Alone beyond the firelight, Gabriel was ambushed and passionately kissed by Astrid, who begged for “just a mouthful” of blood. Gabriel admitted his love but refused, insisting he needed strength to keep Dior safe and reach San Michon. Astrid accused him of forgetting why he left Patience and her, wept bloody tears, and warned he was coming apart; when Dior arrived, Astrid vanished like a wraith.

Dior, alarmed, found Gabriel bleeding from a bitten lip and questioned him. Frayed and irritable, Gabriel snapped at her and at Ashdrinker, whose voice warned of his unraveling. Back at the fire, Dior asked to be taught swordplay, arguing she did not want others to fight her battles; Gabriel refused harshly, further straining tensions.

Before the quarrel could escalate, Gabriel detected distant, thunder-like footsteps. As the sounds grew nearer, he hastily prepared Fortuna, and they fled into the storm. A horde of aberrant, blighted creatures—spider-limbed, many-mouthed, with lantern eyes and pustular flesh—pursued them through the weald.

Riding hard in near-whiteout conditions, Dior prayed while Gabriel guided Fortuna by lantern, warning her not to look back. The mare’s steadiness kept them ahead of the pack, but the trees suddenly thinned and Fortune carried them over an unseen cliff. All three fell into a dark ravine.

During the fall, Gabriel wrapped himself around Dior as they crashed through a pine, suffering severe lacerations and a snapped femur, while Dior was knocked unconscious and bled from a head wound. They landed in deep snow at the weald’s edge; the monstrous pack did not immediately appear below. With no shelter or fuel and lethal cold setting in, Gabriel reset his protruding femur bone, bound his leg using Ashdrinker as a splint, and fought through blinding pain.

Discovering Fortuna mortally fallen nearby, Gabriel dragged Dior to the mare, checked her for major injuries, and then disemboweled the horse to use the carcass for warmth. He placed the stripped and freezing Dior inside the body cavity, pried open the ribs, and climbed in as well, pulling viscera over himself for insulation. He thanked the mare, took Dior’s hand within the grisly shelter, and resolved to wait and heal through the night until dawn.