Contents
Chapter 40: Nahri
Overview
Nahri and Ali flee through a besieged palace, outpace a monstrous zahhak by flooding the library, and reach Ghassan’s corpse to recover Suleiman’s seal. Confronted by Manizheh—who reveals she is Nahri’s mother and that Nahri is shafit—Nahri feigns surrender, deceives Manizheh with a false ring, slips the real seal onto Ali, and leaps into the lake as marid magic takes them.
Summary
Nahri drags a stunned, injured Ali through the palace, using ancestral magic to reshape corridors. She removes a copper relic from Ali, heals his wounds, and forces him to focus: a Geziri-killing poison is spreading and Ghassan is dead. Ali reveals the Citadel was destroyed by the lake and that most of the Guard is gone.
They take a library shortcut but are chased by a colossal smoky serpent and confronted by a flying zahhak. Nahri commands the palace to seal a door; then, guided by Ali’s plan, she collapses the canal wall, flooding the library. Ali lashes the zahhak apart with water, but ifrit riders arrive, forcing their escape into the book lift.
On a pavilion, three Daeva soldiers taunt them over Ghassan’s abused corpse. Ali, overcome with grief, kills the men. Nahri then cuts open Ghassan’s chest, burns his heart to ash, and recovers Suleiman’s seal—a battered gold ring crowned by a carved black pearl.
Manizheh arrives, dismisses her warriors, reveals herself as a Nahid and Nahri’s mother, and demands surrender. She claims the poison can be contained, threatens Ali, and asserts Nahri is shafit and would die bearing the seal. When Ali defies her, Manizheh magically shatters his knee and forces his own blade toward his throat.
Nahri appears to yield, tossing Manizheh an emerald decoy while secretly slipping the true seal onto Ali’s finger. As Manizheh realizes the ruse, Nahri seizes Ali and leaps from the parapet into the lake. They hit the water hard; marid magic immediately seizes them, and darkness closes in.
Who Appears
- Nahri (Banu Nahri e-Nahid)Protagonist; heals Ali, commands the palace, floods the library, retrieves Suleiman’s seal, and outwits Manizheh by placing the ring on Ali before leaping into the lake.
- Alizayd al Qahtani (Ali)Grief-stricken prince; reveals the Citadel’s fall, wields water to kill a zahhak, slays Daeva soldiers by Ghassan’s body, is maimed and threatened by Manizheh, and receives Suleiman’s seal.
- Manizheh e-NahidNahri’s mother; leads the assault, seals doors with Nahid magic, reveals Nahri is shafit, cripples and controls Ali, demands the seal, and is deceived by a decoy ring.
- Ghassan al QahtaniDead king; his desecrated corpse yields Suleiman’s seal when Nahri burns his heart to ash.
- Daeva warriorsManizheh’s troops; pursue in the palace and confront the pair on the pavilion. Three are killed by Ali after taunting him.
- ZahhakMassive flying beast of smoke and flame; ravages the library until destroyed by Ali’s canal-driven water lash.
- Sahrayn scholarPanicked academic who flees the library and is immediately devoured by the serpent.