Chapter 6: The Martyr
Contains spoilersOverview
Eo is executed, defiantly shouting “Break the chains,” and the HC broadcast unexpectedly echoes her message, turning her into a martyr. Grief-stricken, Darrow retrieves and secretly buries her in the hidden garden. He then submits to his own execution; Uncle Narol quietly helps end his suffering, deepening the story’s turn from hope to martyrdom.
Summary
Eo is led to the gallows while Darrow watches, refusing to react. When asked for last words, Eo calls her sister, Dio, instead of Darrow. After a private exchange, Eo faces the crowd, produces the crushed haemanthus, and shouts, “Break the chains!” The trapdoor drops; Darrow pulls her legs to spare her, and the Fading Dirge resounds as the Golds depart.
Through the night, family keeps vigil to prevent Darrow’s suicide, but he slips out via a childhood tunnel. The HC broadcast replays the flogging and Eo’s song; the feed flickers as if hacked, repeating Eo’s cry, amplifying her martyrdom. In the street, Uncle Narol confronts Darrow, urges restraint, shares a flask of thick swill, and walks him toward the Common, parting with a somber “Break the chains.”
Darrow cuts Eo down with a stolen slingBlade. Women at the Webbery silently aid him as he carries her through the ventilation duct to the hidden garden. There, at the place of their secret joy, he buries Eo beneath a tree, placing the haemanthus and taking her headband as a keepsake before returning home at dawn.
Back in the township, grief erupts: Kieran strikes Darrow, Loran collapses, and Darrow’s mother feeds him in wordless sorrow. Ugly Dan arrives and takes Darrow to a public hanging. Dizzy and slow, Darrow calls Dio for his last words; she claims Eo said she loved him as their mother signals a secret is being withheld.
The trapdoor falls. The rope bites; Kieran rushes forward, but Uncle Narol stops him. With a wink to Darrow, Narol pulls his feet to end the suffering. Darrow’s final thought is a hope they do not bury him.
Who Appears
- Darrow
Protagonist; witnesses Eo’s execution, retrieves and buries her, then submits to his own hanging.
- Eo
Darrow’s wife; hanged after shouting “Break the chains,” becoming a martyr; later buried in the hidden garden.
- Uncle Narol
Tries to dissuade Darrow, shares a flask, then ends Darrow’s suffering by pulling his feet.
- Dio
Eo’s sister; summoned for final words and later tells Darrow Eo said she loved him.
- Ugly Dan
Gray enforcer; helps manage the gallows and later seizes Darrow for his execution.
- ArchGovernor Nero au Augustus
Approves Eo’s execution with a nod, detached from the proceedings.
- Kieran
Darrow’s brother; guards him through the night, strikes him in grief, then tries to intervene at the hanging.
- Leanna
Darrow’s sister; aids silently, present at the Webbery, later helps their mother at home.
- Loran
Eo’s father; keeps vigil with Kieran and later collapses in grief.
- Darrow’s mother
Tends Darrow’s wounds, feeds him in silence, and witnesses his march to execution.
- Podginus
Tinpot who presides at Eo’s execution, theatrically asking for her last words.
- Octavia au Lune
Her HC message frames the broadcast that flickers with Eo’s repeated cry.