In the street outside the house, General Banner advances on Odessa with his sword while Odessa, burdened with gear, arms herself with knives and shields Evie and Faze. Banner attacks with lethal precision, but Odessa relies on months of training with Ransom and Tillia to block and evade. When Banner’s attention flickers toward Evie, Odessa positions herself to protect the child and urges Banner to take Brielle and flee, but he vows to take his revenge and continues the assault.

Odessa shifts from defense to offense, feints, and cuts Banner’s thigh and bicep. Banner then switches tactics, drawing a throwing knife. As Zavier suddenly appears and charges Banner, Banner hurls the knife and it buries in Zavier’s gut. Simultaneously, Odessa drives her knives into Banner’s abdomen, killing him. Zavier collapses, bleeding heavily; Evie rushes to him, and Odessa tries in vain to stanch the wound. With no help coming, Zavier uses his last breaths to tell Evie he loves her and urges Odessa to run, then dies in the street.

Odessa retrieves her satchel and Faze, wrests a screaming Evie away from Zavier’s body, and navigates burning streets and panicked civilians while a massive female crux brutally kills townspeople, including a baker whose head is severed mid-flight. The crux tears roofs from homes and blocks paths, pushing Odessa and Evie closer to the main road as they make for the barracks and the dungeons to reach safety.

Along the spikes near the main road, Odessa spots Brielle carrying Odessa’s knives. Brielle drops the blades, looks to the sky, and is silently seized and carried away by the crux. Reeling, Odessa presses on with Evie, sprinting across gore-strewn ground toward the barracks as the crux dives to attack. Ransom arrives at the last moment, tackles Odessa and Evie out of the crux’s path, and checks them for injuries. Odessa tells him Zavier is dead, and Ransom, anguished, realizes Odessa is not safe in Turah if the crux are drawn to her.

Ransom urges Odessa to flee, removes his Allesaria road cuff, and fastens it on her wrist. He instructs her to walk by the light of the moon Aurinda toward Treow, to wait at the encampment, and if he does not arrive by the day after tomorrow, to take Evie out of Turah and “do what needs to be done,” even knowing it could change Calandra forever. After a brief, desperate farewell—Ransom declaring love to Evie and Odessa—he turns to fight as the crux lands behind him.

Ransom holds the crux at bay long enough for Odessa and Evie to run through the barracks toward the dungeons. When Odessa looks back, the crux soars above the walls with Ransom clutched in her talons, leaving Odessa heartbroken but still forcing herself to believe he will prevail. She reaches the dungeon, finds the hidden tunnel, and lights a lantern to enter.

Inside the tunnel, Odessa and Evie encounter Brother Dime, who has Freya, Odessa’s horse. He orders Odessa to come with him without touching her, confirming Ramsey’s claim that Brother Dime wants Odessa for unknown reasons possibly tied to her mother. Trusting Ransom’s past reliance on the Voster if not Dime himself, Odessa mounts with Evie and Faze. Brother Dime extinguishes the lantern with a gesture and leads them out through the tunnel hatch into the night and the forest.