Chapter Ten

In Pale’s Vimkaros Inn, Toc meets a very-much-alive Captain Paran. They exchange secrets: Paran’s survival was hidden by Whiskeyjack and Tattersail; Toc warns that Lorn’s mission and Tool’s presence threaten more than Sorry—eliminating the Bridgeburners could spark mutiny and unravel the Genabackan campaign. Paran resolves to catch Tattersail and reach Whiskeyjack first, and Toc insists on joining, securing Wickan horses and a discreet exit.

On the Rhivi Plain, Tattersail’s High Thyr Warren is smothered by a growing dead zone from Tool’s Eldering aura, forcing her to ground. She is intercepted by Bellurdan, sent by Tayschrenn to arrest—or kill—her. In a fraught exchange, Bellurdan reveals he researched fragments of Gothos’ Folly and located a buried Jaghut Tyrant east of Darujhistan. Concluding Lorn’s true aim converges there, Tattersail chooses a desperate escape: she opens her Warren and embraces Bellurdan, triggering a towering, multi-Warren conflagration and attempting a soul-shift into the preserved remains carried in Bellurdan’s sack.

Far off, Lorn and Tool witness the pillar of sorcery; Tool senses destruction coupled with a new presence born from it. In Brood’s camp, Crone reports on campaigns and Oponn’s Coin, prompting Brood to seek the Crimson Guard’s Sixth Blade. Later, flying south, Crone finds Great Ravens being incinerated by a small, soul-shifted puppet wielding Chaos; she tests it, is battered, and hastens to inform Anomander Rake.

Riding out, Paran and Toc reach the blast site and discover two charred bodies locked together—Tattersail and Bellurdan—and childlike, skeletal footprints leading away from Nightchill’s burlap shroud. Grief-stricken, Paran blames Lorn and Tayschrenn, swears vengeance, and the pair ride on toward Darujhistan.

Elsewhere, Tool warns the Adjunct that Elder magic pierces his defenses and that complacency is fatal; he frames the escalating phenomena as convergence—power drawing power—while Lorn steels herself to continue despite the hunting presence on the plain.