In Duat’s western district, Vis and Ahmose move disguised among the dead while searches for the fugitive Ahmose continue to intensify. When Ahmose spots an Overseer checking faces, Vis sends Ahmose to lure her into an alley, then uses his power to seize control of her mind. By questioning her, Vis confirms that the reported sighting of Ahmose was unverified and that no nearby Overseers are assisting, but he learns nothing useful about plans to capture Ahmose or about Netiqret beyond a meaningless registry result.

Vis releases the Overseer with false memories and keeps a lingering connection to her, then he and Ahmose rejoin the main flow of iunctii. As they move toward one of Ka’s great colossi, the chapter shows how precarious their survival has become: checkpoints are multiplying, searches are growing more frequent, and Vis’s ability to control only a few iunctii at once is the main reason they have remained free. Using a hidden mechanism Caeror taught him, Vis opens a concealed entrance and leads Ahmose into Duat’s white-lit tunnels.

While crossing the tunnels, Vis explains why he is willing to risk contact with Netiqret. He and Ahmose cannot survive much longer in the west, and Vis has discovered that the old tunnel route under the Infernis has been deliberately sealed with stone, leaving the guarded bridge as the only way to reach Duat’s eastern half. Ahmose questions whether Netiqret can be trusted, but Vis argues that trust is less important than necessity. Vis also reflects on their weeks together in hiding, including his earlier temptation to simply control Ahmose and his decision not to cross that moral line.

The two emerge near the river at a predetermined meeting place behind a building close to another tunnel entrance. While they wait, Vis senses the Overseer he still controls and sends her toward their area as far as she can go without drawing attention. He also experiences a brief, unexplained fragment of thought about the iunctii dating from soon after the Rending. At last a hidden door opens, and an older woman accompanied by an unnervingly observant young girl questions them, tests Vis with Djedef’s name, and accepts them as legitimate contacts.

When Vis asks for proof that they are truly taking him to Netiqret, the woman offers none and warns that leaving would end any future chance of contact. Because their situation is worsening and no safer path remains, Vis and Ahmose choose to follow her into the tunnel. The chapter ends with them committing to this dangerous new lead in hopes of finding a way across the river and out of the trap closing around them.