Manon Blackbeak wakes in Oakwald still strapped to Abraxos, badly wounded from her grandmother’s attack and weak from blood loss. Abraxos has carried her near a stream and watches over her while Manon forces herself to focus on survival: freeing herself from the saddle, cleaning and staunching the wound, and finding water.

After losing consciousness again, Manon wakes at twilight under Abraxos’s wing. With Abraxos’s help, Manon stands and staggers tree to tree toward the nearby stream, refusing to leave Wind-Cleaver behind despite the pain. Manon drinks, but the effort reopens her wounds and leaves Manon barely able to move.

A strange, beautiful auburn-haired woman appears across the stream and identifies herself as the Dark King’s Bloodhound. The Bloodhound says Erawan sent the Bloodhound to bring Manon, his “crowned rider,” back to him, and implies Erawan could reshape Manon’s blood and body as he has reshaped the Bloodhound.

The woman’s glamour falls away, revealing a pale, winged, inhuman tracker built for scenting prey across vast distances. The Bloodhound attacks, but Manon dodges between two trees, causing the Bloodhound’s wings and body to become wedged in the narrow space. Manon uses the brief opening to run back toward Abraxos.

Abraxos launches as Manon throws herself into Abraxos’s claws, lifting Manon above the forest before the Bloodhound can reach her. When the Bloodhound breaks free and takes to the air, Abraxos dives and strikes the Bloodhound with Abraxos’s poisoned tail, shredding the Bloodhound’s wings and sending the Bloodhound crashing into the forest.

The Bloodhound screams that the Bloodhound will find Manon, but Manon and Abraxos keep flying until the threat fades behind them. Manon straps herself onto Abraxos and orders Abraxos toward the coast, seeking somewhere safe, but Manon’s wound begins bleeding harder and Manon loses consciousness again.