raizel ignored him, taking care with her dress as she knelt on the ground next to the injured young man.

"Goleya," she murmured, twining her fingers around her wand.  The spell was an unnoticeable one to onlookers; at least it would not spook Adon's friends further, although the effects certainly chilled her.  It looked as if there was a poisonous purple fire burning deep in the young man's chest.  The flames fed greedily on his insides, lapping at his flickering consciousness.   

Raizel bit her lip, studying the spell carefully.  Adon was right -- they needed a healer.  This curse was too complicated, and the young man's situation too delicate, for her to reverse it on her own.  But even if she couldn't break it, she could slow and help soothe it.  That would buy them a little time.

"How long ago did he get hurt?" she asked Yon in a clear, even tone.  Using magic around Muggles was always tricky.  These men had just seen one of their own taken down by a spell; they would likely not respond well to more magic being directed at their injured friend.  But like her use of Goleya a few moments before, she could enchant and strengthen runes without casting a spell out loud.  She extended her left index finger, reaching out to Ori's chest as she carefully sketched the rune Izaz down his breastbone.

Adon's friend was watching her movements with clear, alert eyes.  The young man looked shaken, but he still seemed in control -- one of the many benefits of the mandatory Army training that so many Israelis shared. 

"A few minutes," he said, his nervousness showing in the speed of his words.  "Do you know what it is?"

The ice rune would help to freeze the fiery curse that was burning inside; it was a standard defense against any sort of hex or curse.  On either side of it, Raizel added two more quickly drawn runes, this time from the Ogham script: Huatha and Ur, for protection and inner healing. 

"I think so.  I've seen something similar before.  You did the right thing by keeping him still," she told Yon, giving the younger man a reassuring smile as she surreptitiously shifted her grip on her wand.  Silently, almost unnoticeably, she cast the enchantment to activate the runes. "It looks bad, but as long as we get him help, he'll be okay in a few days."

There was a sound behind her -- she glanced up sharply, but it was only Adon returning.  His expression was grim as he slipped his phone back into his pocket.

Raizel gave him a troubled look, the muscles in her jaw tight.  "I think he'll be all right," she said, attempting a reassuring tone as she reached a finger out towards Ori's forehead.  She added a few more runes in gentle succession -- these for a quiet, restful sleep.  "He needs to see a healer, but they will be able to help him, I think."

Ori's eyes were slowly drooped shut, and his breathing had slowed to a more natural pace.  Raizel lifted her chin, looking more steadily back at her friend, her eyes clouded with concern.  "The rest of it worries me, though, Donnie.  Why did they only send one mage in?" she asked quietly.  "If they thought you were here too, they would have sent more.  And the others outside --"  She bit her lip, watching him worriedly.  "Topuluk is ruthless when they plan an ambush.  They couldn't have been expecting us, not by how few there were.  I think they must have come here for your friends."

Adon felt numb.  He was no Seer--so, even while this entire evening felt rather dream-like, it had been so far from what he'd envisioned the end result. Adon had been imagining for over a year what this day would look like. He hadn't guessed he'd be here, on a separate continent, in an apartment full of angry Muggles to deal with.

Thank heavens for Raizel.  Adon nodded to Raizel's reassurances--the only piece of good news he could conceive of at the moment.  He appreciated it, and was about to say so before Raizel continued to analyze the situation--to piece together what it could mean, and coming to the one conclusion that would open up the lid on the Pandora's box they'd just wrestled shut.

Adon cringed as both Muggles in the room seemed to tense, taking in great breaths as they prepared to unloose their thoughts in bellows.

"What the hell! Did you just plan on never telling me about this?" Adon's brows knit, cut at the look of betrayed rage on his friend's face.  Opening his mouth, Adon was about to reply, when--

"What else can they do to us, then?!" the roommate snapped. "What are we supposed to do when you leave!"

Yon cut back in "How the hell do you expect us to protect ourselves if we don't even know what we're up against?!" He waited before throwing his hands up. "Adon??"

