The forward section of the Transvect explodes, flames blasting through shattered windows as Ulciscor curses and acts. He uncovers an access hatch and ushers Vis onto a narrow stone support beneath the carriage, sealing the inferno above them. As the treetops rush up, Ulciscor embraces Vis and jumps, twisting to take the impact through branches and mud.

They survive the fall battered but mobile. Ulciscor identifies the cause as a Will shell likely hidden in the section ahead. Despite injury and exhaustion, he insists they reach the wreck to try manual overrides if the core mechanisms still function. In the storm-lashed forest, they follow the Transvect’s gouged path and burning debris toward the front.

Circling cautiously, Vis spots four men near the forward cars. Ulciscor confronts them; the spokesman, Sacro, claims they were on-board maintenance, fixing misaligned Will pylons. Ulciscor, convinced he is lying, kills Sacro instantly with an unseen strike, asserting control and demanding the truth from the others.

A faint buzz precedes an arrow striking Ulciscor’s left leg. To Vis’s shock, the Magnus Quintus collapses face-first and remains down, an abrupt incapacitation out of proportion to the wound. The three remaining men scramble for cover, alarmed by both the killing and the unseen archer. In tense silence, they argue over fleeing versus retaliation.

Helmfrid, hard-eyed, ignores warnings about Ulciscor’s rank and steps out with a drawn blade, intent on finishing him. Vis stays hidden, weighing the danger from both the hostile men and the unknown archer as the situation teeters toward violence, leaving Ulciscor vulnerable and their mission imperiled.