59 South

Tunuva rides into burning Jrhanyam, witnessing corpses, panic, and the Priory and Ersyri soldiers straining to hold the walls. In the Royal Fort, Queen Daraniya, Apaya uq-Nāra, and terrified granddaughters await news as Tunuva vows defense. Tunuva then fights through the city, joining Esbar and the sisters at the Dawn Gate where ichneumons tear down climbing beasts and Tunuva wards fire.

As night falls, Dedalugun, the great wyrm leading the assault, approaches. On Izi’s urging, they use catapults to strike it, forcing a retreat from the palace. Believing the wyrm is the nexus for the bonded horde, Tunuva gives Esbar Mulsub, Suttu’s starlit spear. From the cliffs, Esbar hurls Mulsub into Dedalugun’s breast while Tunuva shields them with magic. The wyrm flees north with the spear, and its departure breaks the siege.

Survivors emerge into a devastated city; the Priory and ichneumons tend wounds in royal tombs amid dwindling food and water. Plans form to move people through the water tunnels toward the Spindles and the Wareda Valley. Canthe arrives with supplies, confirms Mulsub’s sterren-touched nature, and proposes a reconnaissance to the West to assess wyrm movements—also hinting a boy in Inys may be Tunuva’s lost birthson.

Torn by resurging grief, Tunuva asks Esbar to let her go with Canthe. Esbar argues the claim is impossible and begs Tunuva to stay and lead in the South. Tunuva, needing certainty about the child, decides to leave on the mission despite Esbar’s warning it will break her heart. The choice opens a painful rift between lovers and leaders as Esbar turns back to the war and Tunuva to her search.