Chapter 1 – One to Love, and One to Fear

The book starts on the Island of Credence, a female dominated society also known as the Siren Republic. Vidya and her sister Demeter mourn the death of their mother Sarta at the Grand Altar of their goddess, Yasharra. Yasharra has two daughters: The Siren and the Harpy (one to love and one to fear). Nas’ Gavarr, the Overlord of the Desert Tribe Lands and powerful Mage also referred to as the Immortal Serpent was invited into the War Chambers where he murdered Sarta, the democratically elected Mistress of Foreign Relations and Trade. This throws the Credence into a tailspin. Desperate to protect themselves from this new threat, the Archon Xenith (democratically elected leader of Credence and the Siren Council), performs the ritual to create a harpy as a tool of war against the Overlord. The woman selected to become this harpy is Sarta’s wingless daughter Vidya. With the blood of three male sacrifices (who by law must be criminal and well-versed in combat) and the feathers of a siren (Sarta’s), Vidya is made into the first harpy in one thousand years.

Chapter 2 – Nothing Can Offend a Fae’ren

Seven months later the Kingdom of Del’Cabria and the Desert Tribe Lands are at war.  Jeth, a young archer, is in the desert waiting for the daughter of Nas’Gavarr’s wedding caravan to come by. He is on a mission with his task force to abduct the Overlord’s daughter and stop the wedding that would bring two desert tribes together; the Herrani and the Tezkhan. This will also draw out Nas’Gavarr so that he will do magical combat with another powerful Mage named Melikheil aka The Raven Sorcerer.

The task force is made up of eight individuals:

·       Archer – Jethril of Fae’ren

·       Archer and field medic - Olivier of Ludesa

·       Swordsman – Major Faron of Del’Cabria Proper

·       Swordsman and navigator - Master Loche of Del’Cabria Proper

·       Spearmen – Sirs Baird and Tobin of Del’Cabria Proper

·       Horse master – Roscoe of Ludesa

·       Mage – Meister Melikheil of Ingleheim

The team successfully accost a Herrani woman who they believe is Saf’Raisha, daughter of the Overlord. She gets a few licks in, cutting Loche’s arm with a tulwar and kneeing Baird in the groin. She is taken prisoner at a base camp in Sunil tribal territory. Baird and Tobin treat Jeth like crap as they are of urling nobility and Fae’ren people are seen as uncivilized savages who should know their place. Jeth takes it all in stride because after all, nothing can offend a Fae’ren. That night at camp, Jeth is tasked with watching over Melikheil while he practices his spiritual projection to locate Nas’Gavarr. He tells Jeth about the spiritual rapport Nas’Gavarr has with his children and about the three components of the universe: essence, spirit, and flesh. Melikheil can manipulate essence and spirit, but Nas’Gavarr can do all three. Jeth also learns about that spiritual projection works by a process called spirit breaking caused by years of self-torture. Melikheil believes he can defeat Nas’Gavarr because he has discovered a way to concentrate essences, one being life force, in such a way it would seem unlimited. After a while, Melikheil wakes up and reports that Nas’Gavarr is three days from their camp.

Chapter 3 – The Pecking Order

Jeth and fellow human and only friend Olivier are packing up water from the lake. They talk about their respective provinces and the disparities between them. Major Faron orders Olivier to look at Loche’s injury and Jeth is ordered to watch the Saf. In her tent, she tries to convince him to let her go because she is not the real Saf. She’s a thief posing as her in order to steal something valuable from Chief Ukhuna of the Tezkhan raiders. He is enamored with her beauty and her charm and tempted by the promise of booty (in more ways than one). She asks him if he’s tired of being at the bottom of this made-up pecking order. In the desert, he can be anything he wants to be. His destiny is his. Jeth tries to tell the major that the Saf might be an imposter, but he dismisses him, stating that she has the tell-tale serpent tattoo that all daughters of Nas’Gavarr have. It is then clear that Loche is not going to make it. The wound is infected with venomous naja saliva and he will be dead before the Overlord even gets there.

Chapter 4 – The Antidote

Jeth is watching Melikheil for the second night. He hears a ruckus from the Saf’s tent. She is refusing to let Roscoe take her to go pee based on her experience with Baird and Tobin. She demands that Jeth take her. He switches roles with Roscoe and takes her out. She proceeds to pee and even poo in front of Jeth. Luckily Jeth has control of his senses and can scale back or enhance his smell, sight, and hearing. A mysterious ability he was born with. At this point, a drunken Baird and Tobin meet them at the pee spot and threaten the Saf, believing she is hiding the antidote to Loche’s poison. They nearly punch Jeth out and start to brutalize the prisoner. Jeth snaps and comes to her defense, partially because he’s worried they’d kill her but mostly because he was tired of being shit on by these pointed-eared bastards. The two men brawl and Jeth accidentally kills Baird.

