Chapter 3

Summary

• This chapter introduces a character named Livira who is caught in a chaotic attack, where arrows fly and dust fills the air.
• The attackers turn out to be sabbers who start dragging prisoners, including Livira, across a ground filled with stones and rocks.
• Many screams and shouts of pain can be heard as Livira manages to free her hands from the ropes that bound her.
• Once the chaos subsides, Livira and other prisoners are rounded up by uniformed men with sabres who, ignoring their questions and complaints, march them off into the dusk.
• They leave behind a girl named Selly, who had been struck by an arrow and killed during the attack.
• The men leading them turn out to be soldiers who have injuries of their own, one with a broken arm and another with a face clawed by a sabber's claws. They are sturdier than the settlement men but are short and have flat faces and light eyes.
• Livira and the other children are marched towards a city, led by a man named Malar. He doesn't answer any of her questions about where they're headed, and he comes off as gruff and verbally abusive.
• They trek across the city, with a member of their group named Henton dying from his injuries. The journey takes them close to a dust-bear, a creature feared by the settlers, who Livira kills in order to proceed.
• The journey ends as they reach the city after the sun has set. The soldiers put the children to sleep to continue the rest of the journey the next day.
• The questions of why the sabbers attacked them in the first place and what purpose the children serve for them loom at the end of the chapter.

• Malar talks to Jons about the serious threat of sabbers (a foe group or species), who are reportedly increasing in number and keep migrating eastward. He is pessimistic about the future, based on their breeding rate and population.
• Livira, along with Neera and Katrin, hears Malar's concern, but they're too exhausted to question him and sleep is disturbed by thirst.
• The group is traveling towards a city built on a mountain. The city is fortified with a great wall and accessible through three roads from north, south, and east.
• The travelers have no water left, but Malar musters the strength to get the children moving towards the city.
• Livira is amazed by seeing a cart for the first time, loaded with beans and corn and easily pulled by a small horse.
• Livira asks Malar about his combat experiences and why he isn’t in charge. He explains that leadership and combat are two different things, and he criticizes the current leader. Malar also talks about how technology is changing warfare.
• The group sees other carts and wagons joining them on the road, a mix of traffic, but no homes or settlements.
• Acmar and Benth collapse due to exhaustion, and Malar puts the children they were carrying on his horse. The group is close to the city gates and the traffic builds.
• Malar explains that upon reaching the city, they'll be allocated tasks in exchange for food, water, and protection, although warns Livira that the newcomers will get the hardest jobs.
• Livira wonders how the city dwellers eat since there are no fields, and Malar explains that a convoy of wagons brings food to the city. The city people pay in knowledge and he reveals that the city is the location of a library built by King Oanold's great-grandfather.