Elenor starts talking to the guy she brought up with her at the end of Chapter Five. He shouts "Look! to the left!" at a familiar girl with one arm running by. Hope has a sword floating by her stump, screaming that she can't seem to let get the sword to go away. This gives the man the opportunity to bolt, and he takes it. Elenor gives chase, but the man is remarkably fast for his size, and easily outpaces her, even in the fullplate. Elenor bumps into Kincade and The Hungry One, and they fill her in on Claire's condition. They bring Claire to a doctor to help Claire recover faster, but Kincade gets into an argument with the doctor about who's the better healer. Kincade eventually just takes over for the doctor.
Elenor tells them about the one-armed girl with the sword. The Hungry One immediately volunteers to go find her, and Elenor says she'll tag along. When asked why he cared so much about the girl, The Hungry One intentionally dodges the question, and eventually Elenor just drops it. As they go outside, a girl shouts "It's a wolf!" and the crowd gets whipped up into a frenzy. Kincade pops out of nowhere and calms the crowd down, enough for a little child to come up and hug The Hungry One's leg! The Hungry One, bashful and a bit irritated, growls at the child and tries to shake him off, scaring the kid. Elenor and Kincaid find The Hungry One's discomfort hilarious, particularly when the mother of the child comes to take him away and The Hungry One informs the mother that he won't eat the kid... this time. And with that all hopes for finding the girl vanish, as she has too much of a head start and they still have to look after Claire.
They go back to see Claire, and she informs them of the vision that she had. Luke overhears it and barges in, overwhelmed with grief at the accusations thrown at his wife. They try to find The Countess, only to find that she's gone. Claire suggests taking Luke to the dungeon, so he can see what his wife has been up to.
They take him down to the catacombs, and Kincade fills Luke in on what his wife was up to. Luke sits down on the ground, and with tears in his eyes informs them all that if they want to do something, now is the time to do it, before Luke does something he'll regret. Elenor tries to comfort him, but Luke gives her a dagger that the Countess had given him for an anniversary present and tells her to kill the Countess with it. As Elenor walks away Luke informs her that the two of them married could make for a strong alliances, and their baronies would be better off for it. When asked why he's talking about the future like this, Luke states that since the past and the present are currently destroyed for him all he has left is the future. Elenor agrees to the alliance, and leaves with Kincaid and The Hunry One.
Kincade explains to the group that he knows of the well that's shown in Claire's vision, and that he's had dealings with The One in the Deep before he got the Black Stone. When asked what The One in the Deep is, Kincade only says that he wished that he knew. No one knows, but he's been there for as long he can remember. But it's time to know what this thing is. It'll take about a month to get to the well.
They get a cart for Claire, who will be healed up by the time they get to the mountain. Luke sees them off, and Elenor tells Luke he better be there when she returns. He nods and wishes them luck.
Most of the way is uneventful, but during the trip The Hungry One smells human blood and wants to "go hunting". Elenor points out the nearby human tracks with bloody in them, and asks if he was going to hunt humans. The Hungry One tells her no, but that he'll allow her to come along. They leave Kincaid with Claire, who's just started walking again, and off they go. Following the tracks, they come to the edge of a forest and decide to go in and become surrounded by wolves.
In the midst of this circle they find a whole bunch of children, who are being guarded by Hope, who still has the mysterious Black Sword. Only now the Black Sword is being held by a mysterious energy arm that's appearing to come out of the stump where her arm used to be. She shrieks when she sees the Hungry One. She tells everyone to get back, and fire begins shooting out of the sword at the wolves, Claire, and The Hungry One, which catches some of the trees on fire.
Meanwhile, back at the road, Claire is found by some members of her order, who are looking for a bunch of homocidal wolves. Kincaid laughs and informs them that all they need is to go into the forest and they'll find what they're looking for. Claire decides to join them, while Kincade derisively sits out.
Hope has gone ballistic in the meantime, shooting fire balls nilly-willy at anything not the children that moves. The Hungry One tries to tell her that he's only here to help protect the children, but Hope isn't buying that, and tells The Hungry One that she can't trust him because of he had killed her parents. Claire and the knights arrive. Claire tries to soothe Hope, and it seems to work for a second. But she snaps and goes even crazier than ever. Claire finally recognizes the sword. Elenor climbs a tree for a vantage point, and as The Hungry One runs up to Hope, she throws a knife past Hope and distracts her. Claire comes in at that point, and starts trading blows with her. Hope's strength has been greatly increased by the sword, so she's able to fight with Claire quite easily. But the magical arm detaches from Hope and stabs her with her own sword, before flying off!
Hope is now lying on the ground, dying. The Hungry One goes up to her, promising that he will make sure no one else has to suffer and be made that weak on his watch ever again. They go back to Kincaid, who leads them to the well. The Countess of Fire is already there, and she's already started the ritual. She electrifies some blood in a vial and dumps it on the sword (which has just flown up to her). They crack open. Up out of the well crawls the body of The Eaten One, the Countess of Fire's daughter!
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