The road south in Likhodolie is long and hard—to a place where all those being hunted gather to avoid the chase, where people die free, not in chains, and spend every day as if it’s the last. The Romalyan road, which began at a ruined shass nest, led the golden shass and its companion—a harlequin—across the steppe chosen by the unclean forces, to a new purpose that once and for all will determine not only the fate of the snake-demon herself, but also the fate of those who find themselves nearby at the right place and the right time.