Timeline
Prologue
Vronti hunts for some sort of rock in tunnels belowground; not finding it, he decides to go get one from his sister, who is holding one, having been captured by men 40 years ago.
chapter 1
Astraya is working in the kitchen when she is approached by her brother, Raustra, who gets the steward to agree to let Astraya join the Harvest Ceremony the next day, excusing her from her kitchen duties. Raustra gifts her a pair of batiks he made himself.
Chapter 2
Astraya wakes on the day of Harvest Ceremony and dresses herself with clothes her brother had left her. Her mother declines accompanying her, and her grandfather comes to fetch her. They visit Berradon’s workshop, where they discover Veramir has taken a leave of absence from his studies to attend the ceremony.
Chapter 3
Raustra follows Camp down into the pit containing Vulmen and readies for the ceremony. Camp gives him Amir’s staff. They begin the ascent in platforms with Vulmen tied down.
Chapter 4
Raustra begins the ceremony but is interrupted by the arrival of Vronti, who demands his sister’s release.
Chapter 5
Raustra strikes the orb and Camp slices the platform holding himself and Vulmen, and they crash down into the pit. Raustra tries to close the pit’s door but only gets it two-thirds closed before Vronti attacks.
Chapter 6
Vronti tries to free his sister from the pit but is repelled by Amir and his staff. Vronti spews some sort of substance into the woods, and when Raustra hurls a dagger at Vronti and strikes his orb, Vronti spews the substance at Raustra and the other defenders, although Veramir shields Astraya successfully from the attack.
Chapter 7
(Berradon’s POV) Veramir leaves with Raustra and Astraya to clean Raustra’s wound. Berradon, Amir, Fae, and others go down to check on the fate of Vulmen and Camp, to find him dead and Vulmen mostly still tied down. She allows them to retrieve Camp’s body.
Chapter 8
(Astraya) Veramir cleans Raustra’s wound with a special technique.
Chapter 9
(Raustra) Raustraa attends an emergency council meeting, and when it concludes, Stephyn and Will meet up with him.
Chapter 10
(Next day after dinner) Raustra Raustra attends a town meeting where Warden Myk summons the citizens to rally around Raustra and provide him with support when he goes to hunt down the other wingroar. Amir pledges his support to Raustra.
Chapter 11
(Unspecified time has passed, nighttime) Astraya Astraya visits her grandfather and complains about being delegated to the kitchen instead of helping to fight the wingroan.
Chapter 12
(Same night) Astraya Astraya wakes to the sound of her mother’s screams to find Raustra in bed, his poisoned arm shriveled. Veramir and Amir are summoned and Raustra shows his affected arm can barely handle any weight. Veramir makes Raustra drink some bitter liquid that is supposed to help him.
Chapter 13
(Next early morning) Amir Raustra and his family go to Warden Myk to reveal his problem, and when the warden orders Raustra to prove he is not a cripple by fighting against Berry and Queber, but Berry taunts him by calling his mother a drunk, at which point Astraya bursts in and fights Queber, knocking him unconscious. Berry breaks Raustra’s weakened arm, and Astraya knocks the aide unconscious as well with her grandfather’s staff, and then fainted.
Chapter 14
Same day (past noon) Astraya Astraya wakes up confused, and her grandfather tells her of the events that transpired and the lie that they came up with to prevent anyone from finding out Raustra is now crippled. Amir tells her a contest will be held to pick who will lead the attack on Vronti in Raustra’s place, but he says they won’t be able to access the staff’s magical powers because it was originally bound to Amir’s blood. Amir lets Astraya know she should be the one who confronts Vronti because she is uniquely suited to the task.
Chapter 15
Next day, middle of the morning (Warden Myk) The warden holds the contest for the right to bear the staff, rigging it so Queber will win. Amir asks that Astraya be allowed to participate in the contest.
chapter 16
Astraya Astraya is found within the crowd and allowed to participate in the contest. She strikes the stone with the staff and it explodes into thousands of tiny particles and a blinding white flash ripples through the Commons.
chapter 17
Astraya Veramir finds Astraya in the woods, where he reveals he has almost no supplies left to slow down the effects of Vronti’s poison on Raustra’s arm and that they both have to go along with Astraya; Raustra can’t be left behind. Men arrive and begin felling poisoned trees.
