Alina’s group splits up into two: she, Mal, and three Grisha will head south over the mountains that divide Ravka from its southern neighbor, Shu Han, to try and find the firebird. The rest of the group, four other Grisha, a little boy who accompanied them from the Spinning Wheel, and one of the soldiers, will go to a rendezvous place where they hope the Apparat will send troops to meet them. If Alina’s group doesn’t return from the mountains, they’ll carry on as best they can without Alina, Mal, or Nikolai to lead them.

Mal leads the group through the mountains. They pass through the remains of burned settlements, a testament to the border disputes that have taken place in the mountains. Alina grows uneasy when they reach a blackened field with eerie trees and winds that bring up clouds of ash. The group camps at the base of a sheer cliff that they need to try to ascend.

The next day, the group climbs up the cliff to the top of a waterfall they’d seen from the valley below. Once there, they find nothing. One of the Grisha angrily demands of Mal where the firebird is.