Too much. It was too much, too confusing. Dean shot back, “I’ll be with you shortly. Go on.” His higher-than-normal voice was pitched to carry to his Knight’s ears. Then the slender, too-youthful figure was dodging forward and to the side, between two buildings with a gap too narrow for any of the big toughs on their heels. If Dean was worried about his connection to Donovan, it didn’t show. Their bond was still there, but dramatically relaxed; the Shadow felt confident that he could manage several hundred yards without feeling the draining effects of their bond.<br/><br/>Though he was far less than he had been, Dean still managed to climb over crates, barrels, and effluvia – all obstacles apparently tossed into the narrow way – without too much effort. As he went, he remembered to look up. Shadows flicked along the rooftops, suggesting any number of things: clotheslines or watchers. Probably both. He’d heard of dangerous, powered, organizations around the ring of the sea and it wouldn’t have surprised the canny assassin to discover they’d been employed by the vizier and his witch.<br/><br/>Emerging at a fork in the alleys, Dean started up one building, climbing with substantial effort despite how relatively easy the sea-chewed wood should have been. His fingers trembled, nails broke. Some slight, ephemeral blood, flowed, but the lithe young man continued on. Then he was near the top and a face appeared out of nowhere. She was beautiful, with slanted eyes and a rosebud mouth, her Eastern features quirked with a hint of amusement.<br/><br/>“You, I’m told, are not wanted alive, I’m afraid,” she said, and proceeded to stab Dean in the eye with a dagger. His corpse fell, the woman turning away from her work before the shadow-substance that made up the man’s body had a chance to vanish. She didn’t know what Dean was, though perhaps that did not matter for the time being. He was, in truth, dead.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">Dean will be out of it for a few hours (up to a day or so). I can narrate the assassins, toughs, or city government. Alternatively, continue posting until the group gets to a safe spot. Donovan will know that the more he uses his Glory, the faster Dean will potentially return, though time will allow it to happen regardless.  Of course, the Knight will feel his Shadow die.   </div></div>