Chapter 18
Next day Astraya The warden returns from a supposed attack by Vronti in Lampley and declares that the Mynas are to set off on their own, although Will and Stephyn will be allowed to accompany Raustra. Astraya insists that Veramir is coming too.
Chapter 19
(Unknown date, soon after previous chapter) Multiple POVs Astraya informs Amir that they need to veer to Zylkor so Veramir can get supplies to keep Raustra from becoming worse, but Amir decides Raustra should decide if they will detour for his sake.
Chapter 20
(Dawn, 2 days after Amir and party rode out) Myk Myk plots and gloats about his plans coming together and deliberates going to Vulmen to oversee resource production himself.
Chapter 21
(Same night that Astraya asked Amir to take a detour) (Next morning) Astraya and Veranir plead for Raustra to detour but her refuses. (Night of same day) (Next day) Astraya asks about what orbs are and how they work.
Chapter 22
(Unknown date) Myk Myk goes to Vulcan’s pit and personally shows Mestizo and his men exactly how to harvest her scales. He instructs them to remove one every day, despite Mestizo’s protests.
Chapter 23
Raustra Dobrecors (rhino-like creatures) emerge from the river and attack the group, injuring Raustra, who tried to defend Veramir and Astraya. Veramir’s horse and Raustra’s horse are severely injured, and Veramir falls beneath his collapsed mare, trapped underneath. Raustra gets pierced by the dobrecor’s horn on his broken/poisoned arm and loses consciousness.
Chapter 24
(Fae’s POV) (Elizabyth’s POV) Fae visits Elizabyth and gets her to go out to share a meal. They are confronted by the warden, who informs Fae that the tent she and her men are using will be repurposed. Fae notices the warden’s liking toward Elizabyth and asks her to help snoop around to uncover the warden’s true plan, but Elizabyth refuses.
Chapter 25
Day after the dobrecor attack Astraya Astraya remembers the events of the last 24 hours and the plan the group concocted after Raustra was felled. Will and Stephyn were sent to fetch help and the rest of the group would drag Raustra until they all met again, hopefully with help.
Chapter 26
12 days after the Mynas’ departure? Myk Myk visits Titus, who is in charge of refining the scales removed from Vulmen, and assures Titus he will get everything he needs to double the production of amalthea and amrita.
chapter 27
Astraya Raustra finally regains consciousness but has a raging fever. The group decide to ride directly to Rishi instead of hoping to meet her on their way to her.
Chapter 28
4 days after Elizabyth and Fae lunched; predawn and later Elizabyth Elizabyth wanders over to Lampley and does some indirect digging, and finds there might be some truth to Fae’s suspicions.
Chapter 29
Astraya Rishi arrives with Stephyn and Will to aid Raustra.
Chapter 30
Amir The group prepares to leave with Rishi, who tends to Raustra in her wagon. Amir regrets having put his grandchildren in the position they’re in.
Chapter 31
Same day Elizabyth went to Lampley Elizabyth confirms that Fae’s suspicions about the extra felling of trees in the woods are true.
Chapter 32
Same day as previous chapter Fae Fae finishes fixing the metal doors that lead down to the pit.
Chapter 33
Same day as previous chapter Elizabyth discovers the underground harvesting and cruelty toward the trapped wingroan.
Chapter 34
Night of chapter 30 Astraya and her group arrive at Zylkor, and Veranir rushes off to make sure the lesson house is prepared to tend to Raustra. Chanda and Elison meet up with him and Astraya and introduce themselves to her.
Chapter 35
Chapter 32 continued: Elizabyth and Vulmen talk and Elizabyth agrees to help Vulmen feed from her orb when the men are done harvesting the next day.
