Sagas & Sass began covering the Red Rising Saga by Pierce Brown in September 2022; this is our summary of Darrow’s chapters in book 4 – Iron Gold – as it was written to introduce Sagas & Sass episodes 63A, 64D, and 65D.
AHOY! SPOILERS AHEAD!
Iron Gold kicks off with a brief prologue introducing “The Fall of Mercury”, and while it doesn’t detail the actual fall, it includes bits and pieces of what’s happening, such as the bombing of Tyche and Darrow falling in another Iron Rain – with the concluding revelation that it’s the tenth year of war and the thirty-third of Darrow’s life…
…before the story cuts to him parading down the Via Triumphia on Luna for what is the FOURTH Liberation Day since we last saw him, this time celebrating that Mercury has joined the [err, supposedly?] free worlds of Luna, Earth, and Mars.
Except OOPSIE, not everyone is happy about recent events, because it turns out that when Darrow let that Iron Rain fall, he was disobeying Senate orders. But Darrow gonna Darrow, and at this point the only thing he’s focused on is being back with his wife – Mustang, of course, who is also still the Sovereign!
Later that evening Darrow and Sevro arrive at Silene Manor, the official country retreat for the Sovereign and the place that Darrow and his family call home, as apparently they haven’t been back to Mars in quite some time. Aaaanyway, first things first Darrow and Sevro go find their children – Pax, now ten, and Sevro’s oldest daughter Elektra, nine – who are in the dueling grotto for some razor training.
Darrow and Sevro watch for a bit, but eventually Sevro – who is clearly Best Dad Ever – can no longer contain himself and announces his presence, earning himself one heck of a hug from not-so-little Elektra. Pax, on the other hand, is very cool with Darrow, something that Thraxa and Niobe au Telemanus try to excuse, but uhhh let’s be real Darrow obviously has to make up for a LOT of missed time.
But Darrow has some other catching up to do beforehand – with his mother, for one, which leads to him also running into Dancer, after having noted his old friend’s absence at the Triumph. It’s not an easy conversation between these two, with both of them seeming to be hiding things from each other, but hey, now it’s time for a family dinner!
Well, okay, first Victra finally shows up – seven months pregnant with her and Sevro’s fourth daughter and as extra-in-the-best-ways as always. (In fact, it seems like both Pax and his Obsidian friend Baldur are pretty much in love with her, which is adorably hilarious.)
Their big family dinner is peaceful and full of laughter, and when it’s over Darrow finally gets some alone time with Mustang, who chides him for all of the things they’re missing – life, dinners like the one they just had, the children in the yard – but these sweet moments are interrupted by a call…
Because it turns out that Dancer has called an emergency meeting of the Senate, and they’re moving Darrow’s hearing – ya know, the one that apparently needs to happen because he big time disobeyed orders – up to the very next night.
And that’s where we find Darrow again. He addresses the Senate, asking for the tools he needs to finish the war once and for all…but despite the Golds and Coppers agreeing to Darrow’s request, Dancer throws a big ol’ wrench in the whole thing when he reminds Darrow that a million people died in the Iron Rain on Mercury…and then calls a witness forward.
And who is Dancer’s witness? Why, it’s none other than Julia au freakin’ BELLONA, here to reveal that just before the Iron Rain on Mercury, the Ash Lord sent emissaries to Darrow to request an armistice!
The Senate erupts into chaos, and while Darrow insists that the Ash Lord never actually wanted peace, the fact that he kept this information from everyone and let the Rain fall anyway means he’s, err, kinda – okay, probably REALLY – screwed. Darrow is ordered to remain in the city, and while Sevro suggests calling some of their allies to Luna for help, Darrow tells him no – instead, they’re going to summon the Howlers.
Before that, though, Darrow meets with Quicksilver, because he has a request – he needs the use of one of Quicksilver’s favorite ships. Clearly there are plots within plans within plans within plots afoot!