The muscles in Adon's arms burned from the tension as he slammed his fist down upon the counter, upsetting a small shaker of salt. "Schtok!" he hissed in a quiet rage, neck tense and eyes blazing.  The effect upon Yon and his roommate was as immediate as any silencing charm. "This is not about you!"  His eyes locked with Raizel.  "Dreogan will not answer his phone. I tried four times." He swallowed, trying to keep his voice even.  "Jonas is going to look into it."

Yon took a tentative step forward, clearing his throat and trying the words slowly, experimentally.  "You think your brother was also--"

"I don't know!" Adon snapped.  Yon, Guy--they stood there in a shocked silence.  He sighed, shoulders slumping. "But I know it's what they want."  There was a gnawing, sweeping feeling of helplessness and hopelessness that threatened to swallow Adon. But there was too much to do, and too many things rested on his shoulders for him to collapse now.

"There is no time.  The Ministry will be here at any minute, and the police, too."

"And the medical help?" Yon input timidly.

"That, too." Adon wiped his hand over his brow, feeling, suddenly, very old and worn out.  This was when he needed Jonas here, or Dree... Someone to tell him if what he was doing was right.  Shaking his head, he said, "You cannot be here when the Ministry arrives."

Suddenly, the whole room had erupted in shouting, and Raizel wanted nothing more than to shout back.  But the words from a few minutes before had stuck -- You've a funny way of showing that we're here to help -- and she kept her teeth clenched together, even as she rose to her feet, bristling, as she moved to stand protectively between the two Muggles and Adon.

For once, Adon's own round of shouting did not seem out of line.  Raizel met his gaze, her expression hard.  And then, suddenly, it was as if the entire world had stopped, as if Adon's next words had stabbed a knife straight into her gut and twisted.  'Dreogan will not answer his phone.'

The room almost felt like it was spinning.  She felt sick.  Anxiously, she looked back at Adon.  The Ministry would be here soon, if the Army or the police didn't get there first.  There were five dead men outside and one in the house.  If they stayed, if they were detained, there was no way that they would be allowed to leave. 

Everything was happening at once, and they were running out of time.

Raizel fought down a deep, shaky breath, and then set her jaw stubbornly.  "Let's take them to my flat," she said determinedly, meeting Adon's gaze.  "There are enough protections there.  They'll be safe."  Even if Topuluk knew where it was, which was very possible, she would still put her faith in her warding spells.  At the very least, moving to her apartment would get the two conscious Muggles out of the Ministry's immediate line of sight and buy her and Adon some time.

"Ori, he should stay here, though."  Raizel kept her voice confident and sure, eyeing the two Muggles as if daring them to disagree.  "They'll find him, and then they'll be able to help.  He'll be all right."  But her stomach tightened with uncertainty.  The runes that she'd cast -- they'd find those too.  The Near East Ministry was no trusted ally of hers.  This discovery might very well let them link her back to Topuluk. 

There was nothing to do but take the chance.  Raizel breathed in again, let the air hiss out through her teeth.  If these Topuluk had been playing the part of kidnappers, they must have been planning to take the Muggles somewhere.  And if something had happened to Dreogan -- if he too had been taken -- it was reasonable to conclude that there were only so many destinations that the Group might have in mind.

Swallowing hard, she looked back at Adon.  He looked suddenly exhausted; not at all like himself.  Her expression softened slightly as she found his gaze again.  "Take them there?" she asked tightly.  "I'll be ten seconds behind you.  Then we can regroup, Donnie."

Adon grit his teeth, casting a frown so deep it wrinkled his chin.  Splitting up--undeniably the worst thing they could do if the Group was trying to alienate them and attack them; but it was the only choice.  "Ten seconds," he repeated, with an emphatic point towards Raizel--indicating he had every intention of holding her accountable to that optimistic timeframe. 

It was fortunate that Tel Aviv was no great distance from Jerusalem.  Side-along Apparation with what was likely to be two skittish and squirmy Muggles was no small feat at any distance.  Still, Yon's words were reassuring.  When Adon instructed both Muggles to take hold of his arm, Yon's added instructions to "close your eyes and take a breath," reminded Adon that while Yon might be resisting the foreignness of this situation, some things--like Apparation or attacking intruders or patching up wounds--were familiar enough to be taken in stride.

