Red Rising by Pierce Brown Recap / Summary

Red Rising Recap/Summary

I am someone with a beyond terrible memory so I am usually forced to do a complete reread before a new book drops in a series. I've now got in the habit of doing chapter by chapter recaps for myself as I go. I'll be doing this for this series, so they will drop one by one eventually. I hope they prove useful for others but be warned that these were written as I went, with speed, and so some mistakes are expected. 

Red Rising Recaps:

Red Rising
Golden Son
Morning Star
Iron Gold
Dark Age
Light Bringer
Red God

Red Rising Recap/Summary

Prologue: Darrow is watching 1200 Golds listening to a man give a speech about how not all men are created equal and that Golds tower above the Colors. He tells them power must be claimed and wealth has to be won, and whilst currently scarless they soon won't be. Warns them only those fit for power will survive. Darrow notes that they believe he is a Gold but he is a Red and that the speaker is wrong because none of the Golds will survive.

Part I: Slave

Chapter 1: Helldiver - Darrow talks about when 'they' came for his father. They televised his arrest and the Golds tried him, he was then hung by Grays - Darrow did not cry once. His older brother Kieran cried. There is little gravity on Mars, so they let the loved ones pull the feet of the hanged in order to break their necks.

Darrow is on his own down a deep tunnel riding atop a clawDrill - he is what is known as a Helldiver. He has been one for three years, since he was thirteen. They are drilling for helium-3. Darrow got married 6 months ago to Eo, who waited for him instead of being married off at 14 like Reds usually are.

He is warned to stop, as they are near a gas pocket. They want him to wait for a crew to come and scan it but it could take hours - wants to do it himself but they warn him against it. His cousin, Loran, tells him to do it himself so they have a shot at the Laurel.

They are in the underground mining colony of Lykos, where they have 24 different clans. They get one Laurel per quarter, which gives them more food than they could want. Gamma clan gets the Laurel every single time. He thinks about how Eo will have to go hungry once again when they don't win, that she might even think to sell herself like others do in order for them to get by. He gives in and goes to take the reading himself.

Chapter 2: The Township - He is trying to get away from the heat when he gets stuck. Manages to get his slingBlade out and cut away at his suit until he can free himself. 

Darrow and the others realise they have beaten the Gamma's for once - they have pulled more helium-3 than them. But Dago, the Gamma's Helldiver, warns them that they still won't win. The winner of the Laurel will be announced at midnight.

On Lykos they sing and dance, the one bit of resistance they can manage against the Society that rules them. However, they did make one song and dance punishable by death - Darrow's father danced it before his death. 

Darrow and Eo live in his family's home together, along with his mother, sister, brother and his brother's family. 

Octavia au Lune is the Sovereign of the Society - she has a crescent scar along her right cheek. 

Videos play on holoCans throughout their township from Octavia, who tells them they are mining helium-3 because it is vital to the terraforming process. They are told they are working towards making Mars habitable so the other Colors can join, where Reds will then be held in highest esteem for all their hard work. 

Eo works at the Webbery, where they harvest bioSilk. She left early to pick something up but doesn't let him go and see what it is. 

Chapter 3: The Laurel - They all head towards the Common to hear the Laurel be announced. 

There has recently been a terrorist bombing and the group Sons of Ares are blamed. There are no Sons of Ares in Lykos. He doesn't agree with their cause, believes it only works to delay their progress in making Mars ready for the other Colors. 

They live underground on Mars as the surface is still a barren wasteland.

They are not allowed to bury their dead - one of the Society's laws. Darrow's father stayed hanged for two months before he was cut down and his skeleton reduced to dust. 

Darrow's father died because he did the Reaping Dance as a peaceful protest to try and increase rations. They also tampered with machinery so they drills wouldn't work. It didn't work and he and the other men who participated were hanged. 

Darrow and the others are excited for the announcement of the Laurel but he can sense Eo is not. 

They make the announcement - only Mu and Chi did not meet their quotas, so they will receive limited rations. Then they announce that Gamma have gotten the Laurel once again, even thouugh it should have gone to them.

Chapter 4: The Gift - He realises they will never let them win it, they just use it as a way to demonstrate their power. 

Eo takes him to the Webbery and shows him an old ventilation tube that they've uncovered and gets him to go through it with her. She shows him that it takes them to a forest, filled with grass and trees and animals. He looks up and can see the sky.

He makes love to Eo under the stars.

She is angry that he won the Laurel but wasn't given it. She is angry that this beautiful place exists but they don't know about it and aren't allowed to use it, but the Grays likely do. She says they may as well be slaves, but he insists he earns what he gets. She calls him a puppet, as he peddles the same lines the Society have fed to them for years. 

Eo tells Darrow his father was right but wasn't willing to fight for what he knew was right. Others believe Darrow to be brave but she says he is bound by fear.

Eo says she loves him because he has a brain and she wants him to act, to fight for his father's dream. She says people look to him and will follow him. She says he could lead them to freedom, so they could make Mars theirs. 

