Chapter Summaries

Livius tried to turn White Deer Fortress’s alarm into leverage for more troops, but Li Ang’s rebellion left him torn between attacking and concealing his false report. Li Ang then arrived offering to help capture White Deer Fortress, and Livius agreed to send troops toward Wheat Fragrance Territory.

• Livius reclassified the two thousand forcibly conscripted laborers as the Imperial Second Legion’s labor corps and sent Fabius to build a camp in Noldo Forest.
• After White Deer Fortress lit its beacons, Livius falsely reported that its strength had risen to two thousand and requested reinforcements, while his scouts failed to return.
• Justus’s surviving spies reported Li Ang’s failed rebellion, leaving Livius afraid that the truth would expose his false military report even as it presented a chance to attack.
• Risadiran shot Li Ang’s secret letter into Shield Wind Fortress, accidentally grazing Livius while he was using the tower lavatory.
• Livius met Li Ang outside Shield Wind Fortress, heard his plan to draw White Deer Fortress’s troops away, and agreed to send soldiers toward Wheat Fragrance Territory to block reinforcements.

Li Ang convinced Livius to join the assault on White Deer Fortress, while secretly using the supposed defection to draw the Bacchus Empire’s forces into a trap. Fabius’s attack on the fortress ended with his troops split by the falling portcullis and trapped under a storm of arrows, while Li Ang and Amy’s forces approached Livius’s position.

• Li Ang persuaded Livius to march on White Deer Fortress and bring the laborer legion along, while Livius left Fabius to lead the Shadow Infantry toward the fortress.
• The chapter revealed Li Ang’s plan: trap the attacking Shadow Infantry, have Amy destroy Shield Wind Fortress, and then strike Livius’s forces while their retreat was blocked.
• Li Ang led a small force south to draw White Deer Fortress’s defenders away as Fabius advanced on the supposedly undefended city with more than seven hundred Shadow Infantry.
• Fabius led his troops through the open gates, but the portcullis dropped after about three hundred men entered, trapping them inside and leaving the rest outside.
• Archers and crossbowmen surrounding the gate passage unleashed a storm of arrows on Fabius and the trapped Shadow Infantry.
• Li Ang’s troops and Amy’s troops arrived near Livius’s laborer camp several dozen li south of White Deer Fortress.

Li Ang captured Livius and White Deer Fortress, secured Shield Wind Fortress through Amy’s mission, and persuaded most of the conscripted laborers to settle in Wheat Fragrance Territory. The chapter ended with Isildur considering why humans had gathered a large army, as a Twilight Knight reminded him of the exiled Risadiran.

• Li Ang ambushed Livius’s forces, captured the governor and laborers, and helped White Deer Fortress defeat the remaining Shadow Infantry.
• Amy led four hundred men to Shield Wind Fortress, where its few defenders surrendered and she set the fortress ablaze.
• Li Ang demanded ransom for the captives and sent Sir Roland to persuade the laborers to settle in Wheat Fragrance Territory; more than thirteen hundred stayed.
• Li Ang allowed nearly seven hundred laborers to return to Bax with provisions, while the others remained in his territory.
• Isildur refused to attack unarmed farmers and sought to learn why humanity had assembled a large force against the Noldo.
• A Twilight Knight asked Isildur whether he remembered Risadiran, whom he had exiled.

Isildur agreed to let the Twilight Knight seek information from Risadiran while forbidding humans from settling in the Noldo camp. Meanwhile, Wheat Fragrance Territory prospered as a trade and transport hub, but the arrival of thousands of mercenaries seeking Noldo noble maidens brought Li Ang a dangerous new crisis.

• Isildur ordered the Twilight Knight to approach Risadiran for information and sent his patrol to watch the camp, with orders to kill any humans who settled there.
• Wheat Fragrance Territory grew into Aier County's wholesale center as Li Ang's cheap bus route connected it to White Deer Fortress and encouraged commerce and road repairs.
• Li Ang ended free monthly passes and allowed residents to exchange saltpeter for them as Wheat Fragrance Territory became crowded with newcomers and merchants.
• More than three thousand mercenaries, led by the Ebony Gauntlet Knights, gathered near Wheat Fragrance Territory to capture Noldo noble maidens on King Ulrich's orders.
• Li Ang, Amy, Risadiran, and the others recognized that the mercenaries' planned invasion could provoke the Noldo into attacking the Lionheart Kingdom and nearby White Deer Fortress.