Chapter 5 – Innocent

Jeth panics. Tobin runs to tell the major. Without thinking, Jeth shoots an arrow into Tobin’s chest. Now he has a choice to make. Explain the situation to his urling major in hopes he’d understand or help the Saf escape and high-tail it out of there. Given his heritage, the decision is obvious. There is just one problem. Jeth can’t have Loche’s death on his conscious too. He was always respectful toward him. As Jeth was sneaking the antidote to Loche’s tent, Olivier, back from night watch, holds him at arrow-point. Jeth tried to reason with his friend, but Olivier was determined to do the right thing by the task force. Jeth chokes him out and him and the Saf make their getaway just as Faron wakes up. After gaining distance, they stop at a river. He discovers that the Saf’s real name is Anwarr and she really was a harem attendant who acquired the tattoo illegitimately to help her pose as one of the Overlord’s children. She means to steal the Emerald of Dulsakh, a gem that supposedly holds the ancient spirit of the first naja created by the Serpentine Gods (Sagorath and Salotaph) and agrees to cut Jeth in. She then skinny-dips right in front of Jeth. She makes fun of his innocence. He tries to think of Lady Hanalei, a woman he fancies back on a Ludesan ranch, but quickly realizes he will never see her again and never had a chance with her in the first place.

Chapter 6 – Play Your Part

Jeth and Anwarr come across a caravan of Sunil servants, stealing a uniform for Jeth to wear so he can pose as one. They arrive at the Sunil Slot Canyons where Chief Ukhuna awaits his bride. She convinces them she is Saf’Raisha with her tattoo and the Tezkhan raiders take her and her servant to the Tezkhan Plains. At the wedding, Anwarr gifts the chief her poisoned tulwar and he gifts her a beautiful buckskin. Jeth competes in a horse wrangling competition for an untamable steed. He wins the horse with the help of a man named Genkhai and names his new horse Torrent. During the wedding night, Anwarr distracts her new husband while Jeth ‘plays his part’ and sneaks into the yurt to steal the sword. The emerald is festooned to its pommel.

Chapter 7 – The Serpent’s Philosophy

Jeth is nearly caught so Anwarr has to take things to the next level. Feeling guilty about messing up and not liking the idea of her having to fuck the chief as a result, he creates a distraction outside so they both can get away in the night. They make camp far out in the Sunil Tribe Lands where Anwarr teaches him to trust in the abilities of his crew before attempting a rescue like that again. She tells him of her serpent’s philosophy of always going forward and never backward. Jeth talks about his time growing up with fairies and how they kicked him out of the only home he’s ever known. He discovers that he doesn’t regret killing his brothers in arms and would do it again. He goes in for a kiss but is interrupted by Istari the Light Mage who appears to be in a lesbian relationship with Anwarr. So much for his affections being reciprocated. Weeks later they reach the City or Herran to drop the emerald off with their benefactor named Snake Eye. On their way there, strange men start following them and Istari uses her light magic to lose them in the streets. Jeth then receives his share of the bounty and agrees to join their team. But he won’t be officially in until the rest of the crew approves.

Chapter 8 – Shoot Fast and Don’t Miss

Jeth is taken to a spice shop in the Bazaar where he meets the rest of the thieving crew. They are by order of meeting:

·       Anwarr – the distraction (Herrani) – former harem attendant

·       Istari – Light Mage (Odafi) – former coin stasher for the Merchant Council

·       Khiri – Eleven-year-old pickpocket (Ankarran) – former galley slave  with a missing tongue

·       Lysandros (Lys) – Spice shopkeeper and record keeper (Crede fugitive for striking a mother)

·       Ashbedael (Ash) – Muscle (Herrani) – former Bahazur

Before Jeth can be accepted into the fold, he must prove his abilities. They go to the military training grounds where Jeth wows them with archery from horseback. Ash wants to up the ante by putting him in a pit with silent cobras. Ash tells Jeth to shoot fast and don’t miss. He’s almost bitten were it not for superhuman reflexes that he cannot explain. He’s finally accepted into the crew. That night in the baths, Anwarr rewards him with a hot tub handy. It goes by way too quickly, but Jeth’s quick wit earns him a second chance in the bedroom.

Chapter 9 – Pretty Things

Three months later, Ash, Jeth, and Khiri are returning from the training grounds. Ash is armed with a tabar or pole axe and Jeth now wields dual khopeshes. He convinces Khiri to steal a white gold armlet for Anwarr in return for his military dagger. He’s given a warning by Ash when they arrive home, that Anwarr belongs to no one and can’t be swayed by pretty things. They go up to eat and hear about the new job Snake Eye wants them to do that will make them enough gold to live on for a year. Jeth gives Anwarr the armet by letting her chase him for it. Once she has it though, she suddenly doesn’t want it and tells him to take it back, confusing Jeth.  Later that day they arrived at Snake Eye’s smoke shop. Jeth learns he (or she) is an androgynous ashipu and avid collector of artifacts. He creeps Jeth out with how handsy he is, especially with Anwarr. He tells them about the heist in the Temple of Sagorath beyond the Burning Waste. They will have to steal the Bloodstone Dagger away from Nas’Gavarr himself. This seems to scare Anwarr most of all.

Chapter 10 – Something to Remember Me By

The next day, Jeth expresses his jealousy of Anwarr and Snake Eye. Anwarr tells him Snake Eye doesn’t see her that way. She tells him about the strange men following her again. She tells him Snake Eye wants her to stay behind this time. Jeth is suspicious so to ease his mind, she asks to have the armlet back as something to remember him by. Jeth, Istari, and Ash traverse the Burning Waste, learning the tale of how Nas’Gavarr set the fires almost one hundred years ago, demolishing the Death tribes that resided there. The next morning they get attacked by giant scorpions but a mysterious woman saves their lives.

