Before dawn, Viv and Gallina leave The Perch to meet a mule-drawn wagon bound for a farm plagued by spinebacks. On the ride, Viv shares biscuits with Gallina, who reluctantly recounts how mercenaries she joined in Cardus abandoned her in a rocktoad-infested ravine and claimed a bounty without her. Viv sympathizes, deepening their bond. Viv also worries about Rackam not arriving and tries to dispel the lingering haze of her recovery.

They arrive at the farm of Meg, a tall, lean woman whose sheep are vanishing at night without broken fences or much blood—details that make Viv skeptical it's truly spinebacks. Leaving the driver with Meg, Viv, Gallina, and the reanimated Satchel head south toward a meadow and suspected den. Satchel reveals unexpected capabilities: pointed phalanges and an alert, predatory poise.

Satchel locates a burrow strewn with old bone splinters and confirms spinebacks are inside. Viv shouts to lure them out. One spineback is shattered by Blackblood, Gallina engages another, but a fourth ambushes Viv from a hidden exit, knocking her down and disarming her. As the beast nearly bites her, Satchel unleashes his power, hurling countless bone fragments that shred the creature. Viv is stunned by his lethal capability.

Examining the four corpses, Viv notes they are starved and gaunt—seemingly driven into hiding by something else. The bounty is fulfilled, but Viv is uneasy. Returning toward the farm, she catches the scent of "winter blood" and finds the missing sheep slaughtered in a hidden clearing alongside something far more sinister. She rushes to Meg, sketches Varine's diamond-and-horns sigil in the dirt, and Meg's startled recognition confirms the necromancer's presence. Viv urgently demands to know how long ago.