When the Howlers do finally gather, Sevro is demanding to know which one of them snitched about the emissaries, and although Darrow insists that he trusts them all, his trust clearly only extends so far – because he also insists that anyone who isn’t going to take part in his new plan leave the room before he reveals any details. At this point Holiday tells him that she won’t abandon the Republic, and Sefi announces that the Obsidian are out, as well. Understandably, the loss of these members hits Darrow hard…even with Sevro being his usual maniacal self and welcoming whatever comes next.
And what DOES come next? Well, we won’t find out just yet, because first Darrow and the Howlers have to prepare to sneak off Luna. Victra wants Darrow to order Sevro to remain behind, but obviously THAT’S not going to happen…however, before they leave, Sevro does want to say goodbye to his daughters, and Darrow, for his part, wants to see Pax as well.
Sounds like a bad idea, right? Well, it is. Because sure, they do sneak back into the Manor and get to see their kids one more time, but Mustang catches them and totally calls the Wardens in to stop them from leaving!
Good on Mustang, honestly, but unfortunately this could never be an ‘all’s well that ends well’ situation – in fact, it’s more like ‘all’s terrible and ends terribly’. Because as Darrow and Sevro fight their way out, Darrow mistakenly kills Wulfgar, an Obsidian Warden and an old friend of theirs. Mustang is horrified, and Pax witnessed the whole thing, and all of this is no good very bad and that, folks, is where we leave Darrow for now…
Darrow and the Howlers might have escaped from Luna, but in doing so they have become outlaws…something that Darrow, for one, finds liberating. Granted, he’s still plagued by the demons the world has given him…….waaaaiiiittt a minute. Nah. Darrow might be plagued by demons, but let’s be real, he brought those on HIMSELF.
That said, he’s still intent on making his way to Venus and ending the war, but first they need to make a pit stop on Earth to visit Deepgrave, the constantly-moving underwater prison that houses the worst of the Republic’s enemies. (Or at least, the worst of the ones who were actually captured.)
In order to enact this first plan that’s obviously just one piece of the usual plans within plots within plots within plans, they commandeer the F/V Northwestern –
PAUSE. Okay okay okay, this isn’t actually season 900-something of Deadliest Catch. But they DO commandeer a crabbing boat to use as their base before traveling down to Deepgrave via submersible.
Once inside the prison, they subdue any guards they come across as they make their way to the Omega Level, which is where the worst of the worst prisoners are kept in solitary confinement…only when they reach the cell of the person they’re after, he’s not there! In his place is a tongueless Obsidian who claims (through various forms of communication that don’t involve him talking, of course) to have been a guard before he was stabbed in the back. Thankfully this guard-turned-unwilling-prisoner is willing to help them find who they’re REALLY looking for, and so it’s off to the warden’s quarters they go!
The warden is a Copper who clearly likes to live large (or as large as he can, being confined to his station on the prison, which to be fair is apparently a pretty lucrative one), and at first he tries to claim that the prisoner they’re searching for is in fact dead. However, while the Obsidian who has tagged along with them can’t talk, he IS able to make it clear that it was the warden who took his tongue…oh, and that the warden is deeeefinitely lying about the prisoner’s death.
Finally Darrow convinces the warden that in exchange for his silence, (and their own) all he needs to do is take them to the person they’re searching for – and then they can all go on their merry ways. Considering the other option is them reporting the warden, who will then end up a prisoner alongside the people he’s been lording it over…well, the choice is an obvious one.
They find their intended target living large himself, in what is basically an entire cell block devoted to his pleasure. And why not? He IS Apollonius au Valii-Rath, after all – how could he have POSSIBLY been expected to languish in solitary confinement on a diet of water and algae paste with his family’s name – and money – behind him?
By the by, Darrow and the Howlers who are with him have been playing at being Venusians, so while Apollonius agrees to go with them, he then lunges for the warden and totally POPS OUT HIS EYEBALLS! First of all, fucking gross. Second of all…dammit, Darrow, you really shouldn’t have trusted this dude. (Why does it feel like we’re ALWAYS saying this?! Oh. Because we are.)
