Chapter 48

Galva wakes under a riverbank overhang far from Haros Horn, half-frozen, soaked, and seeing from one eye. Dalgatha, who slowed Galva’s fall into the Coufre, nurses her with scavenged cloaks and firewood. Galva recognizes severe injuries—missing teeth, a chewed tongue, and a dangerous goblin bite above her greave.

Determined to live and fight, Galva tests her legs and inspects Dalgatha’s healing gash. She fails at speech but communicates enough for Dalgatha to fetch swords, later securing a spadín that fits her scabbard. A brown bear approaches; Galva, projecting lethal intent with shield and knife, bluffs it away.

Haunted by Nouva and fallen comrades and conflicted about a mission that seemed to ask for her death, Galva chooses survival. She makes a risky fire, then heats her knife and cauterizes each puncture of the goblin bite, passing out from pain. She wakes to Dalgatha’s salmon and manages a hot meal, regaining some strength and resolve.

The fire’s smoke rises near the bridge, drawing unseen searchers. Over two days, Dalgatha continues to forage and supply. Then the lecherous, thin-mustached “man” who once stole Galva’s rose in Goltay—truly a monkey in disguise—peeks in and withdraws. At nightfall, his queen arrives, signaling an impending encounter that may redirect Galva’s path.