Nesryn scouts the Ferian Gap from the air with Salkhi while Borte and Arcas approach from the north. The Gap, hidden between the Northern Fang and the Omega, appears bleak and silent rather than like an active wyvern-breeding stronghold. Behind the scouts, half of the allied army waits exposed on the plain with the Avery River at its back, making a failed battle potentially disastrous.

Nesryn searches for sentries, wyverns, and signs of Morath’s aerial legion, while the second half of the army is supposed to approach from the west through the mountains. The allied plan depends on drawing Morath’s forces onto the plain and crushing them between the two armies, aided by Aelin and the Fae. Instead, repeated passes through the Gap reveal no visible enemy at all, as if the force has disappeared.

Meanwhile, Chaol travels with the western column through the White Fangs, guided by wild men who know the dangerous passes. The army reaches the western plains and moves north toward the Gap, uneasy in the hollow silence of the Wastes. Kai warns Chaol that they are a day away and that the coming night will be their greatest risk because there is no good place to hide the army.

Aelin rides up with Gavriel and Fenrys and reassures Chaol that she, Rowan, and the Fae have been drawing on their power to protect the army overnight, especially the healers’ wagons where Yrene rides. After Aelin returns to Rowan, Gavriel speaks privately with Chaol about Chaol’s impending fatherhood and urges him to savor every moment. Their conversation turns to Aedion, and Chaol encourages Gavriel to keep hoping for forgiveness, contrasting Gavriel’s care with Chaol’s own bitter experience of his father.

The conversation ends when two large shapes appear in the sky and the army nearly fires on them. Rowan identifies the riders as Nesryn and Borte, who land with their ice-crusted ruks. Nesryn and Borte report that they have searched the Gap multiple times and found it empty except for a few signs of remaining activity, likely from breeders or trainers. The Ironteeth legion and wyverns are gone, prompting Rowan to insist they must learn what the remaining people know.