Chapter 11 – Like a Champion

Jeth and the crew meet Vidya of Credence. Snake Eye arranged for her to be there to help them the rest of the way. Ash is quite taken by her. They find the Death tribal ruins and the Temple of Sagorath. The magi meet them and will only allow one person inside the temple to die and one to witness. Ash and Istari put Jeth forward to his chagrin. Vidya agrees to be the witness. They go inside and kill the magi before Jeth is killed. Vidya goes off to look for a warping gate and Jeth is looking for the Bloodstone Dagger. While looking around the statue depicting the Serpentine Gods, Nas’Gavarr enters the temple. He uses earth magic to fuse Jeth to the floor. He reveals the dagger and shows him how it absorbs blood, and he ingests it. How does Jeth taste? ‘Like a champion’ he says. Vidya swoops in, but Nas’Gavarr kills her with just one hand, the same way he killed her mother.

Chapter 12 – Always Forward

Now Jeth is in trouble. While Nas’Gavarr talks about the Way and that Jeth is the salvation for all humankind, someone else enters the temple. It’s Meister Melikheil, ready for combat. Vidya’s dead body is also gone. The Mages have an epic battle. Mel tries sunfire, but it doesn’t work. Nas’Gavarr turns into a naja using a necklace of naja teeth that he wears and bites into Melikeil’s flesh. Jeth uses his last arrow and the black powder satchel Vidya dropped to blow himself out. At the same time, Nas’Gavarr, now with control of Melikeheil’s blood and tissues, skins him alive then rips him apart with a wave of his hand. Jeth gets splattered as he escapes. Nas’Gavarr uses the blood he ingested from Jeth and freezes him in place. Somehow, Jeth activates a spark that gives him super stamina. He can run despite his blood not reaching his brain. He arrives at the ruins to find his crew has abandoned him, but two armies showed up. The one that came with Nas’Gavarr and the one that came with Melikheil. Naja and Del’Cabrian’s clash while Jeth fights among them to get a horse and canteen. He gets caught under a dying naja and is left for dead. He’s kept alive by Anwarr’s philosophy ‘Always Forward’. Then just before he passes out for good, Vidya flies him out of there.

Chapter 13 – Unscathed

Vidya takes Jeth to safety and grills him about how he came away unscathed from the Overlord’s blood magic. She tells him she’s a harpy and her mission is to find and shut down the warping gate that Nas’Gavarr used to enter their inner sanctum. She intends to steal his warp stone. Jeth has no idea what she’s talking about, but since his friends are gone, agrees to help anyway despite his trauma. They wait for Nas’Gavarr and his son, General of the Naja Horde, Saf’Ryeem to leave. Then, Vidya and Jeth sneak back into the temple. They find the warping gate in a base level room. Vidya activates it and discovers that it leads to a warp stone mine in Rangardia, a nation currently allied with Credence. Distraught, she steals the piece of warp stone there and they leave. They fly to a nearby town to rest up. Jeth showers off the blood and guts, nearly having a nervous breakdown upon realizing what he just survived. The next morning, Vidya finds him in the cafeteria and tries to convince Jeth to help her on her mission to kill Nas’Gavarr. Jeth flatly refuses and heads home.

Chapter 14 – Stuck

Jeth returns home four days later to a crew that didn’t seem to miss him at all. He confronts Ash about abandoning him and they claim they believed he was a goner. Jeth wants to stop sharing Anwarr with the rest of the team and she refuses him. He sees the armlet on her and accuses her and the crew of setting him up at the temple. They fight, scares Khiri, and Anwarr kicks him out. He goes to the smoke shop to confront Snake Eye. He learns that Snake Eye is a Flesh Mage and the only surviving sibling of Nas’Gavarr. He reveals that he is secretly working to undermine the Overlord and needs a few more artifacts to do it. First was the Emerald of Dulsakh, which holds the spirit of an ancient Najahai. The second was the Bloodstone Dagger which gives control of blood to Flesh Mages, but that was a failure. Third is the Dulsakh’s Sarcophagus which holds the Najahai’s bones. The rest Snake Eye won’t divulge yet unless Jeth agrees to stay on and help him. It’s the safest place he will be now that Nas’Gavarr is taking the war to Del’Cabria’s doorstep. Jeth thinks about Snake Eye’s offer while riding the desert plains. Torrent bucks him into a river to cool off. He feels stuck in place with nowhere to go.

Chapter 15 – Something More Ominous

Back in Credence, Vidya reports to the Siren Council of her seven-month mission to find the Immortal Serpent’s weaknesses. She reports that there are none and that it will take an army of harpies to defeat him. She requests that they reinstate the Harplite. The Council is aghast due to the sheer number of men that will have to die to make just one harpy. Vidya brings up the Bloodstone Dagger, but they dismiss her. She then informs them of Rangardia’s potential betrayal with the warp stone mine supplying the Overlord. The Council concludes that perhaps making a harpy was a waste of time and men. Vidya pleads to let her continue. They relent and tell Vidya and Demeter, the newly elected Mistress of Foreign Relations and Trade, to look into the Rangardia issue. Later at their estate, Vidya and her sister discuss their plan while watching two of Demeter’s breeders, Camdus and Rufios, fight in the courtyard. They agree to meet with the Palace Administrador to get information, but what Vidya really wants is three thousand criminals to make harpies with. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Chapter 16 – Swift and Precise

