A Reaper at the Gates

Laia disguises herself as a Martial soldier, hoping to get near Helene and steal her ring. She and Cook evade a missile attack until they spot Helene, who looks exhausted. Before Laia can approach, the Nightbringer arrives, and she runs away. While Cook tries to persuade Laia to follow the plan, another missile attack begins, killing some enslaved Scholar children. Before she goes unconscious, Laia remembers someone throwing her far away.

Exhausted, Helene acknowledges the Martial underestimated the Karkauns. Dex briefs her on their heavy losses but assures her the evacuation is underway, albeit slow. Livia is safe with Rallius, and Marcus is defending the western gate well. Keris requests more soldiers, and Dex reveals the Karkauns are spreading salt around their army. The Nightbringer tells them it’s to repels ghosts and warns of more ghosts coming from the Waiting Place. After healing Helene, he departs, saying the time for her to seek his help has not yet arrived.

Helene orders Dex to gather salt for their defenses. To her surprise, the Karkauns retreat. A loud wail signals the wild ghosts from the Waiting Place have arrived. Martial soldiers become possessed and start to attack each other. Sensing weakness, the Karkauns resume their attacks. The unpossessed Martials continue to fight. Amid the chaos, Faris reports the midwife is dead and Livia is having the baby.

After regaining consciousness, Laia wonders why the Nightbringer propelled her away from the blasts. Cook tells Laia her compassion proved deadly since the Grain Moon has arrived and the city will be breached tomorrow. She goes outside to help the Scholars while Laia redresses her wounds. Cook vows to get revenge on Keris while Laia gets the ring.

Dressed as laundresses, Cook and Laia enter the Black Guard barracks. Laia carries a stack of clean uniforms passed the soldiers, who let her through. Inside, Laia finds Livia in childbirth and realizes she must help Livia get the ring from Helene.

Elias summons all of his magic and forces the ghosts out of the possessed Martial soldiers. Helene thanks Elias, but Mauth, who controls Elias’s body, rejects her gratitude and leaves.

As Elias searches for ghosts, he witnesses Keris allowing the Karkauns to breach the city gate. Having rid himself of emotion, Elias carries on with his mission.

Laia arrives to help Livia deliver the baby. She tells Helene to wash her hands and take off her rings before helping with the delivery. Helene receives a drum message warning about the second gate being breached. She tells Laia she must leave, but Laia asks her to help with the baby, and Helene stays back.

For two hours, Laia and Helene help Livia through her contractions while the drums messages keep getting more urgent. Helene says she needs to leave, but Laia is worried about the labor taking too long. However, while they discuss what to do, Livia starts screaming. Laia asks Helene to sing for Livia and the baby, and soon, the baby is born.

Marcus names his son Zacharius Marcus Livius Aquillas Farrar. Then, he orders Helene to transport his family out of the city. Laia hides behind her hood, waiting for everyone to leave. When Helene says she cannot leave, Marcus tells her the city is lost, and that he must protect his heir.

Helene leads Livia and her guards toward the evacuation route and then returns to the city, where she finds the barracks on fire and Marcus’s soldiers dead. She eventually finds Marcus mortally injured, which elicits both compassion and resentment. Marcus tells her that Keris moved the Hall of Records and the Illustrians already, implying she knew the Karkauns would win and the city would fall. She also sabotaged communication with legions from Silas and Estium, which means reinforcements won’t come. Marcus knows Antium will fall, but he makes Helene swear to support Zacharius’s reign over the Empire. Helene swears this.

Marcus’s final order for Helene is to give him a swift, merciful death. Relieved that he did not ask her to heal him, Helene takes pity on him and slits his throat.

Safe outside the barracks, Laia wonders why the ring, which should be destroyed, is still intact. The Nightbringer arrives, tells her she has the wrong ring, and crushes it.

The Nightbringer lets Laia escape but tells her that she and her people will never have peace. He will free the jinn and wreak havoc on their enemies, as the prophesy foretells. Laia tells him she will find a way to stop him, and he tells her she has already failed.

Elias and Mauth continue to hunt the ghosts until all the escaped ghosts have returned. Then, they kill the Karkaun warlock priests so they can release the Karkaun ghosts too.