A forced smile to Raizel, who seemed to be making her way over to check on Ori one last time, and Adon also closed his eyes, reenvisioning the sunflowered sofas.  By the time they were actually there--shins nearly crashing against the furniture--Adon's arms were sore from a set of white-knuckled grips.   

Yon's roommate--who Adon learned was named "Guy"--looked green, taking the opportunity to collapse upon the sofa and immediately place his head between his knees. 

"I'm going back," Adon informed bluntly.  Yon's head snapped from Guy to Adon in alarm. 

"It hasn't even been--"

"I want to check on both of them..." In truth, Ori was the least of his worries--and while he felt guilty enough about it in the moment, realized he'd feel guiltier still using him as an excuse to desert the two Muggles before him.  Adon removed his pistol from the waistband of his pants, handing it to Yon.  "You won't need it," he stated stiffly, "but in case.  We will come right back here--no doors. And so for God's sake, do not answer it this time."

"I didn--" Yon began to protest before Adon held up a hand.

"Give us two hours.  We will call if it takes longer."

"If what--"

There was a crack, and Adon was back in Yon's flat, arms folded as he regarded Raizel, now crouched over the bleeding body of the intruder on the floor.  Adon looked at the doorframe, frowning as he pointed to it.  "They did that when they took my dad."  Really, it was not that unique, but the statement fueled the growing fire in his stomach.  They would have done it again--here--if they could have.  If they hadn't know what his friends were made of.

"Where would they go?" he asked, honestly.

It had taken longer than she had expected for the sirens to start.  But now, as Raizel bent over the body, there was a clamor rising outside.  Sirens wailing in the distance, growing ever closer; shouts and cries in increasingly angry voices.  No sounds of apparition -- not yet, but that didn't mean that the Jerusalem Ministry wasn't already present.  Army or Aurors, though, it wouldn't take the authorities long to begin searching the apartments.  Time was of the essence.  Steeling herself, she knelt next to the body and nimbly began her work.

The loud crack behind her nearly made her heart stop.  Raizel started, brandishing her wand as she whirled on one knee to face whoever had just apparated behind in her.  But it was only Adon.  Scowling, she gave him a disapproving look and then returned to her search.

Of course he would have returned uninvited.  She would not have expected anything less.  But here and now -- even as she let the unremarkable comment about his father pass without reaction -- at least they shared the same mind.  The attackers had not come to this flat with the intention of allowing anyone to leave unharmed.  If their enemies were merciless, then they would be -- had been -- merciless too.

"Where would they go?"

The object that she had been searching for had not been around the neck, nor in a pocket.  Finally, she found it tied to a red string, wrapped around the dead man's wrist.  Raizel yanked it hard enough to break the string, and then rose to her feet, her hand wrapped tightly around the small bronze charm.  "I think I know," she said matter-of-factly, taking a moment to glance around the apartment.  If they had been in another place, if time had been less of the essence, she would have fired off a sharp comment at Adon in return for the fact that he had dragged her here in her party dress.  But for now, retorts could wait.

There was a flash of light outside the window, and then another.  The shouting had not gone away.  Trying not to look worried by the growing commotion, Raizel cast a look to the door as she strode across the room and retrieved a green, military-style coat that had been carelessly tossed onto the sofa.  It was hardly acceptable fashion, but at least it was something.

She slung the coat over her shoulder in one smooth motion, and then held her hand out to the Auror, giving him an impatient look.  There was no time.  If the Ministry came inside -- if anyone found them here -- they were not going to be able to escape into the darkness to go and chase shadows.  "Yalla!  We need to go."

---

There was a great crack, and then suddenly the world had shifted around them.  Raizel shivered as she let go over her grip on the Auror, hurrying to slip on the coat that she'd taken from the Muggles' flat.  It was not warm enough to completely protect against the icy chill in the air, but it was far better than walking the cold streets of East Jerusalem in nothing more than her dress.

A police car went screaming by them, its sirens wailing as it sped around a corner.  More sirens, volume staggered by location, sounded in the distance.  Raizel looked up towards the lights of the Old City, orienting herself.  Taking a deep breath, she lifted her chin and started walking.  An impatient look to Adon should have been all that was needed to inform him that he was expected to keep pace.