Jeth returns to the spice shop to apologies to Anwarr and say goodbye. He gave Khiri a kid’s bow and quiver to make up for his bad behavior. He talks to Lys on the doorstep and learns about Crede laws and how Lys became a eunuch as punishment for hitting his wife. He was enraged when he discovered she birthed a child fathered by a breeder before birthing two children from her husband. He was sentenced to hard labor but escaped to Herran before completing it. He tells Jeth that there’s no shame in wanting exclusivity with a woman but he needs to make a choice: pretend he can change Anwarr and continue the poonannery or leave her for good. Jeth forgets all the advice as soon as he goes up to her room. She forgives him for his outburst and before long, a fuck for the ages ensues.

Chapter 17 – A Vicious Voice

Demeter and Vidya are in Rangardia having a meeting with Administrador Ricardo, the brother of Emperador Agustin, Vidya’s former husband. Demeter is unable to use her siren wiles on him but convinces him to shut down the warp stone mine for a while until the matter could be investigated. Vidya tries to convince him to let her take his overflow of prisoners to Credence. Rangardia is suffering with an infectious disease known as femena mortum that kills only women, leaving them with a male to female ratio of 10:1. With so many men with nothing to live for and overcrowded prisons, why not let them serve a higher purpose? But Ricardo flatly refuses. He chastises Vidya and accuses her of killing her sons before going back to Credence. Vidya is shocked because it is her husband that killed her children. She lashes out and brings forth the shadow harpy who encourages her to kill him. She has no choice but to resist the urge and leave. In the carriage ride back home, Vidya confesses what she’s been hiding all these years. She was abused by Agustin during her marriage and too ashamed to tell anyone. When she had the two children required, she tried to leave, but he killed the boys in retaliation. Since then she had to act like they never existed to keep the Crede and Rangardian alliance strong. Later that day, Vidya returns to her apartment. Her best friends Phrea and Daphne stop by having heard her proposal to Council the week before. They have a proposal of their own: turn just them into harpies and they will help her secretly build their army with abducted Rangardian men.

Chapter 18 – Forgiveness

A month and a half later, Ash and Anwarr return from their job acquiring Dulsakh’s Sarcophagus while Jeth and Istari did odd thieving jobs closer to home. Jeth goes to greet her at the ship and she vomits over the side. It’s the start of the Lunahalah, the days where the two moons overlap into one every six years or so. It’s a time where everything is permissible (as long as there is consent) and you are obligated to forget about everything when it’s over. The crew party on the Odafi coast. They run into Anwarr’s ex, The Treasure Keeper for the Merchant Council named Ezrai. He asks Anwarr for her forgiveness for how things ended between them (badly) and for being such a colossal dick. Jeth thinks one of his bodyguards is oddly familiar. Anwarr’s is in a strange mood and goes off to party on her own. Istari goes gambling and Ash conks out on opium. Jeth is left at the mercy of two gorgeous ladies Sahadina and Lela. He gets high on cael petals, which makes him super sensitive to touch. The trio go off to find a room and Jeth catches the scent of khat leaf, a substance that Tezkhan raiders chew and is only available there. Knowing that Tezkhan are not allowed in Odafi, he realizes that the familiar bodyguard was Ukhuna. Jeth goes to warn Anwarr, but she is missing. He asks Istari where she went and she drunkenly tells him that Anwarr is with child.

Chapter 19 – Remind Me

Jeth is even more desperate to find Anwarr now. He follows his nose to a back room at the hotel that Ezrai owns. He sneaks around back and listens in on Anwarr giving him all the gold she owes him and to never contact her again. Ezrai sold her out to Ukhuna who wanted back what was stolen for him before delivering her to Nas’Gavarr. Jeth breaks in and fights Ukhuna. He activates both his spark and his speed for the second time, allowing him to escape Ukhuna’s stranglehold and kill him in a flash. Ezrai escapes with the gold. Jeth has a cut from Ukhuna’s tulwar, which still could have remnants of naja venom on it. To be safe, Anwarr and Jeth find an apothecary where she neutralizes the wound. She tells him that she’s pregnant and that it is Jeth’s. Even though he’s freaking out, he offers to help her take care of it. They make a plan to leave thieving behind. Back home, they deliver the sarcophagus to Snake Eye and tell him the good news. He offers Jeth one last job. Due to the failure in getting the Bloodstone Dagger, Jeth must join Herrani warriors at the siege of Ingleheim where he will then steal Magitech. Snake Eye plans to use it against the naja army so and defeating Nas’Gavarr himself. There was only one catch. Jeth would have to go back to his home province of Fae’ren.

Chapter 20 – The Harpy’s Punishment

Vidya and the gals kidnap some drunken Rangarder soldiers from the military base Phrea’s dad works at. Vidya used the shadow harpy to pick the most misogynistic of them while Daphne tested them for the disease. She brings them through the warp stone mine gate while Demeter uses her siren wiles to hypnotize the night staff to secrecy. At the Grand Altar, the ritual was ready to go, but before they could bleed the six men (five actually due to Vidya accidentally killing one when he tried to escape), Crede men attack the Citadel with intent on destroying the siren and harpy statue. Vidya puts a stop to it, but one of them turns out to be an old infantry buddy Maramus. She makes him the replacement sacrifice for the Rangarder she killed and Phrea and Daphne are made into harpies that night.

