After leaving the gala at Brunskar, Maddie feels pleased with the evening and notices again how carefully Apollo has protected and guided her socially. As they reach the sleigh, their light conversation is cut short when Maddie finds she cannot move her feet. Before Apollo can help, a magical force seizes her, Apollo shouts her name, and Maddie vanishes into blackness.

Maddie lands hard in a snowy forest, alone, underdressed for the cold, and quickly realizes she has been deliberately taken. Bird-headed sword-wielding men emerge from the trees and close in on her from several directions. Maddie runs, but the attackers pursue and more seem to be moving ahead of her.

While fleeing, Maddie is stunned to hear Loretta and Meeta calling to her. The two women join her and Meeta arms Maddie with a dagger as they race toward Brunskar. When the creatures catch up, Meeta proves to be a fierce fighter, and Maddie joins the battle, but they soon discover the creatures are sustained by bad magic: severed heads and limbs generate new bodies instead of stopping them. Because maiming multiplies the enemy, the three women are gradually surrounded despite fighting hard.

As the pressure tightens, Loretta is wounded and Maddie believes all three of them are about to die. At that moment, a massive pack of wolves suddenly attacks the bird-headed creatures and then forms a protective ring around Maddie, Loretta, and Meeta. The wolves hold the line for a time, but more enemies keep appearing and the defense begins to fail.

The battle shifts again when the wolves abruptly drop low and Meeta shouts for everyone to get down. Three enormous dragons sweep overhead and blanket the forest in fire, burning away the attackers and leaving the area scorched except for the small space where the women and wolves remain. In the aftermath, a man and a white-blonde woman step out of the smoke, and Maddie recognizes that they must be Finnie and Frey, ending the attack with the arrival of powerful new allies.