Sagas & Sass began covering the Red Rising Saga by Pierce Brown in September 2022; these are our summaries of Lyria and Darrow’s POVs from chapter 57 to 70 in book 6 – Light Bringer – as they were written to introduce Sagas & Sass Episodes 87 and 88.
AHOY! SPOILERS AHEAD!
It’s finally time to find out what “The Daughters” [of Ares, that is] have been up to!
As the Archi makes its way down to Europa, Lyria has apparently decided to sneak around and confront Sigurd with questions about Volga. But he’s too low on the totem pole to know much other than that she’s Fa’s granddaughter – though Fa calls her ‘daughter’ – and that she’s Fa’s constant shadow, having even been given a command for the attack on Callisto.
Of course Lyria doesn’t want to believe any of this, but she also doesn’t outright call Sigurd a liar. She eventually leaves him to wander the ship, finding Aurae telling stories to the children they saved about how they’ll be safe in the Deep, and turning away from that conversation only to run into Sevro.
But hey! SHOCKER! This time, Sevro is actually kinda FRIENDLY with her! I mean sure, when she admits she’d want a pegasus as a pet he basically tells her they’re awful, but he also offers her sunbutter and they finally have a real conversation, complete with Sevro admitting that he doesn’t want to don the Ares helmet because it was his father’s prison…and Lyria hinting that maybe, just maybe, Sevro isn’t quite right about that…
Soon enough they’ve landed on Europa and it’s time for apparently everyone but Cassius to head down to Helisson, Athena’s secret stronghold. (Because there’s no way to get the Archi down there, and of course he refuses to leave his home unattended.) After explaining as much to Lyria, he also insists that she seek him out before making any rash decisions about chasing after Volga…and listen, we hate that these two besties are having to say goodbye, but also, when it comes to how adorbs their conversations are We! Love! To! See! It!
Now, Lyria might have been excited to meet Cheon face-to-face at first, but the more she sees of the other Red, the more she dislikes her…and once they’re all on the submarine, the closer they get to their destination the more noticeable it is that something’s not right with Darrow, Sevro, and Diomedes. Upon arrival Lyria sees people approaching the sub and realizes they have manacles in their hands, but when she tries to warn Darrow he seems to just give in, even telling Sevro not to fight them.
At first Lyria is able to get ahold of a pistol, but then someone knocks her on the head! And though she notes that Aurae is angry, crying and exclaiming that “this is not who we are”, when Athena strides onto the sub the Pink falls to her knees, only to be praised for bringing Athena all she asked for and more…and when Lyria essentially tries to ask Aurae what’s going on, Athena answers for her: “Justice, at last.”
Despite Lyria’s attempt at protecting Darrow, she’s allowed to stay with Aurae and won’t be harmed…which Darrow learns when he wakes, chained to the floor of a cold room with Athena sitting nearby. She promises that Sevro is safe as well, but the fact that she holds The Path to the Vale – which Darrow did NOT bring with him – means she has the Archimedes…so things likely don’t bode well for Cassius, any more than they do for Diomedes or Darrow himself.
Sure enough, Darrow isn’t exactly well-versed in how to talk to Athena, who, while insisting it’s not when but IF he’s found guilty, also shows off the weapon – a hasta named Pyrphoros – that will be used to execute him. And sure, she lets Darrow have Pax’s gravBike key back, but she also leaves him with a holocube that plays the recordings of interrogations and executions of the Sons he betrayed in the Rim….who didn’t shout Ares or Eo’s names before they died, but rather Darrow’s.
Soon the Daughters of Ares assemble for Darrow’s trial, and when he faces them he attempts to look as humble as possible…which isn’t easy considering he’s feet taller than most of them, and to top it all off they dressed him in a gold cape. Aurae attempts to advise him, but despite the testimonies of her, Sevro, and Lyria, Athena is putting Darrow’s life in the hands of all the Daughters, and that’s that.
So what does Darrow do? Why, give a Really, REALLY Big Darrow Speech, of course! Granted, it mostly consists of him admitting he’s guilty of all the things they’re accusing him of, telling them they should spare Diomedes in the names of change, progress, and unity…and concluding with the fact that he’s not going to ask them for forgiveness, only that they succeed where he failed and not surrender their dream – the dream of liberty for all of the Colors – to fear.
Diomedes is up next and has even less of an argument for them, simply telling them that the Golds broke their contract with the lowColors and they should “take their due”. He and Darrow are then led away to await the verdict, and who is waiting in the cell for them but Cassius, because of COURSE he tried to rescue them and OBVIOUSLY that attempt failed. Miserably.
