65. Running West

Kinch recovers Bully Boy and joins Deadlegs and Mireya tending Galva. Deadlegs repairs Galva’s shattered back and poisoned eye through an elaborate ritual that also reforges Galva’s staff, leaving Galva stronger and her injured eye paler. Galva pays solemn respect to Yorbez’s body.

Exhausted from heavy magic, Deadlegs stabilizes the wounded giantess Misfa with powder from Norrigal’s pack. In barbed, intimate exchanges, Deadlegs hints and Kinch realizes that Deadlegs and Norrigal are the same witch across time. Deadlegs bites Kinch as a token and presses him to hide from the Guild and learn the murder-book’s secrets.

When a band of giants arrives, Deadlegs insists on negotiation, not battle. She instructs Kinch to crack a sleeper tattoo on Misfa, and—guided by her—he works his strongest magic yet, freeing a living stallion, later named Ēsclaer. The giants are awed, and Deadlegs speaks to the stone, enlarging the cave mouth to allow passage.

Deadlegs and Mireya mount the stallion and depart to find the Ispanthian army, aiming to rally it against Kalith by presenting Mireya as rightful queen. Deadlegs promises to try to shield Kinch’s family. With little magic left, she falls asleep as Mireya leads her away.

Kinch, carrying the volatile book and Bully Boy, and Galva, newly restored and tasked by Mireya to protect him, run west toward the giantlands. They set out under darkening skies, resolved to evade the Takers and to expose whatever truths the book contains.