Iron Flame

Against the direction of the Assembly and Brennan, Violet flies for Basgiath alongside 49 other riders from Aretia while all gryphon fliers and first-year riders are left safely behind. At Basgiath, Violet attempts to persuade her mother of the danger to its wards. General Sorrengail does not believe her warnings but allows them to inspect the wardstone anyway. They arrive too late to stop Jack Barlowe from sacrificing his dragon, Baide, to take down the wards. The wardstone breaks and the wards fall.

Violet discovers Jack has been venin since their first year, and that the reason Nolon has been so exhausted all year is because he has been attempting to cure him. Jack reveals that the venin “can still feed from the ground, still channel enough to survive” while inside the wards, but cannot wield at full strength (565). Before Jack is knocked unconscious and dosed with signet-blocking serum, Dain manages to read his memories.

Everyone at Basgiath is gathered for Battle Brief, where they prepare for the coming hordes which will reach them in less than 10 hours. Dain reveals that Jack has planted lures all over the college and near the Vale which are drawing the venin to their precise location. The Infantry Quadrant is tasked with locating and destroying wards to buy more time for reinforcements to arrive, while the Healers prepare the infirmary, and the scribes evacuate precious texts. New squads are formed, but Violet’s squad stays intact, the only change being the addition of Xaden to their ranks. Brennan, who has had a change of heart about helping, arrives in Basgiath with all the fliers and first years of Aretia willing to follow. The gryphons help the infantry find and destroy the last of the lures while Brennan is tasked with mending the wardstone. Each squad is given a sector to defend. General Sorrengail assigns Violet’s squad to guard the wardstone.

As riders, fliers, and infantry prepare for battle, Jesinia—who arrived with Brennan’s group—continues to translate Lyra’s journal in hopes that it will reveal what went wrong with Aretia’s wards and help reactivate Basgiath’s. When the battle commences, Violet begins wielding lightning against the wyverns, but the masses keep coming and soon dragons begin dying. When three venin and their wyvern target Violet’s squad, one jumps onto Tairn’s back. Violet becomes stuck in her saddle, unable to release the straps, leaving her vulnerable to attack.

Rhiannon leaps onto Tairn’s back, landing between Violet and the venin. Rhiannon can keep the venin at bay until Violet strikes him with a crossbow bolt, which explodes upon impact, killing him instantly. Meanwhile, Ridoc and his dragon, Aotrom, are attacked by four wyverns at once. When Sawyer and his dragon, Sliseag, attempt to help, two wyverns divert attention to them. Sawyer’s leg is bitten off below the knee by a wyvern and he is pulled off his dragon. Violet manages to release her saddle and leaps onto Aotrom, delivering a crossbow to Ridoc which allows him to disengage the wyvern attacking Sawyer, then leaps onto Sliseag, where she catches Sawyer as he slides from his dragon. They descend into free fall before Tairn catches them and delivers them to the ground, where Sawyer receives medical attention. Tairn is pulled away to protect Sgaeyl and Xaden, leaving Violet alone when two venin corner her. She manages to kill one, but the other overpowers her.

Andarna leaps from the shadows, breathing fire that roasts the venin. Jesinia finds Violet to notify her of the only difference between Lyra’s and Warrick’s journals. Where Warrick said that six dragons are needed to raise the wards, Lyra recorded seven. Violet believes this to be impossible, as there are only six dragon dens: black, blue, green, orange, brown, and red. Violet realizes that Andarna is a dragon of the mysterious seventh den. Without giving away Andarna’s secret, Violet argues with her mother and Melgren—who wants Violet’s squad to abandon guarding the wardstone in favor of retreating to defend the Vale—to allow her to attempt to raise the wards.

The leader of the venin arrives at the battle and Xaden believes he is waiting to meet with him. He does not explain why he thinks this to Violet and she does not have time to ask. Tairn cannot be used to power Basgiath’s wards because his fire has already been used for Aretia’s, so Violet convinces Melgren’s dragon, Codagh, to supply his fire for the black den.

Violet speaks with Andarna, who reveals that she is the head of her own den and only chooses to take on black scales because she respects Tairn, who does not know her secret. Andarna agrees to breathe fire for the stone when the time comes. When Violet reaches Brennan and the wardstone, she tests its ability to imbue. With no time to wait for the arrival of other riders with the ability to imbue, Violet begins pouring all her power into the stone, realizing that “the price of imbuing [it] in time to save everyone [she] love[s]” is her life (610). To save Violet, her mother forces Sloane to use her signet, draining all General Sorrengail’s power into the wardstone. General Sorrengail sacrifices her life to fully power it, allowing Violet to reactivate Basgiath’s wards.

After dragons from all seven dens successfully activate the wardstone, all the wyverns within the wards drop dead, and the remaining venin flee. Everyone celebrates except for Violet and her siblings, who mourn their mother’s death. Melgren and Devera begin discussions about reunifying, given all of Navarre now knows about the venin’s existence. Violet finds Xaden near the ravine; he claims to have killed the venin and pushed him over the edge. When he looks at her, Violet is shocked to find his eyes rimmed in red.

Xaden has a nightmare about the battle. He fights the Sage general, who is much more powerful than him, and loses. The general has already told him in previous nightmares that he will turn for love, and when the general threatens Violet’s life, Xaden chooses to draw power from the earth against Sgaeyl’s protests. He wakes beside Violet and seeks out Jack Barlowe, who is imprisoned in a holding cell. He asks about a cure that Jack claims does not exist.