As Althy had predicted, the narrow passageway soon opened into a large chamber, one I had seen in popular paintings and lithographs. It was the cave where Mithra famously rested after defeating the daeva, considered by many to be a holy place. Any traces of previous habitation had long since disappeared, whatever artifacts left behind no doubt stolen by adventurers over the years. There was nothing beyond a few broken pieces of wood, and a small, dark pool at the farthest wall. Neither Aadil nor the Faceless were present.

“There is something wrong here, Lady Altaecia.” One of the asha, a young woman named Ginrei, spoke up. “This chamber has no exits beyond the one we entered. If Lord Knox is right, and if Lady Tea is positive this passage is where Druj disappeared, then they could not have left without our seeing them.”

I cast my mind briefly toward Kance’s thoughts, scrying swiftly. The decision to ward as many of the Drychta as possible had proven beneficial, I saw. The fight had been speedy, if brutal. Did anyone leave the caves after we entered? I asked him.

He jumped, startled by the unexpected voice in his head. “No. Khalad and I have been watching.”

They’re not in Mithra’s chamber. They must have escaped through some other means. Please ask General Lode to guard the mountain paths and keep further watch, just in case.

“Understood, Lady Tea.”

“Kance and Khalad saw nothing,” I told the rest.

“Surely they couldn’t have gone to another apex in the range this quickly?” Zoya asked. “It would take years to search them all.”

“Can you sense Druj?” Kalen asked me.

“The Faceless is very good at masking his thoughts. I’ve been trying to find him, to no effect.”

Knox cleared his throat. “That’s not quite accurate, actually. That the chamber is a dead end, I mean.”

Althy rounded on him, looking cross. “Now is not the time for riddles, Knox. Out with it.”

The Yadoshan coughed. “I wasn’t intending to hide it, lady asha. It’s been some time since I traveled here, but I now remember. There’s another way out.” He pointed toward the small pool. “We were curious, milady. Nearly drowned getting to the other end, since we didn’t know how long the underground spring traveled. Blacked out a bit before Aden managed to pull my head out of the water. But there wasn’t anything much on the other side, only another smaller chamber. Granted, we didn’t explore it much. The wind was chillier there, and we all wanted drier clothes.”

Althy sighed; she could have groaned Yadoshans, and it would have sounded the same. “How far along is the spring?”

“You won’t need to hold your breath too long. There’s a fork in the spring though. Go down the wrong end and there’s nothing to surface to, which was what nearly got me.”