Li Ang sought to keep the mercenaries from entering White Deer Fortress and arranged for a dispute with the Ebony Gauntlet Knights to give him grounds to expel them. He arrived in Wheat Fragrance Territory as the confrontation escalated and accused the knights of entering his land armed without permission.

• Li Ang asked Risadiran to contact the Noldo and convey that White Deer Fortress opposed the mercenaries, while revealing his own Noldo ancestry as a possible point of interest.
• Li Ang ordered Ansen to impose military control in Wheat Fragrance Territory, Sarah to investigate incoming knightly orders and Lord Godric, and Amy to direct arriving mercenaries to a camp south of White Deer Fortress.
• John reported that the Ebony Gauntlet Knights had beaten him after he refused to let them requisition public carriages, and Li Ang called for troops to accompany him to the square.
• Merchants, residents, and public security patrols surrounded the Ebony Gauntlet Knights as the dispute over carriages grew into a large standoff, with Li Ang's soldiers secretly stoking tensions.
• Li Ang arrived with cavalry and accused the leading Ebony Gauntlet Knights of entering his territory armed without permission.

Li Ang forced the Ebony Gauntlet Knights and mercenaries out of Aier County and into a camp near Noldo Forest, then closed White Deer Fortress to show the Noldor he did not support their presence. Isildur ordered an attack, and the chapter ended as Noldor archers struck the camp, revealing that a Noldor army had mobilized.

• Li Ang arrested the Ebony Gauntlet Knights who had attacked people in Wheat Fragrance Territory, then accepted Dumbledore's apology and compensation while ordering the force to leave Aier County.
• Li Ang escorted the Ebony Gauntlet Knights and mercenaries to a large camp near Noldo Forest, then sealed White Deer Fortress and barred armed foreigners from Aier County.
• Isildur learned that White Deer Fortress opposed the mercenaries, received a message from Risadiran, and ordered an attack at the crescent moon.
• Dumbledore argued with a mercenary captain about delaying the mission until reinforcements arrived, while the captain mocked the Ebony Gauntlet Knights.
• Noldo archers launched a sudden attack on the camp, killing the mercenary captain and convincing Dumbledore that a Noldor army had mobilized.

Dumbledore led the surviving Ebony Gauntlet Knights away from the Noldo ambush, but Noldo cavalry pursued them into the Dengjier Mountains. At White Deer Fortress, Li Ang received a letter from Isildur asking about the human attack and proposing peaceful coexistence, though Li Ang feared his reply would arrive too late to save the mercenaries.

• Noldo archers attacked the mercenary camp at night, and Dumbledore recognized the danger posed by the Twilight Knights and the larger elven force.
• Dumbledore secretly withdrew more than three hundred Ebony Gauntlet Knights from the camp while the mercenaries remained under attack.
• After a Noldo cavalry force appeared near the camp, Dumbledore led his exhausted troops west toward the Dengjier Mountains, where another Noldo cavalry force caught up with them.
• Risadiran brought Li Ang a letter from Isildur asking why humans were attacking the Noldo Forest and whether Li Ang would coexist peacefully with the Noldo.
• Li Ang wrote a reply and sent Risadiran to deliver it to Isildur, urging him to go quickly because the mercenary groups were likely doomed.

After the mercenary camp was destroyed, Isildur received Li Ang’s letter and learned that the Fenway Family was threatened by Judas the Destroyer’s Gatu army. Li Ang profited from the battlefield and chose to lead his forces into the forest to rescue the Fenway Family, while Dumbledore marched north to pursue a chance to capture Noldo prisoners.

