49 South

Tunuva wakes from a nightmare of Esbar harming her and confides in Canthe, who suggests dreams reveal buried truths. They discuss siden and duty, and at dawn Canthe outfits them to blend into Carmentum. From the End of Edin, they behold Ungulus and the Eria before starting their search for Siyu.

Questioning bakers leads them to Hazen, who reveals Siyu stayed with her family after helping Hazen’s lost brother, Anyso, in Lasia. The Master of Beasts seized Lalhar and Siyu for the Liongarden. Tunuva, leaving Canthe with baby Lukiri, infiltrates the arena, where Siyu fights wildcats to protect Lalhar.

Tunuva joins the fray, wounding the cats and confronting the Master of Beasts. As Canthe offers to pay for Lalhar’s release, screams rise and wyrms tear into the Liongarden. Tunuva frees caged animals and pulls Siyu underground, then into a city-wide inferno as wyrms torch Carmentum.

They reach the girls’ street to find it destroyed; Tunuva urges Siyu to return to the Priory. Siyu, torn by guilt and fear of Esbar, agrees. At the harbor, Tunuva blinds a wyrm with an arrow, and the group flees the city amid smoke and panic.

Outside the walls, a colossal wyrm—akin to the Nameless One—hunts them. Tunuva shields the group with siden wardings and strikes the beast, nearly spent. Ninuru returns to defend Tunuva, but the wyrm crushes Lalhar, devastating Siyu. As the wyrm moves to kill them, Canthe steps forward and unleashes blinding, cold, lightning-like power—no siden—forcing the wyrm back.

By nightfall, Tunuva, Canthe, Siyu, Ninuru, and Lukiri reach the south end of the Erian Pass on foot, with Carmentum reduced to a ruin. The war has truly begun, and Siyu recommits to the Priory.