Near the barracks, Laia finds Elias and hugs him, but when Elias hugs her back, he feels nothing. Laia asks him to help her, but he says no, shocking Laia and himself. Before Elias can say anything, he is transported to another plane where Mauth tells Elias to merge with him. He shows Elias the consequences of the Scholar King’s actions, and Elias realizes the jinn must be released. Mauth needs Elias as his conduit to do so. Elias regrets betraying his friends but knows that he can’t allow the ghosts to enter the world of the living.

After returning to his body, Elias assures Laia that saving the Scholars is not as important as restoring balance. His coldness shocks her, and she demands that Mauth free Elias. Mauth, who is one with Elias, apologizes and leaves.

Cooks arrives to find Laia beside the stables, still reeling from her encounter with Elias. Putting aside her concerns about the Nightbringer’s prophecy, Laia decides to focus on saving the Scholars and plans an escape for them through the city’s northern gate.

Laia leads the Scholars, along with some Plebians, to the Mariner Embassy where Cook is waiting. Cook is frustrated that Laia is taking extra time to round up the Plebians, but Laia insists on not leaving any innocent people behind. Cook tells her she is just like her father.

Soon, they hear the Karkauns coming closer, indicating the fall of the Martial army, and Laia witnesses an aux squad’s brutal death. Cook forces Laia to come in before closing the Embassy doors and rigging them with explosives. As the Karkauns approach, everyone runs toward the tunnels and the explosives seal the tunnels in. Laia vows to get out of the city.

Despite being overwhelmed, Helene continues to fight. She confronts Keris about her betrayal, and Keris replies the Nightbringer promised her control over the Empire. Keris’s guard’s keep Helene from attacking, and after taunting Helene with her blade, Keris rides off.

Helene joins Dex and the last of the Black Guards fighting in the Mercator District. When she hears that the Karkauns have reached Pilgrim’s Gap, where Livia and the other citizens are sheltering, she tells the remaining soldiers to go there.

The Martial army has approximately 1,000 remaining soldiers while the Karkaun army has almost 10,000 soldiers. Helene orders Dex to help the citizens get to Augur’s cave and then collapse the tunnels. She tells him to not come back and instead help protect Livia and her nephew; Helene intends to die with her men on the battlefield. Dex salutes her and tells her goodbye and leaves. Helene gives a small speech to the army Before they start fighting.

After an hour of fighting, half of the Martial army is dead. Only Helene, who is tired and injured, remains. She calls on the Nightbringer for help, and he promises to in exchange for her mask. She tells him she cannot take it off, since it is embedded in her skin, and he tells her that he needs the mask because the Augurs put part of an ancient weapon in it, and the mask is the symbol of her love for her people.

Helene tears the mask off her face, which bleeds and aches. The Nightbringer, as he is taking the mask, asks her why she is giving it to him, and she tells him because she loves her people. After getting the mask, the Nightbringer turns to leave, and Helene asks him why he is not helping her. He looks beyond her shoulder and tells her he has already helped her.

Coming out of the tunnels, Laia sees a distraught Helene and the Nightbringer. Cook urges Laia to leave while Helene gives up on fighting and prepares to die. Laia cannot allow Helene to die. She starts killing Karkauns with her blade, and Cook joins the fight with her arrows.

Cook tells Laia that to defeat Keris, Laia must learn Keris’s story. Cook has about 50 arrows left, after which the Karkauns will kill them if someone is not holding them back. Laia realizes that Cook means to sacrifice herself for her and Helene’s safety. Cook tells Laia that she did horrible things in Kauf Prison though Laia already knows. Cook expresses regret for not being able to save Jahan and Lis and asks Laia to tell Darin everything. Cook tells Laia she loves her and runs away, drawing the Karkauns’ attention away from Laia and Helene.

Helene, barely conscious, tells Laia to leave her. Harper arrives, and he and Laia carry Helene to the caves. Helene asks Harper why he didn’t follow her orders and blast the tunnels, and Harper tells her they were stupid orders. Once inside the cave, Harper tells Dex to blast the tunnels and tells Laia to follow them. Laia does not want to lose her mother again, but she has no choice. Helene asks Laia if she knew Cook, and Laia replies that yes, her name was Mirra of Serra.