Chapter 21 – Cursed

One month later, Jeth and Anwarr arrive in Fae’ren. They stop at Fairieshome, a stop gap before the Commune of Lanore where he intends find Anwarr a midwife then head to the Barrier of Kriegle on his own. Once other Fae’ren realize he has no family name, they assume he’s an orphan and shun him. Fae’ren orphans are considered cursed because their parents died and were blamed for the First and Second Waves of the plague that ravaged Fae’ren Province. That night, Jeth is awakened by a kerfuffle in the street. Some Herrani men are harassing a fae woman on her way home. Just to shut them up, Jeth goes outside and pummels them, practicing his speed skills while he’s at it. The woman whose name is Henna thanks him. She is an orphan too and has a young half-breed son named Ellion. Jeth walks her home and she gives him some advice. Provide for his children what he could not provide for himself so that every generation will be stronger than the last. He returns to the hotel more determined to get this job over with.

Chapter 22 – A Harpy’s Hands Are Never Clean

The Siren Council chastise Vidya for her horrendous display with Ricardo. They tell her that this is her last chance to prove making a harpy wasn’t a mistake. Since Nas’Gavarr made a treaty with Del’Cabria to take the Ingleheim borderlands, the Council wants to know why. They send her out there to make good with the Fuhrer of Ingleheim and find out what the Overlord was doing in Fae’ren of all places. Xenith reminds Vidya that the Harpy can never rule Credence again. She goes back to her apartment to check on how her friends’ wings were coming along. They make a plan to steal the Bloodstone Dagger and continue their army in secret, but where to get the sacrifices? With Demeter on their side, they planned to stoke another attack on the Citadel, one that they’d put a stop to, convincing the Council once and for all that harpies are needed to protect Credence while sacrificing the perpetrators.

Chapter 23 – A Place Where You Truly Belong

Three and a half months later, Jeth returns from his Ingleheim job with his Magitech (read the Eye of Verishten for that story). Jenn, an Essence and Spirit Mage, escorts him out. She plans to go to the desert to free naja’s minds. Turns out they are human beings transformed into reptile killing machines by Nas’Gavarr and brainwashed by Saf’Ryeem. He returns to the Commune of Lanore where Jeth put up Anwarr. He finds out that Anwarr, now six months pregnant, up and left with men fitting the description of the ones following them before. He assumes they are Ezrai’s men. Before he can retrieve her, the midwife Twilla gives him a letter she wrote. Alas, Jeth can’t read, but the returned armlet tells him everything he needs to know. On his way out, someone tells him she was pregnant with a boy. He rides to Fairieshome in a tizzy. He gets a drink at a tavern in hopes to find a Herrani that can read his letter. He finds Vidya instead who offers to buy him an ail. She reads the letter, breaking Jeth’s heart. They both get drunk and go on about their horrible lives. Vidya drunkenly asks him to help her steal the Bloodstone Dagger from Nas’Gavarr with the ol’ swoop and swipe method. Once a group of Del’Cabrian soldiers come in, Jeth sobbers up. It appears they are after him.

Chapter 24 – A Living Coward or a Dead Hero

The soldiers try to arrest Jeth as the Desert War Traitor. Major Faron confirmed his identity. They get into a bar brawl instead. Vidya takes a knife to the leg. She almost kills Faron but Jeth convinces her not to. They lose their pursuers in a forested area on horseback. Jeth finds vera leaves to help with Vidya’s wound. She realizes he’s stone cold sobber and she’s still off her tits. But how? It must be the same reason he resisted Nas’Gavarr’s blood magic. She asks him to help her one more time. He’s the only one that can help. Do you want to be a living coward or a dead hero? Jeth can’t decide and goes on a little walkabout to think on it. He goes all the way to the Deep Wood where he grew up. He finds Serra the pixie at the Gove of the Crannabeatha, the place he was left as a baby. He finally confronts her about why she kicked him out. She had no choice, but she tells him she loves him. He learns that his abilities are derived from fairies. The only thing he can’t seem to do is shoot spark and transfer life force from himself to plants to make them grow faster. He gains catharsis and knows what he must do. He must find out where Anwarr is, not to get her back, but to ensure the safety of his child. That was his duty as a father. To not give up on him. He finds Vidya at an inn and tells her he will help get the dagger, but they must go to Snake Eye before going after the Overlord. That and he needs her help to track down Anwarr first.

Chapter 25 – Trick of the Light

Back in Herran, Vidya and Jeth stop at the spice shop. Lys runs scared of the harpy and Ash falls in love, but not before pummeling Jeth for taking Anwarr away. He hoped she had come back there first. He enlists them to track down Ezrai. Turns out, a big auction is in town and he attends every year. They sneak into his tent using Istari’s invisibility spell and grill him about Anwarr’s whereabouts. He denies being involved but knows the men that took her are harem eunuchs. Ezrai thinks she might actually be a daughter of the Overlord. In return for Vidya not punishing him for his crimes against women, he agrees to get them uniforms and secure passage into Herrani Palace. Once inside, Jeth and Ash are accosted by the guards and Istari has to use a trick of the light to hide Jeth’s dick. The team split up and Jeth and Lys find Lela from the Lunahalah. Turns out, she’s the real Saf’Raisha. Is there anyone who isn’t Nas’Gavarr’s daughter? She tells him that Anwarr was there but she’s gone to the Temple of Sagorath to serve the magi as punishment for crossing the Overlord. But why would he do that to his own flesh and blood? Because she’s not his daughter, stupid. She’s his wife.