Chapter 36
Chapter 34 continued The group settles in. Next morning: Raustra wakes up fully, showing improvement. He sleeps and wakes throughout the rest of the day. Rishi promises she’ll have a clearer picture of his recuperating progress in the next morning. That night: Astraya and Veramir chat, and he offers her hope. Next morning: Astraya sneaks out before dawn to practice with her staff. Later that day, she joins the others at Raustra’s tent. Amir says she will not go on with the other men, but Astraya presses, backed by her brother.
chapter 37
Night after Chapter 35: Elizabyth and Fae watch as Myk reveals they will be harvesting two scales a day from next day on down at Vulmen’s pit. He orders the men to leave and then taunts Vulmen before leaving. Fae and Elizabyth let Vulmen grasp her orb, and Vulmen reveals that Raustra’s only cure will be mixing her brother’s blood with his.
Chapter 38
Day after last event in chapter 36: Astraya tries to recreate the powerful blow with the staff but fails until she speaks with Amir, who guides her to harness her strong feelings.
Chapter 39
Day after Astraya manages to master wielding the staff without it draining her energy.
Chapter 40
(Unknown date) Raustra, fevered and on his deathbed, has a vision of his father that warns him he has to take care of himself too.
Chapter 41
Day after Chapter 39 Astraya’s group reaches the lookout post and they’re attacked by Vrontis. Thinking Vrontis had killed Will, Astraya hits him with a powerful strike and sends him flying, at which point he loses his orb and crashes, unconscious. Amir, who had been blasted away too, rushes to the fallen wingroan after Stephyn hands him the staff, and Astraya asks Will to get her there so she can be there when Amir destroys the orb.
Chapter 42
Unknown date Veramir accepts that the best chance for Raustra to survive is by amputating his poisoned arm. He tries to tell Raustra, but Raustra already knows and accepts his fate.
chapter 43
Chapter 41 continued: Amir strikes the orb and awakens Vronti, who lashes out, sending Amir flying and killing Stephyn. Vronti tries to fly away but is badly wounded from Astraya’s strike. Vronti breaks the magic staff in two and tries to go after Amir, but Will sacrifices himself to stab the wingroan several times in the wound Astraya had given him, and Berradon and Amir and Astraya make it to the “bunker” and lie in wait.
chapter 44
Unknown date: Fae and Elizabyth take advantage of Cabec and Mansa’s attempt to steal a scale from Vulmen and Cabec killing Mansa. Fae fights Cabec as Elizabyth frees Vulmen, honoring their vow, and agrees to keep Vulcan’s orb safe until Vulmen returns, after Vulmen ate Cabec.
Chapter 45
After chapter 43: As the group heads away from Three Points, Astraya recounts the events that occurred after she and Amir and Berradon ventured from the bunker: burying Stephyn, reuniting with Will, getting the broken staff back.
Chapter 46
(Same night as chapter 44?) Myk discovers that Vulmen has escaped and throws a tantrum.
Chapter 47
Astraya’s group returns to Rishi’s camp, escorted by two outriders sent to them, and Rishi reveals Raustra had his arm amputated and is healing well after the fact.
Chapter 48
Chapter 47 continued: Raustra and his sister’s group reunite, and he insists on going back to kill the wingroan while it’s still wounded. All his friends vow to go too, and Rishi agrees to send a few of her men to help, mentioning Ermin will want to go anyway to avenge his brother, who had been a lookout at Three Points.
chapter 49
Unknown date, shortly after Vulmen escaped Myk has the fellers kill Hitch and Avaro, and gets Mestizo to agree to be the scapegoat by threatening his wife and daughter.
chapter 50
Three days after chapter 48 Astraya decides to try her hand again at fighting with a sword, and Ermin puts Sloan to fight her. He’s got the best of her, but Berradon interrupts and hands her a pair of batiks crafted from the wood of the special staff. She beats Sloan and Ermin tries to fight her, but Sloan defends her.
Chapter 51
Myk calls for a town meeting and reveals the fate of Vulmen and the men who had been in charge of her, inviting them all to see for themselves the carnage at moonrise that night. Elizabyth and Fae meet close to sunset in front of Berradon’s shop, then head to the entrance of the belowground area. Myk announces he has secured 10 years’ worth of harvest. Fae and Elizabyth wonder how to reveal his evil doings, and Fae suggests revealing the orb. Elizabyth notices Mestizo cleaning up vomit and mentions that the mess was Cabec’s to clean, leaving him slack-jawed.
