Recovering with Mustang, Darrow decides he must win followers rather than slaves, aligning his tactics with the rebellion he imagines beyond the Institute. After Mustang’s fever breaks, they head north, making noise to lure roving Oathbreakers. When a band attempts to ambush them, Darrow and Mustang spring a trap, subduing the scouts and parleying with their leader, Milia. Mustang demonstrates she can erase slave marks, and Darrow offers equality and protection in exchange for allegiance, recruiting Milia, Dax, and others.

Over a week they gather ten Oathbreakers and watch from afar as Mars and Jupiter waste strength in flashy cavalry clashes near Ceres and the Argos. Seeing Cassius excel but squander advantage, Darrow mocks their tactics and chooses a different approach: speed and overwhelming, targeted strikes.

They fell trees to block the Metas bridge and lie in wait in white wolfcloaks. When Cassius sends mostly slaves to clear the crossing, Darrow’s team charges from the woods, swiftly unseating highDrafts including Cipio and flipping the workers by converting their marks with Mustang’s standard. In the melee they wrestle down Pax au Telemanus and free him as well, then withdraw into the hills while Phobos and Deimos raise alarms.

That night, Darrow scales Castle Mars alone, convinces a Minerva-born slave sentry to ignore him by flashing his Mars ring and invoking Virginia’s name, and prowls the keep. He carves slingBlade sigils on doors, marks Cassius’s chair with a skull and a knife, and slips away as Mustang ignites a hillside blaze shaped like the Reaper’s weapon—reasserting his legend and signaling for Sevro to find him.