Contents
Chapter 19: Dara
Overview
Dara finalizes plans with Manizheh to attack Daevabad during Navasatem, but a Geziri assassination attempt kills Mardoniye. Manizheh demonstrates a lethal copper vapor that targets Geziri relic-bearers and tasks Kaveh to kill Ghassan with it. When Dara discovers the toxin’s uncontrollable spread, he confronts Manizheh, who accepts mass casualties and reveals Jamshid is her son, forcing Dara’s reluctant compliance.
Summary
Dara, Manizheh, and Kaveh set the assault for the second night of Navasatem, counting on a moonless sky and a city dulled by celebration. Dara worries about Nahri’s safety, while the ifrit Aeshma and Vizaresh confirm their roles controlling ghouls. Tension spikes over Dara’s past enslavement by Qandisha.
Their camp erupts when Abu Sayf seizes a zulfiqar and lunges at Manizheh. Mardoniye intercepts but is mortally struck, and Manizheh shatters Abu Sayf’s hand. Unable to heal a zulfiqar wound, Dara comforts Mardoniye as he dies. Furious, Dara prepares to torture the captured Geziris, but Manizheh intervenes.
Manizheh demonstrates her long-worked serum: a copper vapor that seeks Geziri relics, dissolves them, and lethally compresses the brain. She kills Abu Sayf and the second scout to prove it, then equips Kaveh with a disguised ring to release the vapor near Ghassan, killing all Geziris present. Dara is shaken by the cruelty and scale.
That night, Irtemiz alerts Dara that a faint copper fog blankets the valley. He confronts Manizheh, who admits she cannot fully contain the toxin and that its timing is meant to maximize effect—potentially slaughtering Geziris across the palace and city. Dara pleads for restraint; Manizheh argues decisive terror is necessary to win and deter all tribes.
The argument turns personal: Dara accuses her of becoming monstrous; Manizheh threatens broader use of the poison. When Dara moves to stop Kaveh, Manizheh halts him and reveals Jamshid is her son, long hidden and magically suppressed, now suffering from Dara’s arrows. Crushed by guilt and trapped by her ultimatum, Dara abandons open defiance and asks what to tell his soldiers.
Who Appears
- Darayavahoush (Dara)Afshin commander; plans the Navasatem assault, loses Mardoniye, witnesses Manizheh’s poison, opposes mass killing, learns Jamshid is Manizheh’s son, reluctantly yields.
- Banu ManizhehNahid leader; survives assassination attempt, unveils copper vapor targeting Geziri relics, orders Kaveh to kill Ghassan, accepts mass casualties, reveals Jamshid is her son.
- Kaveh e-PramukhGrand wazir; complicit in the plan, tasked to assassinate Ghassan with a poison-filled ring despite fear.
- MardoniyeYoung Daeva warrior; shields Manizheh, is fatally struck by a zulfiqar, honored by Dara with a funeral pyre.
- Abu SayfGeziri scout; attempts to kill Manizheh, kills Mardoniye, then dies to Manizheh’s copper vapor.
- HamzaYounger Geziri scout; bound and executed by Manizheh’s copper vapor after Abu Sayf’s failure.
- AeshmaIfrit ally; trades barbs with Dara, underscores the camp’s uneasy reliance on ifrit support.
- VizareshIfrit; promises to control ghouls and provides a ring design to deploy Manizheh’s poison.
- IrtemizDaeva archer; checks on Dara and alerts him that the copper vapor is spreading across the valley.