"It is hard to move in and out of Jerusalem without being detected," she informed the Auror in a low voice.  Her arms were wrapped tightly around herself to protect against the cold, but Raizel's eyes were on the houses -- she knew this street.  The steps down to Hezekiah's Pool weren't far away.  "It is hard to move anywhere, really, especially when you are traveling far.  So they like to use the tunnels.  The entrance by the Kotel is closer, but --"  She freed one arm long enough to wave a hand dismissively.  The obstacles posed by trying to sneak into that tunnel should have been obvious.

"But we can go down here."  She'd reached the iron gate.  The cold, worn bars stretched above them -- barely enough to keep even Muggles out, but not imposing at all to a mage with a wand.  Down below, the shallow water of the pool was a dark, unknowable shadow; the entrance to the underground tunnel lay just beyond.

She had assumed Adon's cooperation in all of this.  The other mage was hardly one to shy away from danger, especially not when his friends were at risk, but diving into the darkness was different than calling a monstrous pillar of fire into a courtyard or jumping into a streetfight to defend his brother.  Raizel stopped just short of the gate as she finally looked back to Adon, giving him a questioning look as she met his gaze.

"You want to do this?" she asked, freeing her wand.  She didn't look at his scars, but they were there, even in the darkness.  "If we find them, it might not be easy.  You know what they're like, Adon."

As a responder, Adon was expert.  He addressed the issue at hand, and he did it quickly. But Adon was not accustomed to--was not particularly adept at--planning and anticipating several steps in the future. This was why, time after time in chess, Jonas was able to smash his knight, bishop, or queen unexpectedly.  And at this moment, it felt very much like the world was a cold and marble chess board laid before him, and the key players--Dreogan, himself, Raizel, even Gabriel and Akiva, and Jonas--mere pieces strewn about, liable to be smashed.
 
There was no easy answer.  Adon rubbed a hand over his forehead.  He needed time to think.  Or he needed someone with a cooler head to think for him.  He needed Jonas.
 
But there was no Jonas here--only Raizel and her "nows"--and Adon was an expert responder.  There was no time to think.  Only to do--and though Dreogan had warned him months before what could befall him several steps in the future, Adon was beginning to realize that this was because, even with this warning, he could do no different.
 
If they had his brother here in the Old City, now, he would respond.  He would not desert Dreogan merely to change his own fate.  And if they had his brother in the Old City, then Adon was walking straight into the setting of the Dream.  But Adon could not desert his brother.
 
And if they did not have him? Well, then this was an unscripted street fight to the death like so many others.  That--that he could do happily, and deal with the consequences after.  Still, Adon thought as he turned his head towards Sha'ar Ha'ashpot, where he could hear the sirens of approaching police vehicles blaring, it wouldn't be bad to have a little backup. Perhaps Adnan... or any of his Aurors...

But Adnan would ask questions. He'd be cautious before sending his men in, and while admirable, that would waste time they already didn't have.  He sighed through his nose, listening to Raizel posit her question--with multiple warnings embedded in the speech. 
 
"Yes," he stated with a sharp, decisive nod.  Turning his hardened gaze onto the iron bars once more, tugging his sleeves up.He tapped the bars twice; they glowed a hot, angry red before cooling and fading to their original black.  Reaching his hand out, he pulled at the bars until there was space enough for a full-grown man to shoulder his way through. 

His next words were stubborn: rigid and clipped, even as he placed a light hand on her shoulder, giving a slight squeeze. "But I go in first."  He stooped to shoulder his way in before adding, in a low voice, "It would be better if we let our eyes get accustomed to the dark."  Once on the other side of the gate, he held up his hand for silence to listen.  There was only the faint slosh of water on stone from below.  He breathed once more.  "No light, I think. "

Hezzekiah's Tunnel was dark, cold, and silent--any movement, or any splashes--might be easily heard, but the ground of the narrow tunnel was worn smooth by centuries of flowing water and, recently, tourists' feet.  They stood a chance of arriving undetected.  But with even the soft glow of a lumos, anyone watching the tunnel's mouth--which surely the Group would do--would know of their intentions minutes before the pair had even a chance or, in the confines of the tunnel, the space to be ready.

