After Petyr is clawed in the lake, Ravyn, Jespyr, Wik, and Gorse struggle to save him. The wound reeks of rot, bleeds uncontrollably, and resists ordinary treatment; even Jespyr cauterizing the injury with a heated knife only makes the wound reopen and bleed faster.

Ravyn begs the Nightmare for help, but the Nightmare first seems distant and unfocused. When the Nightmare finally responds, the Nightmare tells Ravyn to make Petyr use the Maiden Card. Ravyn presses the Card into Petyr’s hand and triggers it, and the poison stops, the wound closes, and Petyr’s old scars and imperfections vanish along with the injury.

While the others react to Petyr’s miraculous healing, the Nightmare mutters as though speaking to someone unseen. Gorse notices Ravyn’s hidden Nightmare Card in the mud, forcing Ravyn to retrieve and use it. Through the Card, Ravyn hears Elspeth’s voice, confirming that Elspeth is alive, but the Nightmare intervenes and shuts Ravyn out of her mind.

Furious, Ravyn attacks the Nightmare and threatens him, but the Nightmare only mocks Ravyn’s crumbling control. Later, the group moves away from the lake, cleans up, eats, and takes aspen bark to counter any lake water they swallowed. Ravyn is shaken but deeply relieved because Elspeth’s voice proves she still exists inside the Nightmare’s control.

At camp, Gorse becomes openly suspicious of Ravyn’s secret Cards, especially the Nightmare Card and Mirror Card. Ravyn intimidates Gorse by entering Gorse’s mind with Nightmare magic, which silences him temporarily but worsens the distrust. After the group changes clothes, the Nightmare reveals that Gorse has fled, likely to report Ravyn’s possession of the Nightmare Card to the King; Ravyn chooses not to pursue him and instead presses onward toward Twin Alders.