At last, they found the place to launch their attack, climbing down a narrow shaft that opened out into a cavernous chamber. A fissure in the cavern wall produced a small waterfall from the subterranean river that had cut this cave system into the mountain.

They laid the Godfire collar on the floor of the cavern, just beyond a deep pool of water formed by the waterfall, and waited on a shelf of rock that overlooked the rest of the cave.

They didn’t have to wait long. As Anton had warned, there were about two dozen of them, climbing one by one down the same narrow shaft Jude and Hector had descended through. What Anton had failed to predict was that it wasn’t Witnesses who’d been tailing them through the caves. It was Paladin.

Jude’s heart dropped into his stomach as he spotted Yarik’s dark hair and thickset build crouching down to inspect the Godfire collar.

“Where is she?” Yarik growled. “Where are the rest of them?”

The others fanned out around the cave, searching and listening for signs of their quarry.

Hector gave Jude a short nod. It was time. The fact that it was Paladin instead of Witnesses meant the odds against Jude and Hector were even worse, but otherwise it changed nothing. They had to keep Anton and the others safe.

With a deep breath and a quick koah to summon his Grace, Jude sprang down from the rock shelf and unsheathed his sword, Hector at his side.

Several of the Paladin turned, unsheathing their own blades.

“Oathbreakers.”

There was no hesitation as the Paladin clashed against Jude and Hector in a melee of steel. Jude stayed attuned to Hector’s movements at his back, each knowing where the other would strike. They focused on penning the Paladin in between the wall of the cave and the water, cutting off the exit point. The strategy would allow the two of them to pick their opponents off a few at a time and keep themselves from being surrounded.

Jude attacked and parried, dodging through stalagmites jutting up from the cave floor like crooked teeth. Each blow he landed against his former brothers- and sisters-in-arms felt like a punch to his own gut. But there was no way to avoid the fight if he wanted to escape this place alive.

He slashed down at one Paladin’s arm, his borrowed blade not sharp enough to pierce his opponent’s Grace-woven armor, but the force sufficient to break the man’s arm. The Paladin cried out in agony, and Jude spun away from the attack, aiming a kick at his next assailant. With a grunt, the second Paladin went flying back into a column of rock, which buckled and crumbled on impact.