Adon's throat tightened, and he was filled with a great sense of foreboding.  If this were a military maneuver, the Group's positioning was strategically flawless; it was precisely the position Adon would have wanted his men to take up.  A narrow opening--allowing only one person at a time to pass--that provided them the advantage, and advanced warning of any approaching enemies...

He wet his lips.  Dug his thumbnail into the wood of his wand.  He shook his head.  "No. The tunnel is a bad idea.  They will be expecting it."  He ran a hand over the back of his neck, thinking.  "Can we approach them from the other side. Surely there is a point we can Apparate to."

"Yes," he'd said, and it was decided.  Adon barged ahead, and Raizel bit her tongue -- even as he charmed the gate, plowed down the steps to the pool, insisted that he should be the one to go first.  He had always, always been overprotective for as long as she'd known him, and their relationship was hardly going to be different in its current incarnation.  Little did it matter that they were about to delve into the depths of her domain; that for once, she clearly knew better than Adon what was coming and what to expect, but still he intended to take the lead.

But that was about him more than it was her.  Raizel understood that now.  Adon cared and cared deeply, and he didn't always know to translate that into expression.  This misplaced sense of martyrdom was more about keeping the people he cared about safe than it was any lack of faith in her.  That didn't necessarily make it less annoying, she decided, but keeping her newfound understanding firmly in mind made her much less likely to bite his head off.

"The tunnels don't work that way," she said, shaking her head.  Stepping next to him, she put a hand on his shoulder to steady herself, and then balanced on one foot so that she could remove her right shoe.  "You can't apparate inside them.  And it's hard to guess where a tunnel will lead if you don't know it, so we can't just take another route," she added, as she shifted her weight to remove the other shoe.  "They might be careful, but I don't think that they will be expecting us.  They have no way to know that we'd be after them so quickly."

She took both shoes in her right hand, pressing her toes against the hard, cold stone.  Taking her wand in her left, she let her eyelids drift lower, and reached for the surge of power that came with the recitation of her favorite spell.

"Ki 'aphar 'atah," she murmured, and all across throughout the ancient, hollowed tunnel that stretched for miles and miles -- farther than she could even sense -- the tiny particles of dust that lined the hard stone walls and cold stone floors began to quiver and dance.

Feeling emboldened, she lifted her chin and looked back daringly at her former schoolmate.  But her stomach twisted with uncertainty -- concern and emotion that was unfamiliar, and that she didn't care to know.  For all she knew, this could be the precipice of it all; her insistence on charging ahead, on bringing him along with her, could very well be what would start his slow tumble to the dark future that his brother had foretold in his dream.

Raizel swallowed hard, and suddenly looked away; she couldn't meet his gaze, and reached out for his arm to steady herself again.

"There is a side tunnel that starts just ahead."  All of this -- thinking things through, explaining, worrying about someone other than herself -- felt unnatural, but Raizel swallowed again and gave an uncomfortable shrug by way of deferring, as if she regularly gave up on decisions after she made them. "It is impossible to get through if you don't know the right spells -- and they are not spells that Topuluk uses," she added matter-of-factly, with no small matter of pride.  "If they wanted to plan an ambush, they would have planned it somewhere else."

Unhappily, she gave her shoes a mournful look, and then bent to them carefully on the ground -- if they were going to try the tunnels, she'd need her hands.  "But this one connects to another tunnel.  I know the way, Adon," she urged him quietly, determinedly.  Anxiously -- if she were pushing the wrong way, all of this blood would be on her hands.  Biting her lip, she gave him a worried look.

"You think this is a bad idea?" she asked him apprehensively.  "I don't think it is a trap, Adon.  Even Gözde -- he wouldn't have sent his men to die just like that."  She hesitated, her eyes flicking back towards the dark entrance to the tunnel, and then shifting back to meet his gaze uncertainly once more.  "If they are -- if they're coming back through the tunnels, we might be able to catch them on the way.  We could stop this before they take your brother somewhere else."

