Chapter 18

Amina is seized by Falco’s altered mercenaries and brought to his beach camp. Falco, courteous yet chilling, confirms her identity and treats her as the key to leaving Socotra. He questions her about the Marawati and her crew, while flaunting knowledge of her companions.

Falco recounts his crusading past, disillusionment, and obsessive quest for ancient power, proposing that Amina join him to forge a new order. To prove his claims, he orders Yazid to demonstrate superhuman strength, knotting an iron poker and uprooting a tree, revealing Falco’s men have been empowered by his sorcery.

Pressing for Amina’s ship, Falco shifts from persuasion to threats. When she refuses, his men bind her, and Falco forces a writhing, gray-blue potion into her mouth, beginning a transformation meant to enslave her to a sea entity. She awakens on the shore among men visibly warped by the magic, as they dig a pit and fill it with sea scorpions for a summoning rite.

As Amina is dragged to the pit, Tinbu’s arrow-bombs detonate the bonfire, sowing chaos. Amina escapes her captors amid flames and screams. Falco stands stunned, but Amina chooses flight over a desperate strike and runs toward her rescuers.

Dalila cuts Amina’s bonds while Tinbu covers them with explosive arrows. A monstrous sea howl crushes Amina’s chest with pain—the potion’s sting coursing inside her. Raksh arrives, curses Falco’s recklessness, and magically extracts a glistening stinger from Amina’s chest, severing the binding. As a vast armored shape rises from the ocean, Raksh hoists Amina and orders a retreat, and the trio flee into the dark hills.