• Isildur mourned the Noldo losses, then read Li Ang’s letter and pardoned Risadiran, who refused to accept the pardon and pledged to redeem himself under the law.
• A Twilight Knight reported that Judas the Destroyer had defeated Lord Aldarian and led roughly a thousand Gatu into the forest, prompting Isildur to assemble his army to rescue the Fenway Family.
• Isildur asked Risadiran to tell Li Ang that he would spare the fleeing Ebony Gauntlet Knights and leave the battlefield spoils to him, while requesting help against the Gatu.
• Li Ang used a cluster of banners to convince Dumbledore that he had driven off the Noldo, then agreed to conceal the mercenaries’ destruction and advised the knight commander to intercept the Gatu on their withdrawal.
• Dumbledore led the Ebony Gauntlet Knights north, while Li Ang collected nearly one hundred thousand denars and equipment from the mercenary camp.
• Li Ang abandoned his plan to seek horses at the grasslands and decided to lead his army into the forest to rescue the Fenway Family.

Li Ang’s group discovered a bear cub killed by Gatu people in the Noldo forest, prompting Risadiran to call for battle. Meanwhile, Duke Alma’s forces ambushed Godric in Long River Town, and Charles escaped the ensuing fight with help from the Countess.

• Li Ang learned how the Noldo’s four groups were governed and how Lord Aldarian’s breakaway tribe maintained ties with the Fenway Family.
• Risadiran explained that the Noldo managed animal populations to preserve the forest, then identified a bear cub killed by Gatu people and ordered everyone to prepare for battle.
• Godric pursued the Crimson Brotherhood with Charles, encountered Ralph’s Horn Summon Ranger Corps, and learned that Ralph had tried and failed to rescue his son Raphael from Lion Lake City.
• Godric incorporated Ralph’s rangers into his army and led his troops to Long River Town, where Alma’s soldiers trapped and captured him.
• Charles escaped the town with the Red Arrow Longbowmen, drew Alma’s troops after him, and took shelter in the Countess’s wine cellar at Kewen Village.

Alma captured Godric and accused him and Li Ang of treason, using Foucher’s death and Dalion’s claim to the throne to justify a campaign against the eastern barons. While Amy stayed at White Deer Fortress and Roland, Sarah, and Lesley prepared to investigate Godric’s capture, Alma expanded his power in Long River Town and set events in motion against Ralph and Raphael.

• Lion Lake City’s forces entered Kewen Village to capture Dalion, and Eric ordered Long River Express’s guards to lie low after hearing that Dalion had been taken.
• Lesley reached White Deer Fortress and reported that Alma had captured Godric and accused Godric, Li Ang, and Leofric of rebellion.
• Sarah persuaded Amy that Alma had attacked Godric to avenge Foucher and lure her and Li Ang into danger, so Amy stayed at White Deer Fortress.
• Roland offered to enter Long River Town to gather information or rescue Godric, and Sarah and Lesley decided to accompany him.
• Alma used Prince Alanric’s decree to claim Long River Town, placed the Horn Summon Ranger Corps across the region, and sent Raphael and the wounded Ralph toward White Deer Fortress.
• Alma declared Ralph and Raphael rebels and threatened any lord who sheltered them, intending to use their arrival at White Deer Fortress to reinforce his charges of treason.

Alanric revealed that King Ulrich had once seized the throne by forging a will, then sent the Lion Seal to help Alma provoke his father into confronting him. Meanwhile, Alaric’s Drunkards’ Brigade accidentally rescued Dalion, and Milgan Kirik killed Alma in Long River Town.

• Igor told Alanric that Ulrich had used hallucinogens and a forged will to take the throne from the intended heir, Prince Raymondric.
• Alanric refused to poison his father but gave Igor the Lion Seal, intending Alma to steal it and issue a forged royal decree that would draw Ulrich into a conflict.
• Alaric’s Drunkards’ Brigade encountered Lion Lake City’s troops near Kewen Village, defeated them, and inadvertently freed Dalion.
• Alma mistook the Drunkards’ Brigade for a large rebel force and used the apparent uprising to justify arresting Leofric and accusing the eastern barons of treason.
• Milgan infiltrated Long River Town’s inner fortress and killed Alma with a sword while the duke rested in Godric’s office.

Milgan escaped Long River Town after Alma’s assassination triggered a riot, while Eric and Godric restored order and Sarah learned that Milgan was the lover who had vanished from her life. Elsewhere, Li Ang led his soldiers into battle against Gatu people and Misty Mountain Savages attacking a Noldo horse ranch, and the Gatu began retreating as the fighting continued.

