Chapter 49

The narrator discovers that Roan has consulted Borg, a waif, about the Book of Voyd and learned that its pages contain infinite runes—far more than the Tri-Council has revealed. They learn of a young protégé in Bhoggith who has successfully studied the book and may hold the key to deciphering protection runes. Meanwhile, Raeve awakens behaving strangely, consuming raw meat voraciously before learning of a moonshard located in a nest near Bhoggith—one tied to a fallen dragon named Slátra.

The chapter opens with Pyrok preparing food for the narrator while Roan secretly borrows the narrator's cloak and consults Borg from his jar. Upon returning, Roan reveals what he learned: the Book of Voyd's pages contain infinite shifting runes, vastly more complex than transcriptions suggest, and the narrator experiences disorientation and nausea when attempting to view them directly. Roan explains the Tri-Council has only studied a fraction of the book's contents and believes it was written by the God of Aether itself. He mentions a young protégé in Bhoggith—approximately nine phases old—who successfully studied the book and demanded a Moltenmaw egg in exchange for further transcription work. The Tri-Council has blocked him from receiving larks, but Roan proposes a tracking plan. The narrator agrees to leave when Raeve wakes and marks a map, identifying a moonshard in a nest near Bhoggith in the Forest of Harthor, one that belonged to the fallen dragon Slátra. When Raeve descends, she appears disoriented and ravenous, consuming raw meat with primal intensity and blood. Upon learning the moonshard belongs to Slátra, she nearly collapses, seizes the narrator's hands counting their fingers anxiously, then claims she was sleepwalking. She becomes intensely focused on the map location and agrees they must retrieve the shard before the coming fall, when Slátra's mate may drop and destroy it.