Sagas & Sass began covering the Red Rising Saga by Pierce Brown in September 2022; “Breath of Stone” is our summary of Darrow and Lyria’s POVs from chapter 71 through 78 in book 6 – Light Bringer – as it was written to introduce Sagas & Sass Episode 89.
AHOY! SPOILERS AHEAD!
It’s FINALLY time to find out how Darrow Got His Groove Back!
While Lyria was attempting to convince Volga to turn against Fa, Darrow has been praying…from inside the acid-resistant pod that Cyaxares swallowed whole three days prior to the beast being captured and killed by the Obsidians.
Now, however, he, Sevro, and Cassius have burst forth from the leviathan’s belly, with Sevro immediately shooting a dart into Fa’s chest – a dart with an explosive payload that becomes the only thing stopping the Obsidians from immediately killing our boys.
Darrow, of course, does what he’s been going on about for a while now – that being challenging Fa to an ashvar, which leaves the Core Obsidians gaping in confusion while the Ascomanni throw up their hands in gratitude to their Allfather…because they see a celebrity who warred against the hated Golds emerging from the bowels of their sacrifice to offer a clean fight as a test of Fa’s divine favor.
But Fa’s not about to give in so easily – in fact, he insists that only Obsidians can claim ashvar! Buuuut unfortunately for him, Sefi made Darrow a son of the Volk with a blood oath. Granted, at first none of the other Volk seem willing to speak up for Darrow…until Skarde – father of the recently murdered Sigurd – admits that Darrow was accepted into the tribe of the Valkyrie Spires.
Listen, clearly Skarde is only out for himself, but he’s able to paint Fa into a corner, so yay for that! Plus, when he tacks on a bit about how Tyr Morga appearing from inside the sacrifice being a sign that the Allfather blesses the fight, the Obsidians! Go! Wild!
While Darrow might be getting his battle, as the challenged party Fa gets to choose the terms – which in this case are ‘honorable’ weapons, a battle in a dome, and full-metal panoply…and apparently the latter being covered in poisoned spikes still falls under the category of ‘honorable’ weapons? Cool cool cool cool cool cool cool.
That said, Darrow has both Bad Lass and Pyrphoros, and hey, what better way to kick off their fight than to clang his two weapons together and make a callout that’s clearly inspired by the Oberyn Martell vs. the Mountain duel: Darrow wants Fa to confess his crimes and tell everyone who he really serves.
Seriously, we might never get “Clang. Clang. Clang. ‘Confess,’” out of our heads. But we digress…
At first Darrow instinctively falls back on ye olde Willow Way, though thankfully he listens to Cassius’s pre-battle warning about not using his gravBoots (even when he’s tempted to do so). Problem is, he still gets poked by one of Fa’s poisoned armor-spikes…but y’all this is Darrow and of COURSE he did his research! He had taken tissue samples from fallen Golds found in the Raa grotto, and thanks to the blood leech he acquired from Athena and anti-toxins in his suit that are meant to counteract the poison, even though he’s not feeling too hot, at least he’s not paralyzed!
In fact, despite feeling sluggish at first, the poison’s effects quickly wear off, and then, as Darrow focuses on what he needs to do, he feels a small breath of air. It’s not coming from outside the dome, but rather from a crack that Fa made in the stone…and as Darrow recalls a line from The Path to the Vale, he assumes a stance that is a hybrid of Lorn’s way, Cassius’s, and his own.
Fa is surprised, but not cowed – not yet, anyway. Darrow deflects and moves, always sideways, never backward, making a wide circle around his enemy, shearing one spike after another off Fa’s armor until the giant Obsidian is roaring in frustration. Darrow retracts his helmet and begins merging his fighting form with movements that recall Laureltide dances from when he was “just” a Red in the mines of Mars, eventually finding a vulnerability in Fa’s armor and exploiting it for all he’s worth.
Well, until the shield flickers and two fuckin’ GORGONS enter the fighting circle! But Darrow is in FIGHTING ZONE-U and immediately takes them out, then begins laying Fa low with small cuts…uuuuntil the dome collapses entirely and someone shoots Darrow in the BACK?
At this point Fa rushes Darrow again, but Darrow quickly regains the upper hand, and when he resumes clanging his blades together, people outside the circle finally join in the call for Fa to CONFESS!
And then the CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! isn’t just from Darrow – it’s Volk blades clashing together as well. Fa implores his Ascomanni bodyguards to shoot Darrow, but a shaman stops them, leading Fa to then order his remaining Gorgons to “kill the Gold” – but only one acts like he’s about to try, and Skarde immediately cleaves that dude’s head in two. Big OOPSIES on Fa’s part! HA!
And THEN, a HOWL! It’s Sevro, who slipped away to take care of more distant threats like snipers, and Fa realizes that Sevro must have killed another of his buds. Fa attempts to remind the Obsidians what he’s given them, but the only response is more of them picking up the call for Fa to CONFESS…and then he sees Volga turn her back on him, and this sends him into a rage powered by stims from his suit.
But now that Fa has given up any semblance of a fair fight, Sevro shoots him in the back, Cassius hits Fa in the flank, he loses his warsaw, and when the three remaining Gorgons attempt to come to his aid and Lyria is almost caught in the middle of everything, Volga sweeps her away and Darrow feels Cassius breathing a sigh of relief.
The Truffle Pig did well, y’all, and Darrow is right for chiding himself for doubting her!
Aaaaanyway, Fa is able to reclaim his lost warsaw…only, when Darrow bashes his blades together and once again taunts Fa to “Confess”…Fa. Fucking. Runs. Away.
The jarls set upon the remaining Gorgons, the Ascomanni watch Fa disappear, but then Skarde approaches Darrow to inform him that if Fa reaches the Pandora, he’ll nuke the island…so Darrow snatches up Volga’s gauntlet and he, Sevro, and Cassius lift off and chase after this weak-ass coward.