"Even if it isn't a trap..." Adon said with a dubious frown.  He shrugged--not wanting to seem easily spooked.  There was real reasoning--and real experience behind this.  "Even if they are not expecting us, the advantage is not with us: in a tunnel, where you can't Apparate, can't come behind them or easily take them by surprise, where only the slightest sound could alert them, and they are in an open space, with the superior position...."  They had position, they had numbers.  All instinct revolted, screaming no. 

He bit his upper lip furiously, brows furrowed.  They did not even know, for sure, if the Group had his brother.  Or if they had him here, in Jerusalem--Adon was no Seer, but all Signs pointed to yes.  They did not have time.  "I like the idea of the second tunnel better.  If they cannot get in, then they cannot corner us as easily."

Adon inhaled--as though to say something--hesitated, and said something completely different. "Raizel--I cannot do this without you... but we don't need to do this.  It's very risky. We are only two--they're the Group..."

Despite these words, he eyed the tunnel, thick with Raizel's enchantment with mixed dread and anxious desire.  They had to do something.  We could stop this.  Adon swallowed, shook his head.  For more than a year, that was all he had wanted. And now, that desire burned so keenly in his belly it nearly made him dizzy. He had, some time ago, resigned himself to living life on Fate's terms--why did he rebel now? Because it was out of his hands? Because it was uncertain?

There were things they could do--direct things they could do to improve their chances.  Going in now--with so little for information, could very well lead to the very thing they were trying to avoid: his death--Dreogan's--and now Raizel's, too.

"We can't do this alone."

For a heartbeat, she'd thought that he was agreeing to go along with it -- letting her take the lead, trusting her to guide the way through the tunnels.  But just as quickly, Adon had jerked back from the edge again, as if the very idea of taking such a risk was too terrifying to attempt.  And now this -- that he couldn't do this without her, but that they couldn't do it alone -- it felt as if something large were caught in her throat. 

Raizel swallowed.  Her heart was beating too quickly, and she looked away, taking a shaky breath.  The thought of facing the tunnel alone was far, far less terrifying than going back with him to face what was undoubtedly waiting, but she knew without even considering it that Adon never would.  Either they did this together, or she left him alone.

"Okay."  The word came out barely more than a whisper, though far less shaky than she had expected.  She didn't look at Adon -- couldn't meet his eyes -- but she reached for his hand again, settling her fingers between his in a warm, firm grip.  There was a difference between obligation and dedication, he'd told her once.  She didn't have to do this.  She could run away, leave him to this part of it alone, and Adon would likely understand -- might even tell himself that he was in some small way relieved, if it meant that she'd be safe far away from this.  He had warned her of all of this that night when they'd first had dinner together, had even told her how terrified he was and how bad this would all get.  It all felt so long ago.

This went beyond friendship, seeing her friend through such terrifying times.   But if he couldn't face his fears yet, then at least she could risk hers for him.  Closing her eyes, Raizel pictured the worn, white alleyways that they'd just left -- and tried to focus on that, just that, and not the angry men and women in Ministry robes who were likely now overtaking the area in a swarm.

"Then let's go get help," she said, and apparated.

---

Within a heartbeat, they were surrounded by the smooth limestone of the Old City once more.  She didn't know these streets as well as Adon seemed to -- lively, vibrant Tel Aviv was an hour and several worlds away from ancient, layered Jerusalem -- but she'd brought them to a narrow street that they'd passed through earlier, closer to Yon's flat than to Hurva Square.

It had been only minutes since they'd left, but the small courtyard ahead was a mess of people and activity.  Men shouting in Hebrew, bright lights blazing to illuminate the houses and alleyways -- she didn't know if the sources of the voices were Muggle soldiers, mages, or some combination of both, but her heart still felt as if it was stuck somewhere in her throat.  In the end, it didn't really matter.

She'd been gripping Adon's hand so tightly as if it were her only lifeline away from this place, far more firmly than was needed for appartion.  Raizel quickly let go, swallowing hard as she surveyed the scene before them.  The cold limestone was unforgiving against her bare feet -- with a start, she realized that she'd left her shoes in the tunnel.

The Army and the Ministry -- these were Adon's people, not hers.  Her eyes flicked to meet his, her face pale but her jaw set determinedly.  He would know best what to do for the next move.