Chapter 68

Traveling toward Gore after hard days on the Path, Raeve has thrown out Pyrok’s flasks and resolves to keep Kaan from chasing her past. Ahvi sleeps off the taxing dragon flight, and Noeve leads the cart through misted passes while Raeve worries about Kaan’s many burdens.

They overtake fleeing carts whose passengers look shaken. Ahvi, overwhelmed by others’ emotions, senses a Fade barricade ahead where soldiers are seizing bloodstone from travelers. Raeve hides Ahvi and the hatchling in a rune-etched compartment beneath the cart; Ahvi raises a silver shield to muffle them.

At the gate, soldiers extort multiple pouches of bloodstone from Noeve and ransack the cart and cushions. Despite paying, they insist on further searches. A stray hatchling squawk gives them away, and one soldier recognizes Raeve as the Ath survivor.

Raeve unleashes Clode, who blasts a guard off the precipice. The soldiers attack; Kaan redirects a fire weald back onto its caster, incinerating him, while Raeve shapes stone spears that skewer guards beyond the gate. Together they cut down the contingent, Kaan finishing foes with decapitations as Raeve assesses her crude stonework.

With the runed gate still closed, Ahvi confirms he can open it. Noeve orders Raeve and Kaan to wash off the blood and replace the seat, demanding repayment for ruined cushions as they prepare to push through.