He turned the corner, walked another fifty feet, and pulled up. Now he looked back. No sign of Billos and company scurrying after him.

Another ten seconds and still no sign. They probably hadn’t budged. He thought about going back for at least Silvie. If he explained . . .

She suddenly came around the bend, leading her horse. And behind her Billos, then Darsal.

“This is a dead end; we’ve been here!” Billos whispered as they came close. “We’ll be rats in a crate if the Scabs come this way. Our position at the rock at least gave us a fighting chance.”

“Then go back,” Johnis said. He looked at Silvie. “I’ve found a hidden passage out of this canyon. You can join me if you want, but we have to hurry.”

Without waiting for any response, he turned away and continued down the canyon.

“The scrapper’s lying,” Billos whispered.

“Then go back,” Silvie returned.

Darsal searched Billos’s eyes. “Maybe he’s onto something, Billos.”

Johnis felt his heart lighten. Darsal had sided with him? She was no fool; he’d known that from the beginning. None of them were, but facing death had a way of slowing your thinking. Maybe that was the difference between him and Billos. When faced with death, Johnis’s mind worked better, faster. Billos’s, like most, slowed.

Then again, maybe not.

He led them into the crevice, feeling as strong as he had all day. There is now true hope, he thought. They were going to get home tonight, alive and well.

Billos and the others sat on their horses and scanned the large, empty bowl. No Shataiki, no Roush, just a hiding spot in the middle of the canyons. Now that Johnis thought about it, he hadn’t seen the black Shataiki bats on the cliffs since the Roush had left.

“How did you find this place?” Darsal asked.

“A gap in the rocks over there.” Johnis pointed back to the entrance through which he’d first come. “But I think there are Scabs on the other side.”

“Then they’ll find the same hole you did,” Billos said. “This could be a trap.”

“Better than being trapped behind a rock,” Silvie said. “If they come after us, we can kill them one by one as they squeeze through the opening.”

“The Horde won’t find the hole easily,” Johnis said. “But we can’t stay here. Follow me.”

“Just hold up, Scrapper,” Billos snapped. “How do you know the Horde won’t find the hole if you did?”

Johnis threw caution to the wind and told them then. “I didn’t find it. A Roush named Gabil led me to it.”