Saeris Fane panics when she realizes Hayden has disappeared with the bag containing the stolen gold gauntlet. She hurries through the Third toward The Mirage, passing traders and posters offering rewards for suspected magic users, and fears Hayden may have tried to sell the armor to the dangerous artifact-buyer Vorath Shah.

A distant scream from the east convinces Saeris Hayden is in trouble, and she breaks into a full run. Guardians spot her and give chase, shouting for others to stop her, but locals in the Third refuse to help the queen’s men. Saeris pushes herself toward The Mirage, certain the guardians’ sudden presence is connected to Hayden.

Saeris arrives to find a large phalanx of Madra’s city guards outside The Mirage, surrounding Hayden as he backs against the tavern door with the gauntlet in his hand. The captain demands Hayden surrender the queen’s property, threatening to kill him if he refuses, and Saeris realizes that whether Hayden hands it over or runs, he will be taken or cut down.

Saeris steps forward and claims she stole the gauntlet and that Hayden only carried her bag, but Hayden tries to take the blame to protect her. The captain ends the argument by ordering his men to restrain Saeris, and Saeris—refusing to be subdued—draws a hidden dagger, knowingly escalating the situation into a death sentence.

Saeris fights three guards: she kills one by striking a gap in his armor at the neck, takes his sword, and then cuts off another guardian’s sword hand. She duels the third, a quiet, predatory fighter who presses her hard and wounds her collarbone, but Saeris shifts tactics and slashes his thigh, bleeding him out. The captain announces Saeris has now earned a death warrant for killing and maiming the queen’s guards; Saeris lies to Hayden that she will return, then cruelly berates him to force him to flee and find an unnamed “old man” who needs to be told what happened.