Chapter 26 – I Blame You

Back at the spice shop, the thieving crew are beside themselves. Anwarr was no harem attendant. She was a wife that tricked a tattoo artist to give her one so she could pose as a daughter and leave the palace. She’s been getting away with it ever since, until now. Istari lashes out at Jeth, blaming him for why Anwarr had to go back to Nas’Gavarr. If it wasn’t for him impregnating her then taking her away from everything she knew, she wouldn’t have tried to escape him. Overwhelmed with guilt and worry for his son, he decides to go to the temple to make sure she’s all right. Vidya goes with him to steal the Bloodstone Dagger. The rest of the crew refuse to join. It’s just him and Vidya entering the temple together once again. They stop by Snake Eye’s first to tell him the bad news and ask for assistance. He gives them some Magitech but urges them to hold off trying to kill Nas’Gavarr. Snake Eye finally reveals his plan to defeat his brother by resurrecting Dulsakh and using it to control the rest of the naja. Jeth thinks it’s folly but can’t convince Snake Eye otherwise.

Chapter 27 – One Honest Thing

While Vidya goes to activate the warping gate downstairs, Jeth heads upstairs and finds Anwarr. She won’t go with him because if she does the Overlord will hurt her and the baby. She can live her life in peace and safety if she cooperates, but the letter was meant to ensure Jeth wouldn’t show up. It is revealed that she did in fact tip off Nas’Gavarr on Jeth being at the temple the first time around, and she had been lying to him all this time. He’s heartbroken but has no choice but to get her out and through the warping gate. They don’t make it. The Immortal Serpent shows up and threatens Anwarr and the baby, so Jeth has to stay behind. Anwarr confesses her love for Jeth but it’s too late. He tells her to get on git. Nas’Gavarr tells him he will go to the Spirit Chamber where he will do battle with the Serpentine Goes, then knocks him out magically before stabbing him with the Bloodstone Dagger.

Chapter 28 – Destructive Overgrowth

Jeth wakes up in the spiritual representation of the temple within Nas’Gavarr’s mind. He sees a giant raven chained up in the corner, but it hides when Nas’Gavarr’s giant serpent form appears. Jeth drowns in blood and enters the Spirit Chamber. It’s an infinite desert where the giant snake skeleton of Sagorath and Salotaph attack him.  Somehow, Jeth has rapid plant growing abilities in this place, which entwine through the gods’ skeletal frames and break them apart. For the first time in a long time, Jeth feels at peace. Meanwhile, Vidya activates the warping gate but notices it pointed in a strange direction. She goes through to a quartz water cavern where a magi tells her to turn around. She makes a mental note and goes back through and turns the gate for Rangardia. She tells the men to keep the gate active until she returns. Back in the atrium, Vidya witnesses the horrifying ritual of Nas’Gavarr filling a pool with  blood and Jeth floating in it. This is her chance. She swoops in and snatches the dagger away. She almost gets away, but Anwarr having contractions outside distracts her long enough for Nas’Gavarr to stop her. He kills her in an avalanche of stone, costing her a second life. Harpies only get three. While Nas’Gavarr and Vidya are fighting, Anwarr goes back into the temple and drags Jeth out of the blood pool. He comes to and notices Anwarr is miscarrying and the temple is collapsing beneath them due to his plantlife abilities having spilled out into the real world. They try to get out but Anwarr loses her footing and the slippery blood makes it hard for Jeth to hold on. She falls out of her grasp and plummets to the basement floor below.

Chapter 29 – Let's Go Back

Jeth finds a way down below, having lost his bow and one of his khopeshes. He finds Anwarr on the ground busted up bad. The baby is dead in her womb and Jeth is devastated. He holds Anwarr as she dies, begging to go back, if only they could go back. Nas’Gavarr shows up to tell him that all this was possible because of his champion blood. Jeth wounds him in a rage, but he keeps healing due to all the life force within him. Nas’Gavarr takes pity on Jeth and tries to strangle him, but Vidya, now back to life, tackles him through the warping gate and closes it down, trapping him in Rangardia. Vidya wraps Jeth’s stab wound and lifts both him and the dead Anwarr to safety.

