Moonlight flowed like mercury over the rugged mountain path.
The two walked one behind the other, their shadows stretched long and thin, like two wraiths merging into the night.
The abandoned mining area lay ahead, like the pitch-black maw of a silent beast, swallowing all light.
Douglas and Lupin moved with light, wary steps.
Yet, less than five hundred meters from that deathly still entrance, Lupin abruptly stopped. He slowly raised his head, his nostrils twitching, and his wary expression was instantly replaced by a fear born of his bloodline.
Every muscle in his body tensed as though he had been electrocuted, and even the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
It was not from the cold, but an instinctive shudder from deep within his bloodline-the terror of being marked by a natural predator.
He tilted his head to listen. The wind carried only the rustling of leaves and the distant cries of night owls.
"Douglas, it's an ambush!"
Lupin's voice was hoarse, each word seemingly forced through clenched teeth.
"There are a lot of them... far too many! They've surrounded the entire area!"
Almost the instant Lupin spoke, Douglas had already reacted.
He neither hesitated nor investigated, because he trusted Lupin's senses unconditionally.
He seized Lupin's arm and barked, "Go!"
At that moment, he did not even consider Apparition. Since the enemy had laid an ambush, there was no way they would not have prepared an Anti-Apparition Jinx.
He immediately turned with Lupin and ran for their lives toward a steeper ridge off to the side of the path they had come along.
Their movement, however, seemed to flip a switch.
"Wheeet!"
A shrill, piercing whistle split the deathly still night sky, like an invisible command.
The next second, dozens of interwoven nets of light