Chapter 52
Berradon presents Rustra and Amir weapons partially made from the magic staff. Ermin insists they go fight Vronti the next morning, with or without those from Rhigov, but cooler heads prevail after an altercation, and it is settled they will all leave two days later.
Chapter 53
On the way to confront Vronti two days later, Vulmen snatches Astraya from her horse and flies west with her.
Chapter 54
Vulmen sets Astraya down and reveals she was set free by Astraya’s mother, proving it by a codeword only Astraya and her mother would know: Hannah. Astraya accepts Vulmen’s truth.
Chapter 55
Astraya’s group reaches her and begin questioning her, and Theris casts Ermin from their group when Ermin becomes aggressive in his insistence that Astraya tell them right away what happened for Vulmen to release her and fights with Amir. When Veramir and Astraya and Raustra walk away to get some privacy, Astraya manages to pass on the codeword Vulmen had gotten from their mother to convince him of her alliance with the wingroan: Missatree.
chapter 56
Astraya explains to Raustra, as Veramir stitches her, about their mother’s alliance with Vulmen and how she thinks the wingroan is telling the truth, and reveals the female wingroan’s plan to aid them in taking her brother’s orb but leaving him alive. Raustra sees no other choice but to follow along with the plan.
Chapter 57
Astraya tells the rest of the group an altered version of Vulmen’s conversation with her, but Amir reveals she is only helping them because she will take Vronti’s orb for herself after their group takes him down.
chapter 58
(A week after Vulmen’s release?) Mestizo has his last meal with his unsuspecting wife and daughter. The warden visits him once they’ve left and holds him to his word that he’ll drink a poisoned concoction and die quietly in exchange for the safety of his family. Before dying, Mestizo remembers having told Elizabyth all he knew about the warden’s evil plans.
chapter 59
Astraya’s group hide in a patch of trees as Vulmen calls out a distress call to attract her brother. As they all wait, Astraya’s group dwindles as other men desert, leaving only 10 to fight Vronti. Almost at sundown, Vulmen’s cry of distress changes in pitch, signaling that her brother is finally coming.
chapter 60
Vulmen reflects on what she plans to do once Vronti reaches her.
Chapter 61
Vronti comes to Vulmen, and Will rushes to attack, forcing the others to join him. After a concerted effort from the humans to wound him, Vulmen joins and holds him in place so Astraya can get his orb. Astraya manages to knock it from his grasp, and Raustra sticks his spear into the navel, piercing the beasts’s heart. Astraya destroys the orb and Vulmen flies away as the humans gather themselves and take stock of the damage.
Chapter 62
Elizabyth, at her secret place in the woods, reminisces and hopes to reunite with her children. She presses blood from her palm to Vulmen’s orb.
cHapter 63
At the celebrations after Vronti’s defeat, Astraya, encouraged by Rishi’s advice, decides to go to Veramir and confess her feelings toward him.
chapter 64
Astraya joins Veramir and his father at their private dinner, and Veramir’s father retreats hastily when he realizes Astraya is trying to voice her feelings to Veramir. He promises to return to her as soon as he can, but gently lets her know he has to stay behind and help Rishi.
Chapter 65
After the Mynas return to Rhigov, they have to meet with the warden. Amir confronts him over Vulmen’s treatment and escape, but Myk blames him in return. The Mynas agree to go along with the warden’s story. That day, the Mynas are welcomed formally by the rest of the citizens and greatly cheered, but Raustra turns the celebratory atmosphere into mourning by reminding all of the people who sacrificed themselves to defeat Vronti, especially his friend Stephyn.
Chapter 66
Astraya and her brother and mother escape into the woods, to their mother’s secret spot, and their mother tells them all that happened, what she did.
Epilogue
Vulmen plunges into the ocean into an underwater cave where she had hidden a stash of orphaned orbs and starts feeding from one. She muses over her plans to recover her strength…and return to Rhigov.
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