Viv, a young orc mercenary, charges ahead of her companions in Rackam's Ravens during a battle against the necromancer Varine the Pale's army of skeletal wights amid the bastion oaks. Reveling in her youth and strength, she counts her kills aloud, cleaving through the undead with saber and maul, intent on reaching the necromancer first.

Her recklessness costs her: a wight's pike pierces her thigh, opening a deep wound. As she collapses, another revenant prepares to crush her with a tower shield. Rackam, the dwarven leader of the company, intervenes at the last moment, killing the wight and chastising Viv before charging onward with the rest of the Ravens, leaving her bleeding alone in the moss.

Viv regains consciousness propped against a tree, having bound her wound with moss. Rackam returns and explains his theory that unscarred new recruits often die from their first serious mistake. He informs her that Varine wasn't even present—the fight was a diversion—and the company is heading north to pursue her. Viv is being sent to a nearby sea town to recover.

Rackam tells Viv that if she heals and is still in town when the Ravens return in a few weeks, she can rejoin them; otherwise, there is no shame in walking away from mercenary life. Stung but chastened, Viv holds her tongue, setting up her enforced convalescence in the coastal town.