Chapter 30

Kazhimyr and Ravezio trail the suspicious Elvyniran, Dravien, toward Wyntertide, mistrusting his uncanny navigation and motives. At the city’s edge they part for the night, and once clear of his hearing, decide to avoid him and make their own way to Wintergrave, Morwenna Rydainn’s impoverished castle.

In the market square they spot Torryn being shadowed by three cloaked men. Circling to cut them off, Kazhimyr uses mist-ice to upend the pursuers and hauls Torryn out. Torryn admits he stole the Blood Lineage Codex from a university’s secretive scholars at Dolion’s request.

At Wintergrave, they find Dolion haggard and manic, his chamber walls scrawled with symbols. He describes a vision of the Gods’ Glyph, a composite of ancient destructive counters—Eye of Nethyria, serpent’s tooth, sablefyre, and more—capable of rivaling the septomir and tearing down the Umbravale if powered by sablefyre.

Dolion explains that Cadavros long sought this glyph, which clarifies his interest in Zevander’s black flame and the Emberforge. He reveals Cadavros lives in Mortasia, cannot be safely killed, and has blood-bound himself with Prince Dorjan to unleash the black pestilence if he dies. If Jeret executes Dorjan, catastrophe follows. Dolion also identifies Cadavros’s birth name as Alastor Calzareth, a spindling, and notes a sister, Melisara, of unknown fate.

Dolion calculates that mastering the glyph would demand tremendous vivicantem: too much risks Carnifican corruption; too little means annihilation. He fears Zevander’s reserves are dwindling in Mortasia. Rykaia insists on joining a rescue, but Kazhimyr overrules her. The plan is set: Kazhimyr and Ravezio will enter Mortasia to retrieve Zevander, while Dolion, Torryn, Rykaia, and Allura depart for Calyxar. Dolion concludes that Maevyth may be the only one able to keep Zevander from madness.