“It’s not ideal,” Jude conceded. “But the caverns provide more cover. Even if the Witnesses on our tail catch up to us, we can lose them in the caverns.”

“That sounds risky,” Khepri said.

Hassan agreed. “We have to trust that you’ll be able to guide us through,” he said, getting frustrated. “And outpace the Witnesses. If they catch us, we’ll be in the same situation.”

Jude leveled his gaze at him, and Hassan glared right back. Their disagreements had been manifold in those months after Behezda, and this felt like more of the same. Hassan had thought that he himself was stubborn, but he was nothing compared to Jude Weatherbourne when he was decided on something.

“I’m with Jude,” Anton said.

Of course he was.

Beru nodded. “Me too.”

“I don’t care what we do, let’s just do it and hurry up,” Ephyra said.

“I’m also with Weatherbourne on this one,” Illya offered.

“No one asked you,” Anton ground out.

“Fine,” Hassan said. He was outnumbered, and it would take more valuable time to keep arguing about it. “We’ll double back.”

They packed up quickly, and headed back along the path they’d taken into the mountains. Hassan couldn’t help but feel defeated with every step—all the time they’d spent on the hike was now wasted. But he held his tongue.

About half a league from the river where they’d started, Jude took them on a slanting path north, through thick trees. The path grew steep, and in some sections they had to actually climb up the rock, Hector, Jude, and Khepri helping the others. They reached the mouth of a cavern as the sun began to set.

“Those of you with lights, wait until we get inside the cavern to turn them on,” Jude advised.

The air was cool and damp within the cave, the walls dripping with jagged stalactites. They pressed onward, past the time that they would have set up camp in the pass, with no signs of stopping. Hassan’s feet felt heavy, like he was dragging himself through the caverns. His pack had begun to chafe on one shoulder, and it was all he could focus on.

“Jude,” Hector said quietly, somewhere ahead of Hassan. “We need to rest.”

“We can’t,” Jude replied. “If we stop, the Witnesses—”

“If we don’t stop, people are going to start collapsing,” Hector warned. “Even I’m getting tired, and not everyone has the Grace of Heart, all right?”

“We need to keep moving.”

“Hector’s right.” Anton’s voice joined theirs in the dark. “We can’t outrun the Witnesses like this. I can’t. The Witnesses are still hours behind us.”

Jude didn’t say anything for a long moment, but then Hassan heard him call out to everyone else. “All right. Three hours. Hector and I will keep watch while everyone gets some rest. No fires.”