Book 8: Summary
Freed from obligations and duties, Martel and Eleanor leave Morcaster behind. No longer captain prefect or legate, they can travel freely as they wish. They cross Aster to visit Martel’s family and the mausoleum of the Fontaine family in Aquila. They befriend a Tyrian skáld, Rolf, in the ruins of an Archean outpost and venture deep into Tyria, slaying a lindworm. Their journey takes them across the ocean to the Western Isles and back again to Khiva, where their presence helps conclude the peace negotiation between that realm and Aster. Afterwards, they continue to Sindhu, where Martel studies alchemy, and once more to Tyria, where war is being provoked by Asterian legionaries and Tyrian berserkers alike.
A final confrontation at the Tyrian solstice gathering leads to a duel between the two Asterian mages against a berserker and a skáld, their friend Rolf. The southerners take victory, though at the cost of grievous injuries to Rolf, and while war has been averted, the Asterians quickly leave Tyria, which has become hostile to their kind.
Months later, they inflict punishment on the Asterian noble who sought to cause the war against the Tyrian tribes, just as he caused the previous strife with Khiva. After years of suffering and countless grievances inflicted upon them, Martel and Eleanor kill the duke of Cheval, leaving him burned beyond recognition in an unmarked grave in the forest.
Their sojourns continue beyond what the songsters record. Across continents, Martel and Eleanor travel, until they once again meet with Atreus, the mage of legends. He extends an invitation to them both, to journey where none has dared to go for centuries: to Archen, the fabled city of mages and magic that fell to ruin.