Celaena competes in the next Test, a dangerous climb up the castle wall to retrieve a golden flag ninety feet above the ground. One Champion is already missing, leaving nineteen competitors, and Celaena chooses a tin of tar to help her grip the stone rather than joining the crowded, easier route.

As the Champions climb, Cain takes the lead by using a rope to swing between architectural features, with Grave, Verin, Nox, and Pelor following nearby. Celaena keeps to a harder but less congested path using tarred hands and feet, partly because she distrusts competitors like Grave and Verin not to shove her off the wall.

The danger of the Test becomes real when Ned Clement, known as the Scythe, falls to his death. The sponsors appear unconcerned, reinforcing that the competition is willing to kill off Champions through both violence and negligence.

Grave becomes trapped in the flow of climbers, argues with Nox, and then shoves Nox from a gargoyle perch. Nox is left dangling by his rope against the castle wall, unable to find a hold, while Grave secretly produces a dagger and begins cutting through the rope. The other nearby Champions refuse to intervene because Nox’s death would benefit them or because helping him could cost them the Test.

Celaena realizes Nox will die if no one acts, abandons her own progress, and slides down the drainpipe despite injuring her hands and feet. She lands near a mercenary, commandeers his rope, threatens him not to interfere, ties herself in, and sprints across a row of gargoyles. As Grave’s blade finally snaps Nox’s rope, Celaena launches herself into open air to try to save him.