In the end, though, whether or not Diomedes followed through seems to be the most important thing – but he and Athena are in fact there to help out, re-routing Fa from his attempt to reach the Pandora while Diomedes and his Golds deal with more Gorgons and our boys chase Fa from island to island. Fa tries to shout that they are assassins, but his shocked forces see the marks of the ashvar on Fa and Darrow and refuse to intervene.
Meanwhile, Volga has hold of Lyria and is dragging her away from the fight, though it seems as if it’s less to save her friend than it is to save herself, because Volga believes that Fa was the only thing protecting her from his braves – braves who presumably want to kill her for being a freak. Lyria, for her part, refuses to run away, and insists that Volga can protect her from the giants, while she protects Volga from the wolves.
The question is, will Lyria have to protect Volga? Because Darrow is honestly kicking MAJOR ass right now, having followed Fa to yet another island and cornered him yet again. And when Fa asks Darrow what he wants, his voice warbles, his metal throat sparks, and he finally removes whatever it is that gives him Ragnar Voice. In his real voice – soft, intelligent, and now afraid – Fa promises to release the innocent slaves jailed on the Ascomanni ships, to give the Volk back to Darrow, and to leave Europa.
In response, Darrow simply clangs his weapons together again, leading to Fa asking, “If I confess, you will let me leave?”
Darrow promises that he will not kill Fa, and as the Obsidians who have followed them from island to island watch in silence, Fa admits that Atlas is his master…and now, it is the VOLK who are clanging their weapons together!
Fa then confesses even more, but when Darrow asks him to reveal Atlas’s location, he refuses. Darrow knows he can’t kill Fa; it has to be the Volk who do so. Fa taunts Skarde, knowing that whoever kills him will be king and that Skarde taking that post will lead to more discord…but Skarde won’t cross Darrow just now, so Darrow motions for Volga to join him before reminding the Obsidians that a servant of the Fear Knight cannot be King of the Volk.
Skarde agrees with this, and Darrow then reminds them that by the laws of the ice, blood must judge blood – and so he passes the gauntlet to Volga, who, after asking Fa why he’s done what he’s done – and hearing that it was all for Atlas – plunges the gauntlet into her grandfather’s chest and deems him “Unworthy”.
Next up is the beginning of an experiment in Obsidian democracy, as Sevro tells them they have 24 hours to choose a new leader – with quite a few parameters, of course. And then it’s off to the Pandora to free Victra’s employees who have been enslaved on the ship for the past year!
That business done, Darrow and Cassius head off for a few moments alone on the island that Lorn au Arcos once called home. It’s now empty and run down, and when Cassius tries to discuss what might happen to the Rim and their promises to Diomedes should the Volk vote the wrong person into power, Darrow requests that instead of giving in to that anxiety spiral, they just walk together.
Well, until Darrow pauses to visit the loo and shave off his beard with his razor, with Cassius following suit because apparently according to Lorn, ‘peerless should be beardless’.
But we digress! Their alone time is soon interrupted with the arrival of Lyria and Volga, and y’all, Volga is BIG MAD that Darrow had HER kill Fa because now the braves all want to vote for her and the jarls are angry and dangit, she does NOT want to be Darrow’s puppet queen! Thankfully Darrow doesn’t want or even expect anything of the sort, which he tries to make very clear….whiiillleee also admitting that he hopes the Volk will redeem themselves by standing with the Republic against the Society.
Hey, after all, the Volk children, elderly, and many of their women ARE back on Mars fighting for their lives. And speaking of the women – who, remember, the Volk men totes betrayed – Volga IS one, and because of that and the fact that she wasn’t part of their treason against Sefi and the Republic, she represents hope that the Volk can return to a home that might just forgive them their trespasses.
Anyway, it’s a really good thing Darrow had just enough time to relay the fact that he doesn’t expect Volga to blindly follow his orders, and explain how much good she might be able to do, because when Lyria drops in next it’s to announce that the votes have been tallied…and to drop to one knee in front of Volga, our new Obsidian queen!
At this point it’s better that Darrow NOT be present when she accepts her new position, so he waits on the Archi with Cassius and Diomedes, relying on Sevro to tell him what happens – and really, guys, Volga apparently handles it SO! WELL!, arriving encrusted in jewels and then divesting herself of them after chopping up Fa’s throne…oh, and cutting off her valor tail to boot! The Obsidian braves follow suit, and then Volga announces that she’s going home to find her honor, fight with Red, fight for MARS, and asks who’s coming with her.
Sounds like all of them, by the way, and it’s with this news that Sevro signs off and Darrow goes to find Cassius in the cockpit. They might be on their way to Io to rescue the Moonies who hid in their bunkers during the Ascomannis’ attack, but it seems they have a few things to work out along the way – stuff like Darrow suggesting that Cassius be Volga’s razormaster; Cassius actually bringing up Julian to lead into the fact that he wants to thank Darrow for inviting him into the pack and for putting faith in him; and then – AND! THEN! – Darrow admitting he would have fallen apart without Cassius, and calling him brother.
Listen WE’RE NOT CRYING YOU’RE CRYING OKAY WE’RE TOTALLY CRYING. And also totally wishing we could just end the story here, but alas, while our boys continue to chat – this time about Darrow dubbing his new fighting style “Breath of Stone” in memory of the deepmine winds from his previous life as a Red – they are soon interrupted, and not by anything good.
Because the Archi’s sensors have picked up a fleet of wannabe ghosts moving directly beneath them.
It’s a fleet of Core warships, spearheaded by the moonbreaker formerly known as the Morning Star…and obviously heading straight for Io, as well…