• Milgan escaped Alma’s men by jumping into the lake, where Eric rescued him, bound him, and brought him into Long River Town.
• Alma’s assassination threw Long River Town into chaos as his troops fought the Griffin Sword Mercenary Group, and Eric and Godric seized the inner castle and restored order.
• Sarah recognized Milgan as the knight who had disappeared from her life eight years earlier after hearing the mercenaries call him Kir.
• Milgan cut through his ropes and escaped Long River Express’s compound, then went alone to Lion Lake City.
• Li Ang discovered that Gatu people and Misty Mountain Savages were attacking a Noldo horse ranch with weapons taken from the Ebony Gauntlet Knights.
• Li Ang led his two hundred soldiers in a flank attack, and the Gatu people began retreating while the Misty Mountain Savages remained engaged with the Noldo.

Li Ang’s forces helped the Noldo Elves defeat the Misty Mountain Savages, but a wounded woman named Andongjia revealed that she had been fighting her own enemies, the Bear Claw Tribe. She began explaining the history of the Misty Mountain tribes and their ties to the people of the Raven Territory, leaving the conflict’s deeper cause unresolved.

• Li Ang and Risadiran rushed to stop the Misty Mountain Savages from reaching the stable, where the Noldos were sheltering wounded people and children.
• Andongjia killed the shaman leading the charge, causing the remaining Misty Mountain Savages to flee, and Li Ang stopped a Twilight Knight from killing her after she surrendered.
• Ansen began treating the wounded, while Risadiran argued with the Twilight Knight over his contempt for humans and his treatment of Li Ang.
• Andongjia told Li Ang that the Misty Mountain people were her enemies and that she had sought revenge on the Bear Claw Tribe for betraying her.
• Andongjia explained the Misty Mountain tribes’ sixty-four-year cycle of warfare, their crossing into the Raven Territory, and how they became ancestors of its people.
• Andongjia said the Northern Misty Mountain shamans and chiefs had turned their attention toward the lands of the Raven Territory.

Andongjia’s revenge drew the Bear Claw Tribe into a chaotic battle among the Gatu, Noldo, and Ebony Hammer Wielders, where they seized valuable equipment and joined the attack on Aldarian. After becoming lost in the forest, the Bear Claw Tribe and some Gatu reached a horse ranch and found Noldo Elves moving a herd of Elf Horses and supplies.

• Andongjia lured the Bear Claw Tribe toward the Eastern Misty Mountains, intending to lead them into a deadly trap.
• Near the Gatu Grasslands, the Bear Claw Tribe encountered Judah’s Gatu force and the Ebony Hammer Wielders, who mistook them for allies and approached.
• The Bear Claw Tribe fought the Ebony Hammer Wielders, then joined the Gatu in ambushing Aldarian’s Noldo warriors and chasing them into the forest.
• The Bear Claw Tribe and several hundred separated Gatu wandered through the forest for two days before reaching a horse ranch.
• The Bear Claw Tribe and Gatu discovered that Noldo Elves were moving a large herd of Elf Horses and valuable supplies, and both groups grew eager to seize them.

After Andongjia pledged loyalty to Li Ang, he realized another enemy force was exploiting the chaos and helped Cedren prepare an ambush at the Fenway Family horse ranch. The Gatu people eventually charged into the apparently undefended stable, where they met an unseen trap.

• Ansen treated Andongjia’s wounds, and Li Ang recruited her to serve him and protect Ansen.
• Cedren told Li Ang that no troops from Isildur’s or the Aino Family had reached the Fenway territory, prompting Li Ang to warn that another force might be active.
• Li Ang persuaded Cedren to leave the supplies as bait and hide the wounded and children rather than attempt a dangerous evacuation.
• Scouts found Gatu people hiding nearby, so Li Ang and Cedren staged an apparent withdrawal from the horse ranch.
• That night, the Gatu people surrounded the stable, drove off a small group of defenders, and charged inside, where their cries turned to screams.

Li Ang lured the Gatu people into attacking the horse farm, where his forces ambushed and encircled them. Most of the Gatu were killed or captured, while Cedren and Risadiran pursued those who escaped and Li Ang assessed his own troops’ losses.

