Saeris wakes in agony while Kingfisher carries her down the mountainside away from the Hazrax. When Saeris notices small paw prints in the snow, Saeris begs to be put down, and Onyx, restored to life, leaps into her arms. Kingfisher confirms Saeris succeeded in doing something unprecedented, though the Hazrax rune is gone and Saeris's other runes are wounded.

Voices from Ajun warn that a "black tide" is coming. Belikon's guards are climbing the mountain, so Saeris, Kingfisher, and Onyx run for Ajun's closed gates. The gates open just in time, and Renfis greets Kingfisher as his brother; once everyone is inside, Ajun's wards repel Belikon's soldiers, magic, arrows, and spears.

As Renfis leads them through Ajun, Renfis explains why Renfis vanished after leaving Cahlish. An oath mark burned on Renfis's chest and called Renfis back to serve the Orrithian. Kingfisher explains that after Renfis buried Renfis's twin sister Merelle on the mountain, Ajun considered Renfis one of its own, making Renfis eligible to be summoned as a knight who guards not the city gate, but another gate.

Renfis and Kingfisher reveal that Ajun exists around a portal to another realm. Long ago, the uncontrollable gate allowed monsters into Yvelia, so the Knights of Orrithian were created to ward it. Kingfisher then discloses that Belikon once forced eleven-year-old Kingfisher, newly oath-bound and grieving Kingfisher's mother, into the pool without Kingfisher's protective relic, intending to dispose of Kingfisher; Kingfisher returned changed, with silver-rimmed eyes and lasting damage.

Renfis explains that the gate has opened again: a creature killed all six knights on watch and dragged their bodies through, and since then the gate has opened daily for three hours. Because the wards may soon fail and because brimstone is needed to fight the rot, Renfis brings Saeris and Kingfisher to the gate. Saeris accepts that Saeris must go, while Kingfisher accepts the consequences too; in Saeris's mind, Kingfisher becomes fully Khydan.

Renfis opens the door, revealing a foul, organic black pool unlike the other quicksilver basins. Onyx panics, and Saeris asks where the portal leads. Khydan answers that the undergods and dragons there call it Diaxis, but Khydan has always called it hell.