A tussle ensues and Darrow’s mask is ripped off, revealing who he ACTUALLY is…before Apollonius can be stunned into submission. Thankfully the warden doesn’t see anything (sure, he doesn’t even have EYES anymore, but he’s also unconscious)…and as for the Obsidian, he might be Tongueless – literally, and also that’s what Sevro dubs him – but he also helped them both find and then subdue Apollonius, so guess what! He gets to go along!
Darrow notes that they “extract their prizes from Deepgrave without incident” despite, ya know, ALL OF THOSE PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED INCIDENTS…but then maybe he means that they simply didn’t run into any additional trouble when gathering up the ten ADDITIONAL high-value prisoners they’re taking along for the ride?
Oh, and there’s yet another plus one in the sub with them, too – because Tongueless rescued the warden’s dog, as well! (Seriously we heart him already, if only for this.)
As they prepare to leave Earth on the ship they borrowed from Quicksilver (shhh don’t worry guys he’s telling everyone they stole it), Darrow’s brother Kieran insists that he doesn’t want his daughter going with them. Darrow agrees, and also insists that Kieran won’t be tagging along either. So Darrow and the main Howler crew finally depart for Venus, while Kieran and Rhonna are off to Africa with the support Howlers…or at least, that’s how Darrow THINKS it happens.
Uuuuntil they discover that there’s a stowaway on their ship and it turns out to be…well, RHONNA, of course! They’re two weeks into their trip to Venus so there’s no turning back now, but Rhonna isn’t getting off scot-free – first Darrow lets Alexandar of all people be the one to stun her, and then Sevro orders her to clean up her mess…and to clean every toilet in every bathroom on the ship, because hey, if she wants their respect, she has to EARN it…by cleaning up the aftermath of a curry dinner. (lolz)
Now, apparently they haven’t bothered meeting with Apollonius just yet, and it’s kinda past time. They head to his cell, where he’s sitting stark-naked, in complete silence, playing air violin. Darrow and Sevro attempt to play good cop/bad cop with him, but in the end it doesn’t seem like they really need to bother with that at all – Apollonius knows that he got caught (therefore ending up in Deepgrave) because the Ash Lord tricked him and stabbed him in the back…and now, Darrow is offering him his revenge.
Granted, that revenge isn’t without its teeth, because they totally embedded a bomb in Apollonius’s head, and it’s alliance or death for this ‘psychotic virtuoso’ (Sevro’s words, not ours).
Of course Apollonius accepts their proposal, though he does note that it’s heavily weighted in the Republic’s favor. After all, his job is to rally his family’s legions to take down the Ash Lord – a coup with minimal losses for the Republic, and all Apollonius has to do is (in his words) “betray his species”. Darrow tries to soften this with the promise that they will make Apollonius “the last legend of a crumbling age”, but he and Sevro both know that most of the Venusians won’t actually unite behind a Martian.
But will all of this be worth the price they’re paying? Well…it HAS to be…but will it? Only time will tell…but hey, they’re almost to Venus, and speaking of time…
Once upon a time, Venus was the evil sister of Earth, until man scalped away her withering atmosphere and cooled her surface and dressed her in green and blue.
Sounds pretty, right? Don’t worry, Darrow is coming to fuck it all up, because it seems like fucking things up is what he does best these days!
At this point, he and his crew are headed into the mouth of the beast, so to speak. Darrow orders Tongueless to keep an eye on Apollonius, and when they land at the Venus home of the Valii-Raths, Apple immediately asserts his dominance. But something is already amiss – Sevro even points out that there should be more guards.
They find Apple’s brother Tharsus having a naked swimming party with some of his Pixie-ish friends, and Darrow orders them to take Tharsus and kill the rest. Once this is done, Tharsus chides his brother for keeping such appalling company, and even deigns to call him mad…something the ::cough cough:: “Mad Minotaur” can’t abide.
In the end, Tharsus cries his apologies for betraying his brother, and Darrow and Sevro are totes grossed out by their display. But hey, sounds like they’re gonna move forward with attacking the Ash Lord’s fortress, so…there’s…that?