• The Gatu people charged into the dark stable and were shot by archers hidden inside and among the trees, while Risadiran prevented them from lighting fires.
• Li Ang’s infantry and Noldo warriors emerged from three directions, trapping the Gatu people near the stable.
• Li Ang ordered his shield formations to compress the Gatu people, and his spearmen stabbed into the tightly packed enemy ranks.
• After more than half their force fell, seventy or eighty Gatu people broke through the northern opening and fled into the forest.
• Cedren led the Noldo archers in pursuit as Li Ang stayed behind to clear the battlefield and considered how to improve his recruits’ training.

Li Ang discovered that Xingar slavers had attacked the Fenway Family settlement and captured Noldo elves, then met Elf King Felgornsal and argued that the Noldos needed to integrate with humans to preserve their civilization. Felgornsal listened, but the rescue of the captured elves remained unresolved.

• Li Ang and Cedren found signs of a recent attack near the Fenway Family settlement, and a Xingar arrow struck at Li Ang.
• Cedren captured a wounded Xingar slaver, who revealed that Lord Fruz's force of fifteen hundred had attacked the Noldos and captured more than twenty prisoners.
• Li Ang's troops reached the settlement and found its people, weapons, and equipment gone, with only stripped corpses left behind.
• A Noldo force arrived under Elf King Felgornsal, while Vendathir announced that she would lead the pursuit to rescue her captured students.
• Li Ang challenged the Noldos' isolation and arrogance, then urged Felgornsal to sacrifice their pride and traditions by integrating with humans.

Li Ang used pointed criticism and a carefully designed proposal to steer the Noldo leaders toward settling in his territory and serving alongside his people. After offering to help rescue captured Noldo rangers, he left Vendathir wondering how he could know where the enemy would take them.

• Li Ang criticized the Noldos for clinging to their past and urged them to leave the forest and rebuild their kingdom.
• Li Ang explained how criticism could guide someone’s thoughts and actions, then proposed trade, equal laws, military protection, and Noldo lords in his territory.
• Vendathir questioned his motives, but Li Ang offered to let her oversee his territory and kill him if he harmed the Noldos.
• Felgornsal said the Noldos needed to leave the forest but could not yet trust Li Ang’s subjects.
• Li Ang volunteered to join Vendathir in rescuing the captured Noldo rangers, then said he could guess where their captors would take them.

Li Ang, Vendathir, and Isildur tracked Fruuz's slave-catching group to the ruins of Shield Wind Fortress, where the group revealed a trap during a night raid. Vendathir faced the hidden attackers alone as the Xingars encircled the Noldo Rangers.

• Li Ang led Vendathir and her Noldo Rangers southwest and met Isildur, who reported that Fruuz's force had scattered after he attacked it and that some elven maidens remained captive.
• Vendathir forced Xingar prisoners to reveal that the main force had gone south toward Shield Wind Fortress, and Li Ang joined Isildur in discussing the pursuit.
• Li Ang, Vendathir, and Risadiran scouted Fruuz's camp in the ruins and learned that the notorious slave-catching group was waiting there.
• Vendathir launched a night raid with her two hundred Noldo Rangers, and the Xingars appeared to flee while leaving apparent Noldo maidens behind.
• More than a dozen Xingar enchantresses sprang from the ashes and attacked Vendathir, while the fleeing force turned back and formed an encirclement around the Noldo Rangers.

Li Ang, Isildur, and Vendathir defeated the Fruuz Slaver Group’s ambush, but learned that Fruuz had already escaped west with the captured Noldo maidens. Li Ang set out to pursue him, joined by Vendathir, who agreed to follow his orders.

• Vendathir held off the Xingar enchantresses while Li Ang and Isildur sprang their counter-ambush against the enemy forces.
• Li Ang’s troops and Isildur’s Rangers broke the Xingar cavalry charge, and Li Ang disrupted the remaining riders until they fled and the enemy army collapsed.
• Vendathir challenged Li Ang for keeping the plan from her, then agreed to accept his command if he told her his arrangements.
• Li Ang learned from a captured enchantress that Fruuz had left hours earlier with about twenty people, taking the captured Noldo maidens and much of their stolen equipment.
• Li Ang sent Ansen back with troops and Rangers, while Vendathir agreed to disguise herself as a human and join Li Ang’s pursuit of Fruuz with around fifty cavalrymen.