Chapter 30 – Another Must Suffer

Jeth regains consciousness in his spice shop bedroom with Vidya looking over him. She grills him about the ritual and what Nas’Gavarr wanted with him, but he can’t tell her. He hobbles to Anwarr’s room to find her things are gone already but Snake Eye is there meditating. Apparently, he used flesh magic to heal Jeth’s wound by inflicting it on himself. Jeth begs him to use flesh magic to bring Anwarr back, but it is too late, her spirit is already absorbed into the spirit realm. All he could do is reanimate her corpse. Vidya tells him of how she lost her boys. She left them behind with her abusive husband, then at the last minute tried to come back to get them only to find them dead in the bathtub. Jeth tries to comfort her but she lashes out and flies out the window. Later that day, the thieving crew attends Anwarr’s funeral pyre. They all say their goodbyes. Jeth feels bad that he couldn’t think of a name for their son while he was out on that last job but promises to be the type of father he’d be proud of even if he wasn’t alive to see it. He gave back the armlet and made up with Istari and Ash. They tell him he can still be a part of the crew, but Jeth decides it’s time to move on. Vidya finds him in on a dune afterward and he tells her the truth about the ritual and the dagger, it can give back 100 times the amount of blood from one man. This changes everything for Vidya’s Harplite, only how will they get the dagger now? Jeth is determined to exact his vengeance on Nas’Gavarr. Vidya suggests checking out the place Snake Eye told them he had spent a lot of time. The Holy City of Thessalin, and she knows just how to get there undetected.

Chapter 31 – Creation's Mystery

Jeth and Vidya fly back to the warping gate and turn it toward that place that Vidya found it turned to the first time. They go through into Thessalin. They fly until they find a monastery that is shaped like the U shape brand on the Overlord’s forehead. They sneak in and ask the ashray inside point plank about what the Mage studied here. They reveal a globe that shows the order of which the gods, actually known as Conduits, came into being and they would have to be destroyed in reverse order. They talk about Champions that protect the realm, chosen by the Deities, However, their blood can be used to shut down the Conduit’s influence in the realm as well.  The Conduits from top to bottom are:

-          The Serpentine – Champion unknown

-          Crannabeatha and Yasharra – Jeth and Vidya respectively

-          Elmifel – Champion unknown

-          Verishten – Kaiser Siegfried of Ingleheim

It appears Nas’Gavarr was activating Champions so he could use them to shut down Conduits in his endeavor to uncover Creation’s Mystery: Humankind. They don’t know which one Nas’Gavarr will hit next since Crannabeatha and Yasharra came into existence together so they can leave in either order. They come back through the gate to find Snake Eye’s makeshift army ready to rock. Jeth remembers that Anwarr spoke of Herrani and Rangardian construction workers all around Lanore in the weeks before she was found by the harem men. A secret project for the Overlord they said. If there’s a gate near the Serpentine, Yasharra and now Elmifel, wouldn’t there be a gate by Crannabeatha too and Lanore is the closest commune to the Deep Wood. The duo split up. Jeth to the Crannabeatha and Vidya to Yasharra.

Chapter 31 – What You Were Created For

Jeth and Snake Eye realize that if they are going to hit Nas’Gavarr now, they will need a bigger army. They travel to the Tezkhan Plains and convince Genkhai to gather as many horsemen as he can, and in return he’ll receive the emerald and become Chief. Jeth gets a Herrani bow and retires the khopesh for Anwarr’s tulwar. He helps everyone get familiar with Magitech, having seen it used in Ingleheim. Finally, they are ready to test if there’s a gate in Fae’ren. Miraculously, it works. From there Jeth warns Serra and the fairies while Snake Eye tries to reunite with his General Nadila and together they will go to Ingleheim to enlist the Ingle sorceress. Serra comes up with a plan to be the last line of defense for the Crannabeatha. She tells Jeth that the Fae’ren people’s strife is far from over and they will need their Champion in the future. When Jeth gets back to the gate, everyone is gone. Naja ambush him and he’s captured by Saf’Ryeem . Torrent runs off with all his weapons.

In Credence, Vidya arrives at her apartment to find her friends and all her stuff missing. She goes to Demeter’s where she’s ambushed by Citadel guards. Demeter told the Council everything Vidya was up to and sold her out. She’s charged with planning the uprising and thrown in jail with Phrea and Daphne. Their sentences will be carried out the next day. Vidya, dosed with valerian, is brought before Xenith and her sister. They say her harpy friends will lose their wings and be imprisoned whereas Vidya will keep her wings but be banished into the custody of Nas’Gavarr. He walks into the room and hammers out a treaty with Credence, giving men voting rights and trade deals in return for Vidya and ending the war. She swears bloody vengeance on them all.

Chapter 32 – You Killed Them

Vidya watches her harpy friends get their wings torn out at the Grand Altar, triggering memories of her boys’ bodies in the bathtub and the man who killed them. She’s put in a spiritual slumber by Nas’Gavarr and taken through the gate into Fae’ren. At this time, Jeth is brought to Lanore and taken to the Elder’s Hut to speak to Nas’Gavarr. Jeth couldn’t understand how he had arrived from Rangardia already. But there was something strange about him. It is eventually revealed that he is actually Snake Eye using flesh magic. He is trying to trick Saf’Ryeem in releasing Dulksakh’s spirit from the emerald. Jenn was supposed to be the one to do it, but they were captured on their way to meeting Nadila and had to improvise. He is caught when the real Nas’Gavarr is reported to have come through the gate. Saf’Ryeem absorbs the spirit into himself instead and calls on all his naja surrounding Lanore to attack.

