In the Tangun Mountain Pass at night, Euyn hears a humanlike cry and fears it could be a samroc. Mikail moves toward the sound anyway, insisting it is a child, while Euyn prepares his bow and worries the situation is bait for an ambush.

They find a small boy, Kito, alone and shaken. Euyn’s suspicion deepens because the pass is dangerous and far from town, but Mikail questions Kito gently about his parents. Kito’s glance leads Euyn to a nearby wagon wreck: a mule slaughtered, Kito’s father dead with his throat slit, and Kito’s mother found murdered and sexually violated. Euyn confirms there are no other survivors at the site.

Kito explains that armed men attacked, and that his sister and brother were taken; he blames himself for hiding. Mikail reassures Kito that he could not have fought armed men and asks which way the attackers went, but Kito does not know. Euyn presses for details, noting the wagon’s direction into the pass and thinking the scene feels staged because slavers would not usually leave a child behind.

Mikail decides Kito will travel with them, offering to bring him home to Gale, and shuts down Euyn’s objections with an ultimatum: Euyn can accept the boy or go alone. Mikail then delivers a practiced, grave comfort to Kito about surviving, carrying the dead in his heart, and leaving before the attackers return, which unsettles Euyn and makes him wonder what Mikail has done in his past as a spy.

Mikail sets Kito on his donkey and leads it by the reins as they move past the carnage, with Euyn riding alongside. As they are nearly clear of the bodies, Kito whispers a single warning—“Run”—signaling immediate danger and validating Euyn’s fear that something worse is closing in.