They can hear the Daughters cheering, so yeah, it reeaaalllyyyy doesn’t sound like things are looking good for any of them…and maybe it’s this that leads to Diomedes finally speaking up about Kalyke? He admits that while he has no outright evidence, he believes it’s alllll Atlas’s doing. Darrow is quick to agree, though he doesn’t think it’s just about punishing the Raas, but rather reminding the Rim as a whole what Fear is before Atlas ushers none other than Lysander into power!
Cassius refuses to believe this, but in the end Lysander was on the Dustmaker at Kalyke, so it’s hard to believe he’s alive, anyway…and though Cassius is obviously upset over this revelation, Darrow can’t help but hope it’s true.
And hey! Turns out that Darrow might get a chance to find out whether or not it is! Because when some Daughters drag Darrow, Cassius, and Diomedes in front of Athena again, it’s not back to the dais, but to a war room. Not only did Athena have people listening to their conversation, but “Ares himself” told her that Darrow can shatter Atlas’s illusion!
Waaaait a second. Whomst did what?
Just then all light and sound are sucked out of the room and someone recites one of Ares’s old speeches…and when the Twilight Helm is turned off, it’s Sevro, of course! It turns out that all the cheering they heard from their cell was actually because Sevro (kinda with Athena’s help, in fact) was telling the Daughters that Ares himself fucked up too. A lot.
That said, though, Sevro also pressed that Ares tried to show that they need all types of people to enforce real change – builders, shields, Freys – oops, wrong series, I meant allies who show up late – and, of course, the Reaper…who totally has a plan, right? Right?
Well, Darrow would prefer that plan to involve Athena’s ships, but they’re too far away, so it’s gotta be ashvar or bust!
Unfortunately even if Darrow succeeds, once Fa is dead he will have to return to face his sentence. But for now he’s safe – as is Cassius, who’s to be Sevro’s charge. As for Diomedes, he’ll be allowed to live too…IF he signs off on abolishing the hierarchy, allowing everyone to choose their own vocations, and a litany of other things to boot.
Which Diomedes of course balks at, but Aurae insists they want him to be their Virginia Augustus – and that once he gives his oath he’ll be free to fight alongside Darrow.
It takes Lyria infiltrating a war room under the guise of being Darrow’s niece Rhonna for us to learn that Diomedes must have given that oath, because he’s there in that war room with Darrow, Cassius, Sevro, and the Daughters, planning…well, whatever it is they’re planning, of which Lyria sees very little before Sevro grabs her by the ear and drags her out.
Besides, she only snuck in because she’s INSISTING on talking to Darrow about the whole Volga deal – she wants to help, and after the speech he gave about how this is everyone’s fight, she’s not about to just let him tell her no. Everyone else might think Volga’s completely gone over to Fa, but Lyria refuses to believe she’s a lost cause, and means to use whatever standing she has with her friend to bring Volga back around to the Republic.
Even though Darrow reminds Lyria that they can’t protect her, Sevro actually says the Truffle Pig should get her shot…she’s earned it, after all! So setting aside whatever “Thing” the boys are gonna do, it sounds like Lyria is off to see her Volga, most important daughter to Fa! (why yes, please read that to the tune of ‘Off to See the Wizard’ from Wizard of Oz)
But will Lyria’s plans to go as planned in “Stained”? Let’s find out…
While the population of Europa is being shuttled down into the Deep, Lyria is heading to the surface. Cassius shows up with Sigurd, who will be her escort to the Obsidians…but as they exit the lift, it’s just in time to see a Harbinger attack the refugees.
What, exactly, is a Harbinger? Well, some sort of Obsidian that Sigurd is clearly frightened of, even more so now that he has discovered they apparently know how to swim.
Are you a bit confused? Well, we certainly are, but the important thing is that the Harbinger’s arrival means the Ascomanni are already there – and sure enough, they appear and immediately begin wreaking havoc. The refugees panic and when Cassius insists they can’t stick around, Sigurd says his friends will meet them in the nearby (well, nearby-ISH) acropolis.
They race to the meeting point, and once there Sigurd insists that with the Ascomanni so close, Cassius has to leave – which he doesn’t want to do, but Lyria insists, so he gives her a goodbye kiss (on the top of her head because BROTP y’all) and puts his armor in night mode, flying off [unseen] just moments before a group of the ‘reptiles’ show up.
Sigurd has Lyria go to her knees, but the Ascomanni have claimed Europa for themselves and insist this means Lyria is theirs as well. Lucky for her – and Sigurd, who seems set on fighting them if need be – his friends Gudmund and Fenrir arrive just in time.
Unfortunately news has spread that Sigurd surrendered himself to Darrow, which means he has to leave Lyria with his buddies. And as nice as they seem, they still have to truss her up and deliver her like loot.
