The bind wouldn't hold forever.
Arthur felt it already. The shoulder was bleeding steady and every pulse of aetheric blood feeding the shadow cost him. The edges of the anchor were starting to soften. Not breaking. But softening.
"Now means now!" he snapped.
Kreasial was already moving.
She crossed the frozen bank in four steps, both arms back, and drove an ice-coated fist into the broad man's jaw before he finished processing that he couldn't run. His head cracked sideways into the trunk. His knees went.
She grabbed his collar before he hit the ground. Found his relic stone in his front pocket. Pressed his thumb to it.
The broad man disappeared in a quiet flash.
Theodore came across behind her. Slower. One arm held against his chest, the right side of his uniform still dark and smoking at the edges. But his eyes were focused. He found the black-haired woman already pulling at her own feet, trying to wrench free of the shadow, her fire building at her palms.