Buuut Sevro was right – the Valii-Rath forces are decimated beyond belief. What was once an army of 250,000 now “boasts” (please note sarcasm) just 911 people. And while Apple of course gives one HELL of a speech to ramp his forces up, there’s no denying that this supposed army is, as Sevro notes, “the scraps you leave behind when you eat a rack of ribs.”
Darrow being Darrow, he tries to convince Sevro that somehow their plots and plans and plans and plots will all just…work out? But HOLLA! Sevro calls his bluff, and WOW is he right to do so, because yup, this particular plotty planny plot plan of Darrow’s is as half-assed and full of shortcuts as ever.
And honestly? Good on Sevro for putting his foot down and saying that as soon as they wrap things up on Venus, he’s going back home to his family.
Despite thinking Sevro is being a coward, his best friend’s words did sow some doubt in Darrow, and as they plunge into the darkzone surrounding the Ash Lord’s fortress his fears are almost immediately realized – when he arrives beyond the barrier he’s tearing straight into a scene of death…because if there WAS a back door, they totally missed it, and instead are directly in line with the enemy perimeter defenses.
(How many times can we say OOPSIE in one summary? Oh well, here we go again: OOPSIE!)
No, really though, the already-decimated combined forces of Howlers and Apple’s men are facing three dozen ripWings…with nearly 200 more ships whose pilots are about to board them and join the fray, and oh yeah, the sea below them is also a freakin’ MINEFIELD!
Thankfully – well, for Darrow, anyway – he is able to board one of the hoverboats full of pilots and “make meat of men” – his words, not ours, and also, yuck. By the time he’s done his job, the others have taken care of the fleet, and though he even escapes a sniper’s rounds and one of their nukes has carved a hole in the Ash Lord’s island, it’s only now that the enemy Golds finally come to war.
Soon enough things seem more dire than ever…until a trumpet blast fills the air and a flight of armored knights fall from the sky…with APPLE at their head, of course! The so-called Mad Minotaur is truly living up to his name in this moment, as he helps Darrow to his feet and claims that he and his forces broke the enemy on the beach.
How? Well, who the heck knows because they were outnumbered four to one. Will we ever find out? Well, not anytime soon. And above all, what’s their next step? Well, for Darrow to gather Sevro and Apple to his side and go pay the Ash Lord an in-person visit, obviously!
One would hope that THIS at least would go as according-to-plan as possible, but HAHAHAHAHA NOPE. Turns out that the Ash Lord is a skeleton of a man who has been slowly but surely dying from poison for YEARS. Oh, and Apple? He knew all about this, because HE’S the one who arranged to have ol’ man Grimmus poisoned…from prison, nonetheless!
And while the Ash Lord has been wasting away, it’s really his daughter Atalantia – his final Fury – who’s been running the show. Of course the peace talks were always a sham, and she’s about to attack the fleet at Mercury. But that’s not even all, folks – because this is when the Ash Lord also reveals the news of Pax and Electra’s kidnapping.
While Darrow and Sevro try to process this information, the Ash Lord bites down on a poison-filled false tooth…not that they’re gonna let him go THAT easily. Nope, they allow Apple to burn the man alive.
Ashes to ashes, indeed.
The Howlers prepare to leave Venus as soon as Darrow and Sevro bring them news of the kidnapping, but at the last moment Darrow turns away, because he believes their men on Mercury need him more than his son.
Honestly, there’s no point in even trying to unpack any of this. Suffice it to say, Sevro, Clown, and Pebble are headed back to Luna. Well, and maybe some others, but many decide to remain with Darrow, including Alexandar, Colloway, Tongueless, Thraxa, and Rhonna. They are taking the Venusian hostages with them, so while Darrow does deactivate the bomb in Apple’s head, they deeeefinitely don’t part as buds, because lol Apple wasn’t ever gonna have an easy time taking Venus; without the hostages, it’s probably nearly impossible.
But Darrow, for his part, is pretty ‘whatever’ about anything to do with Apple, because he’s gone full rage monster over being played for a fool by the Grimmuses.
Need we say OOPSIES yet again?
