After escap­ing a vio­lent down­pour, Lin­den and her com­pan­ions pause briefly to tend to their injuries. The Giants, includ­ing Kind­wind, Gale­send, and Cold­spray, bear severe wounds from their recent bat­tle, while Linden’s allies—Liand, Stave, and the Ramen—suffer burns from skurj gore. Lin­den uses her Staff of Law to heal the most crit­i­cal injuries but avoids treat­ing the Hum­bled and Anele, respect­ing their bound­aries. Despite her exhaus­tion, she push­es for­ward, aware that the skurj could attack again at any moment. The com­pa­ny resumes their flight, car­ry­ing the uncon­scious Long­wrath, while the Giants and Haruchai remain vig­i­lant for threats.

The group’s progress is hin­dered by the dense jun­gle of Sal­va Gilden­bourne, forc­ing the Giants to carve a path with sheer strength. Linden’s fatigue clouds her focus, but her deter­mi­na­tion to reach Ande­lain and her son Jere­mi­ah dri­ves her onward. The Hum­bled scout ahead, yet Lin­den remains uneasy, fear­ing Kastenessen’s next move. Cold­spray takes charge, hack­ing through the under­brush to improve their pace, but the Giants’ sta­mi­na wanes under the relent­less strain. The loss of two com­rades weighs heav­i­ly on them, though there is no time to grieve.

A sud­den strug­gle erupts when Long­wrath awak­ens and attacks the Giant car­ry­ing him. Despite her efforts to sub­due him, he breaks free and flees to retrieve his aban­doned flam­berge. Cold­spray halts pur­suit, rea­son­ing that their ene­mies will not harm him while he seeks Linden’s death. Late­birth, the Giant tasked with restrain­ing Long­wrath, blames her­self for Scend Wavegift’s death, vow­ing to renounce her sword after their jour­ney. Cold­spray dis­miss­es her guilt, urg­ing the com­pa­ny to focus on sur­vival. Lin­den, though sym­pa­thet­ic, remains silent, under­stand­ing the futil­i­ty of recrim­i­na­tion in their dire cir­cum­stances.

As the ter­rain eas­es into a slop­ing decline, Cold­spray and Late­birth lead the way, chan­nel­ing their shame and anger into clear­ing a path. The jun­gle thins, offer­ing hope for faster progress, but the threat of the skurj looms. Linden’s thoughts linger on her son and Covenant, guid­ed by the krill’s bea­con in Ande­lain. Despite Esmer’s ambigu­ous aid and the con­stant dan­ger, she resolves to press on, aware that her ene­mies fear her pow­er. The chap­ter ends with the company’s frag­ile uni­ty and deter­mi­na­tion test­ed by exhaus­tion and impend­ing per­il.