"Just down that alley." Artemus whispered from his position against a chimney, he clung to the vertical structure tightly, adjusting his footing atop the slanted roof every few moments as he risked pointing to where they needed to go.
Garrett crouched beside him, still as a statue, dark as a shadow, peering left and right along the street without so much as a twitch.
Artemus, thankfully, hadn't fallen down the first alley the two came across and broke both his legs, but he wasn't wrong about the thieves highway being slow because of him. Though from what they had seen during their time above the street, Garrett had doubtlessly made the right call.
A few rioteers had indeed gone tearing through the back alleys, and they had indeed butchered every person they had managed to stumble across in the gloom and muck, both dead and alive. At one particularly gruesome point of the massacre, Garrett ended up having to throw Artemus over his shoulder and drag him away to prevent the Keeper from joining the fray in defense of a little girl who wandered out her back door when her pet cat began yowling under the boot of some Graven bastard.
"You couldn't have saved her." Garrett whispered as he set Artemus back down on his feet, his hand still clinging tightly to his father's arm, thankfully, Artemus turned his ire away from the Graven and towards him. Garrett could deal with his father hating him, just so long as his father lived.
"You doubt me?" Artemus hissed as he craned his neck to look back towards the alley where the shrill cries of a little girl soar into the night; "There were only six- I- We could have-" Artemus' words fumbled as Garrett squeezed his arm, tight.
"You could have killed them." Garrett admitted calmly as the alley began to brighten as more and more torches spilled from the street and into the narrow darkness, as the jeers and howls of sick sick men drowned out the dwindling sobs of the little girl.
"But even us, together, could not have killed them, freed the girl and escaped back onto the highway before more came..." Garrett slowly released his father's arm, standing as Artemus choked on a bitter sob. without another word, the two carried on, the pace slow and weary until they finally came across their current predicament.
Getting across the street. Oh, and getting Artemus back down off the rooftops.
They were at the edge of a main strip, the street far too wide to simply leap across, and of course, there was nothing in the way of scaffolding for them to cross over, their only option was to either take a very long and convoluted route around, or return to street level. Neither option was ideal.
The riot had parked itself just up the road at the central junction, jeering and howling as they began to burn overturned carts and whatever else they could set on fire. If they returned to the streets and were noticed by the mob, Artemus doubted he could have time to unlock the passageway before the Graven were upon them.
But as Garrett astutely pointed out, the Graven were actively setting the streets ablaze, and taking the long way around could cost them time that they did not have.
"How does the passage open?" Garrett asked quietly from his perch, eyes still trained on the rallying mob a little ways away, he could hear his father shift nervously behind him.
"I-it's a brick code." Artemus whispered; "All the Glyph magic has run dry, so all the old mechanisms have to be used. You recall how at each Haven entrance, once the Glyph was scrawled, the surrounding wall would warp to make room for the door" Garrett nodded silently, a slow move of his head before he turned to look up at his father.
"We'll have to open the door manually." Artemus confessed with a tight grimace as he peered up the street, Garrett sighed heavily in return; "Do you at least know the code."
"No." Artemus sighed; "I had Vari change the pattern once I was out in the streets."
"Why would you do that?" Garrett asked, his tone was sharp, frustrated, hinging on fear, and had Artemus been able to see his hands, the Keeper knew they'd be closed into white knuckled fists.
"Garrett…" Artemus sighed; "I'll be honest… When I left the Haven to search for you and your sister, I fully expected to die." Garrett stilled at that, and Artemus slowly found himself slipping to crouch down on the roof beside his son.
"It was a fool's errand… Both Varria and I knew that, so I told him to lock the door behind me as a precaution… It wouldn't do anybody any good if it were to remain unlocked, and I didn't expect that I'd ever return…" Artemus carefully reached out to grip Garrett's shoulder.
"The door is just down the alley, at the very back wall, the Glyph is dead, but you can still see the carving. I know you don't trust me to cross the street without being seen and I don't blame you, but I know you're more than clever enough to figure out the code without my help."
Garrett hummed at that, turning away from his father to scope out the area again; "I'll stay here until you break the code, then, I guess it'll be one last mad dash." The Keeper mused lightly, Garrett merely nodded, rolling his shoulders, a silent gesture for Artemus to let go.
"Wish me luck?" Garrett asked softly as he tugged up the neck of his shirt over his nose.
"You've never needed luck." Artemus pointed out; "But if it eases you, you have all my faith."
Garrett paused for a moment at that, peering over to Artemus for a solid moment before leaning close, pressing his forehead into the crook of Artemus' shoulder and throat, for the first time since reuniting with his son, Artemus saw the briefest ghost of a smile settle in Garrett's eye as he pulled away.
And then he was gone.
Swift as wind, silent as stars in the sky, off the rooftops, across the street and into the adjacent alley, all in a single breath.