Glennis orders the Crochans to stand down and leads Manon into the camp. Manon observes Crochan witches doing ordinary camp work, while Dorian walks beside her and quietly asks whether Manon knew she still had Crochan kin. Manon says she did not, and Dorian advises that the Crochans must be won differently than Ironteeth witches, not through brutality.

Dorian also makes clear that he is ready to defend Manon if the Crochans turn on them. Before Manon can answer, warning horns sound and wyvern wings thunder overhead. Two Yellowlegs covens have found the camp, forcing the Crochans, the Thirteen, Manon, and Dorian into an immediate battle.

The Crochans take to the sky on brooms while the Thirteen race to their wyverns. Dorian uses ice magic from the ground, careful not to strike allies, while Glennis commands the Crochans with confidence and skill. When Manon orders the Crochans to pull low and form ranks, Glennis backs the command, allowing the Thirteen to tear into the Yellowlegs with disciplined violence while the Crochans shoot down enemies who try to break through.

During the battle, Dorian kills wyverns with magic but is shaken when Manon beheads a Yellowlegs rider. The severed head triggers Dorian’s traumatic memory of Sorscha’s execution, leaving him frozen as a wyvern bears down on him. When the beast tries to swallow him, Dorian’s magic erupts and transforms his body into living flame, burning through the wyvern from within and killing it.

After the fighting ends, Manon checks Dorian, then turns to Glennis and sends her Shadows to scout for more enemies. Bronwen, a hostile Crochan, accuses Manon of bringing the Ironteeth to the camp. Manon swears she did not lead them there, and Glennis accepts the oath, but Dorian feels Damaris go cold in his hand, revealing that Manon has lied. As the Crochans collect their wounded and dead, Dorian helps heal them, unsettled by both the battle and Manon’s deception.