Chapter 33 – One Confusing Battle

Herrani warrior against Herrani warrior and naja to boot, a desperate battle ensues. Snake Eye, with Dulsakh’s skeleton under his armour and the life force having been passed down from the Immortal One who absorbed Dulsakh’s life force in ancient times, has two of the pieces to steal the spirit from Saf’Ryeem. Through the Flesh Mage’s body, Dulsakh is resurrected. Unfortunately, it has no control of the naja because Jeth neglected to tell him their spirits were all human. All he could do was control their flesh, which he used to slaughter them. Jeth fights Saf’Ryeem and is almost overwhelmed until the Tezkhan came riding in, having remained out of sight all this time.  Jeth is reunited with Torrent and gets his bow and tulwar back. The battle is won and Ryeem is prisoner. They force him to bring his father to Lanore first so Snake Eye can challenge him. They ensure he does by poisoning Ryeem with naja saliva, which will force his father to come to Lanore first to save his life. That’s when twenty Del’Cabrian soldiers show up, intent on arresting the Desert War Traitor once and for all.

Chapter 34 – Stand in Your Way

Jeth makes a deal with Faron to help him protect the Deep Wood in exchange for turning himself in afterward. Faron is moved by loyalty to his country and agrees. Vidya is taken to Lanore after Jeth and his fighters leave. She witnesses him heal Ryeem and a battle between him and his sibling ensues. Snake Eye loses and it is revealed that he is the Champion of the Serpentine who will shut down Elmifel. Nas’Gavarr takes Dulsakh’s spirit from Snake Eye to disperse into the Spirit Realm, gauging out his serpent eye in the process.  Nas’Gavarr tells Ryeem to take him back to Herran and destroy the bones. Shadow harpy warns that Ryeem is up to something. She witnesses Snake Eye keeping a piece of bone on his person. With that, Nas’Gavarr puts the drugged-up Vidya on the back of a horse and heads off to the Deep Wood. There, the soldiers wait in guard. Jeth tells Olivier about Anwarr, and Olivier tells him Lady Hanalei married a Rangarder. Good for her. Nas’Gavarr shows up with Vidya and the fight begins. Faron’s leg gets trapped under his horse, Nadila’s arm gets broken, Nas’Gavarr gets a hold of urling blood and prevents them from fighting. Olivier gives Jeth his bow and stays behind to look after the injured. To stop all the urling soldiers from hemorrhaging, Jeth baits Nas’Gavarr deeper into the wood and begins plan Z.

Chapter 35 – Path of the Masochist

The Overlord pursues Jeth on foot in the thick forest while dragging Vidya behind him. Jeth hides in a thicket wall that the fairies made surrounding the Grove of the Crannabeatha. Jeth pelts him from arrows from places unseen while fairies in the thicket use the plants to absorb Nas’Gavarr’s life force as he goes by, making the thicket bigger and him weaker. He realizes the danger and sets the entire thing on fire, burning some fairies and half of Jeth’s face and hair. Jeth is out of arrows, but the thieving crew appear out of an invisibility spell and attack. Ash frees Vidya but she’s unable to get away due to blood magic. Eventually, Nas’Gavarr gets past them, takes Vidya to the Crannabeatha’s cradle of roots and separates themselves with a wall of flame. Jeth yells to Vidya to free the raven. Nas’Gavarr stabs her with the dagger and the ritual begins.

Vidya wakes in the temple again. She finds the raven and frees it like Jeth said just before falling into the Spirit Chamber to do battle with the Crannabeatha. She regurgitates pestilence and worms that devour the vegetation strangling her. Before the destruction is complete, the raven comes with a dead serpent. The raven takes Vidya up in its talons and gets her out of that Spirit Chamber before more damage is done. Jeth believes it’s too late when the fire wall comes down. But perhaps not. Nas’Gavarr is dead in spirit and Melikheil is now sentient within him. He thanks them, explaining that his spirit gained so much strength through the torturous death in that temple, he was able to hide in wait until Vidya broke the bonds. They watched him leave, not knowing what to do. Ash and crew explain that they rescued Snake Eye from Ryeem on the way through the gate and followed the flames to Jeth’s location. He goes to retrieve the dagger to find it gone along with Vidya.

Chapter 36 – Fairy Locks Grow Back

Using Serra to fly, Jeth finds Vidya in the air. He gets her to land and tries to convince her to return the dagger to Snake Eye. No good will come out of using it to build the Harplite, especially now that Nas’Gavarr is dead. Vidya wants to use it exact vengeance on the Siren Republic instead. She beats up Jeth, breaking his spine. The shadow harpy tells her to punish him, but she can’t. He doesn’t deserve it. She flies away, leaving him irreparably injured. Serra flies him back to the Crannabeatha. He wakes up in a cottage a day or two later, all healed up thanks to Snake Eye. He broke his own spine to heal Jeth’s. Jeth informs Snake Eye of his brother’s death and he mourns, despite wanting this outcome from the beginning. Fae’ren from all over the province heard about the battle came to help. People who share similar bloodline don’t have to hurt themselves as much to heal, so Snake Eye was able to slightly burn them to heal Jeth’s face. He’ll have to wait for his locks to grow back naturally, but Ash and Khiri seem to like it. The woman he saved in Fairieshome was there too with her son, having also helped heal his skin. The crew want him to come back to the desert with them, but Jeth says he belongs in Lanore now, with his own people and fellow orphans. Once recovered, he finds Torrent and takes her for a run in his new home.

Upon recovering two weeks later, Vidya flies to the women’s prison to bust her friends out. With the Bloodstone Dagger in hand, she promises they can all be harpies now. The Harpy will rule Credence again.

The End.