Which they do, bringing her directly to Volga under the guise of Lyria being Volga’s ‘lost property’…and just in time for Lyria to witness groups of chained Grays and Golds get tossed into the ocean as bait for a leviathan hunt, after which she’s dragged off to a trophy-decked stateroom, where she promptly falls asleep.
Lyria wakes to the sound of Sevro’s voice – Volga is watching the message that Lyria brought with her, in which Sevro details Ragnar’s faults as a Stained and his virtues after he joined Darrow and the Rising…concluding with a plea that despite how the Republic wronged her, she take her place as Queen of the Volk and help protect the Republic.
But it doesn’t seem like Sevro’s message hits the mark, because when Lyria admits that she’s there to bring Volga home, Volga scoffs, claiming that she’s where she should be – with her people – so she IS home. Oh, and she also accuses Lyria of being there on behalf of Darrow, so that’s you know, cool ::sarcasm:: …though maybe not as cool ::sarcasm x2:: as the fact that Volga doesn’t believe the news that Fa works for Atlas, or that she’s totally forgiven him for EATING EPHRAIM’S FREAKIN’ HEART.
And then – and THEN – Volga has the GALL to call Lyria a rat, before asking if she’s afraid and concluding by dumping Gudmund and Fenrir’s heads into Lyria’s lap.
Seriously, Volga, WTF.
Even more WTF is the fact that Volga is giving Lyria over to Fa! They make their way to Europa’s famed Nixian Isles, arriving right about the same time as news comes through that Europa’s surface has been pacified. As Volga’s ship lands, Lyria is with her Copper slave Nicator, who points out that the hierarchy is happening all over again.
The islands might be beautiful, but that beauty is marred by things like Golds nailed to the base of a statue, jarls draped in their spoils of war, and the monstrous Fa perched on a trophy-encrusted throne and surrounded by Pink slaves.
Oh, and not to mention the feast table that is set upon a pile of crushed Golds…not all of whom are DEAD dead. ::cringe::
As frightened as Lyria might be, she still tries to shout out the truths about Fa being a puppet of the Fear Knight…but the party is loud and no one really hears her. Plus of course Fa waves off her accusations, and even though Volga tries to plead to keep Lyria as part of her retinue, Fa doesn’t grant the request, but rather takes this time to remind Volga that the Volk think she is unnatural and the Ascomanni think she’s weak – so she’s going to have to prove herself.
Volga doesn’t understand, but Fa promises all will soon be made clear – but first, it’s time for the leviathan Cyaxares to be dragged from the waters and sacrificed in the name of the Allfather…oorrrr some shit like that.
And what a show they put on! The jarl who caught the beast offers it up alive, claiming only kings may kill kings, so Fa climbs up behind its head and stabs it over and over again with his trident until it sounds its death knell. And yes, we’re with Lyria – how the heck is VOLGA of all people watching this?
Unfortunately alllll of that is by far the least of Lyria’s problems, because as slaves begin butchering the leviathan a group of a dozen captives is brought out – and there is one of each Color…except Red and Obsidian.
Guess what time it is, y’all? Time for Volga’s Passage of the Stains, of course! She gets to don a special gauntlet that tears out the captives’ hearts….oh, and those of Sigurd and Lyria as well, because obviously THEY’RE the chosen Red and Obsidian! Which you’d hope, even after everything that’s happened so far, Volga would balk at even a BIT more than she does…Lyria IS her only friend, after all.
Alas, after very little deliberation on Volga’s part, Lyria understands that she is well and truly fucked.
Volga moves down the line, using her fancy murder gauntlet to rip the captives’ hearts out one by one. Lyria glances back and forth between this butchering party and the other one around the leviathan, and as frightened as she is – especially when Sigurd, who is right next to her, is killed – she can’t help but notice when the Reds who are carving up Cyaxares’ stomach turn and flee.
Soon Volga blocks Lyria’s view, but LO! Finally! Hesitation on Volga’s part! In fact, she starts crying and practically begs Fa to not make her kill Lyria…but while he’s insisting she must, Lyria is distracted by….whatever is going on with the leviathan’s stomach, her focus only pulled back to Volga when she raises the gauntlet again.
But when Lyria speaks up, telling her she doesn’t have to be broken and calling her Ephraim’s daughter (listen we’re not crying you’re crying okay we might be crying a little) Volga finally loses the will to ya know LITERALLY FUCKING RIP HER BEST FRIEND’S HEART OUT.
(Listen, there’s no “yay, Volga” or “you go, Volga” about this. More like “about freakin’ time you made the right decision, Volga”.)
Aaaanyway, there’s no time for apologies or conversation, and Volga doesn’t even need to face Fa’s wrath! Because just then, someone screams…and not one, not two, but THREE armored demons burst from the belly of the beast!
The helmet of the one holding a curved blade slithers back, and Darrow throws his head back and HOWLS!
