Adventure of Helena Eichwald

Helena ends the silent connection with Liam and conceals the tragbares radio beneath her coat. She gathers usable shirts, trousers, and a wool jacket from the abandoned rooms before descending the stairwell.

Her injured side tightens as she steps down, but the careful descent does not worsen it. Below, Petar remains with Anna, Emil, and the wounded soldier in the cellar.

The injured Soviet soldier watches the stairwell from beside the coal bins, rifle lowered. His gaze follows the bundle, then returns to the dark landing above.

Anna Keller accepts the garments and sorts them by size. The wool jacket should fit Emil loosely, while the darker trousers may make the wounded soldier less conspicuous than his uniform.

Anna wraps the wool jacket around Emil and changes his damp shirt beneath the blanket. The boy stirs but stays quiet, while the injured Soviet soldier watches from beside the coal bins.

Anna settles Emil against the mattress, then passes the dry trousers to the injured soldier. He changes behind the coal bins, keeping his rifle within reach and his wounded arm protected.

From the stairwell, a faint vibration travels through the masonry. The cellar remains concealed, but somewhere above, a patrol pauses in the apartment before moving on.

Helena keeps her arms crossed, guard still raised. Esper Speak carries the question beneath her quiet voice, helping her meaning reach him despite the cellar’s tension.

The connection makes his words clear, but Shell Shocked catches Helena’s concentration with remembered rifle cracks. The geas flickers reddish-purple beneath her skin before she forces it quiet.

His suspicion remains plainly stated, but he lowers his rifle fully and accepts the name exchange. Anna watches quietly as Rozan settles beside the coal bins, waiting for Helena’s answer.

Helena gives him nothing more. Her arms remain crossed, guard raised, while the cellar’s damp silence settles between the coal bins and the stairwell.

Rozan does not raise his rifle. He tests his wounded arm beneath the borrowed trousers, then glances toward the coal chute where the concealed passage may begin.

Petar moves to the blocked chute and clears loose brick by hand. Behind it, cold air slips through a narrow crack, carrying the faint echo of water from somewhere below.

Petar Volkov clears another brick from the coal chute. The crack widens into a cramped passage, and cold air carries water sounds from below.

The tragbares radio suddenly crackles to life beneath Helena’s coat. Static surges between badly garbled transmissions, making the cellar walls seem to carry distant voices.

Helena pulls out the set and struggles with the tuning control. The needle shifts, but every attempt collapses into static before any words become clear.

A clipped transmission breaks through: fragments of Russian, a location, then a sharp order swallowed by interference. Anna draws Emil closer as Petar watches the stairwell.

The coal chute exhales another breath of cold air. Beyond the loosened bricks, water moves steadily in darkness, offering a concealed route but no assurance that it is empty.

Helena holds the tuning control steady despite the static. The carrier tone wavers, then catches a working frequency as Petar crouches beside the coal chute and listens.

The transmission collapses into a hard burst of static. Petar lowers his head, while Anna draws Emil closer and Rozan turns toward the stairwell, rifle ready but lowered.

Static swallows the broadcast. Helena keeps the frequency fixed, but only broken syllables return. Cold air continues to breathe through the loosened bricks from the hidden drainage passage.

As Petar and Rozan speak over the drainage passage, Helena’s left eye flares violently beneath her hand. Reddish-purple light leaks between her fingers, and an unseen pull turns her toward the cellar stairs.

The compulsion drags Helena past the coal bins and toward the stairwell. Her injured side tightens when she rises too quickly, disrupting her stride, but the force keeps drawing her toward the sealed street above.

Helena reaches the cellar steps. Petar catches her around the shoulders from behind, while Rozan plants his rifle against the wall and grips her forearm with his uninjured hand.

The geas strains against their restraint, making the stair rail shudder and loose dust rise from the masonry. Helena’s eye burns brighter, but Petar holds her back from the hatch.

Petar and Rozan pull Helena back from the stairwell, keeping their grips firm around her shoulders and forearm. Her injured side tightens under the sudden effort, but the compulsion keeps drawing upward.

Rozan braces one boot against the stair wall and tightens his grip. The rail shudders beneath Helena’s hand as reddish-purple light pulses through the cellar, drawing all three toward the sealed hatch.

The hatch strains open a finger’s width despite the bar. Cold night air spills down, and through the gap they see swirling bands of green, violet, and red arcing across the black sky with fiery intensity.

Above them, the colored bands twist over Dresden while distant patrol voices falter. Helena remains held between the two men, her burning eye fixed on the opening as the cellar walls tremble.

Helena strains against Petar’s hold and Rozan’s grip, but the compulsion cannot carry her past them. Her injured side tightens under the sudden effort, and the hatch remains out of reach.

Rozan keeps his boot braced against the stair wall and refuses to release her. Through the hatch’s narrow gap, the fiery bands brighten the ruins and expose a drainage outlet beneath the neighboring wall.

The compulsion surges once more, dragging at Helena’s shoulders, but Petar and Rozan hold firm. The flare recedes without freeing her, while the newly visible outlet offers a concealed route away from the cellar stairs.

The reddish-purple flare surges through Helena’s arm. Petar’s hold slips as the compulsion tears her shoulders free, and Rozan’s grip breaks when the stair rail shudders beneath them.

Helena stumbles up the steps without choosing the movement. Her injured side tightens under the sudden exertion, but the force carries her toward the hatch before either man can seize her again.

Petar lunges after her, but the compulsion pulls Helena through the narrow gap beneath the hatch. Cold air strikes her face as the fiery bands wheel above Dresden.

Behind Helena, Petar and Rozan scramble through the opening. The hatch drops crookedly after them, leaving the cellar concealed while the drainage outlet and the blazing sky wait ahead.

The compulsion tightens as the aurora twists overhead. Each green, violet, and red band pulses in time with Helena’s burning eye, drawing her attention toward the drainage outlet.

Rozan catches Helena’s shoulder while Petar grips her other arm. The force answers their restraint with a violent tremor through the hatch and a flare of reddish-purple light beneath her skin.

The aurora brightens above the broken wall, and Helena’s body leans against both men despite their footing. When the colors fade, the compulsion weakens, leaving the drainage outlet still and dark.

Above Dresden, the fiery bands continue their slow arc. The cause is no longer uncertain: the aurora is feeding the geas and compelling Helena toward its light.