They argue, neither agreeing with the other. Then they lay together to watch the sun rise but are caught as they leave the vent. 

Chapter 5: The First Song - Ugly Dan catches them along with three Tinpots(Grays). They went outside the permitted zones and will be flogged for it. Eo tells him to fight but he doesn't, he surrenders and is ready to take his punishment.

Darrow is kept in a cell for three days until a kinder Tinpot named Bridge lets him out so he can see Eo. She tells him that she loves him and it notes that it feels like a goodbye, even though she should only receive a whipping as punishment. The last thing she says to him is to "Break the chains."

Darrow sees that Peerless Scarred Gold has come to watch, the Peerless are one of the highest levels of Gold. He is Nero au Augustus, the ArchGovernor of Mars. 

Darrow receives 48 lashings in total. Then they bring Eo up to receive hers but after the thirteenth one she begins to sing. She sings the forbidden song, the one she knows they will kill her for. ArchGovernor encourages any other bold Reds to join her in her song but none do. He orders for Eo to be hanged. 

Chapter 6: The Matyr - Timony cu Podginus (a Copper and the MineMagistrate) asks Eo who she wishes to speak her last words to and she picks her sister, not Darrow. The noose is placed around her neck and she mouths to Darrow to 'live for more' and screams out 'break the chains' before the trapdoor beneath her feet opens.

He cradles her legs to help her so she does not suffer, pulling her feet to break her neck.

That night Darrow sneaks out of his home but his uncle sees him. Warns him not to do what he is about to do but Darrow is stubborn. His uncle insists on going with him to the Common. His uncle hugs him, tells him to say hello to people in the vale for him, but especially Dancer and then leaves him alone where Eo still hangs. 

Darrow cuts Eo's body down and then carries her to the Webbery and takes her through the ventilation shaft to the garden they found. He digs a hole at the base of a tree and buries her. 

When he makes it back to town his brother hits him. He eats a meal before Ugly Dan comes for him. Darrow will be hanged for what he has done. 

When he is going to be hanged he calls Dio up to hear his last words and he asks her what Eo's last words were. She says it was that she loved him but he knows she is lying. They open the trapdoor and his uncle shoves Kieran away and is instead the one who will pull on his legs to break his neck, but he winks at Darrow before he does. 

Part II: Reborn

Chapter 7: Lazarus - Darrow wakes up and realises he is buried beneath dirt and has to claw his way out. Realises he was drugged by his uncle before he was hanged, so they may have believed him dead when he wasn't.

A vehicle called a tumbler arrives and a group wearing Octobernacht masks have come to get him. Here he meets Harmony and Ralph, who he realises are a part of the Sons of Ares - one half of Harmony's face is scarred. They refer to Darrow as Lazarus and they tell him the Sons of Ares have a mission for him.

They bring him to some warehouses and tell him he will now meet Dancer, the person his uncle mentioned just before he was hanged. 

Chapter 8: Dancer - Dancer is a man in his forties, with pitviper bites down his neck and a left arm that has nerve damage. Dancer has eight Reds with him, Harmony is the only woman among them. 

Darrow asks why the didn't save Eo and Harmony says that martyr's are easy to come by, which Eo was. Dancer says he can't bring Eo back but they can get justice for her. 

They tend to the wounds on his back from being whipped. 

Dancer tells Darrow that his uncle has worked for the Sons of Ares since before Darrow's father was killed. He kept Darrow a secret from them for a very long time. They gave him equipment to shut off the cameras when he cut Darrow down, meaning he should not be punished for it.

Dancer says they will play a game and if Darrow wins then he will show him something very few Reds have ever seen. There is a bowl containing two cards. On one is the symbol of the reaper's scythe and the other is a lamb. He has to find the lamb to win.

Darrow can tell there is more to it than he is saying, and that the game itself is a test. He picks a card and quickly chews and swallows it before pulling the second and shoiwng it is a scythe, declaring himself the winner. But he knows both cards were scythe cards and that was the test. 

Dancer says they call themselves the Sons of Ares because Mars was just the Romans romanticised version of Ares. 

Dancer knows how the Golds came to power - hundreds of years ago they killed any who tried to contest them, calling it the Conquering. They once nuked an entire world - Rhea. 

Dancer tells him Eo didn't die for nothing, as Greens hacked the broadcast and showed her death on every HC on the entire planet, meaning everyone heard her song and saw what happened. They now refer to her as Persephone. 

Dancer asks if Darrow still wants to die, but he says he wants to kill Augustus. Dancer tells him he must set his sights even higher than that. 

Dancer then takes him up in a lift and he suddenly sees that he can see daylight from the actual sun. He looks out glass windows and realises they have been lied to, as he looks out at a city. 

Chapter 9: The Lie - He realises Mars is habitable and the city is filled with Golds and Silvers. It must have been terraformed years ago and they have been lied to this whole time. 

Dancer tells him they lied about Earth being overcrowded - humans expanded to their moon, Luna over 700 hundred years before. They set it up as Earth's port so they could launch spacecrafts from it as they went and colonised other planets and moons. 

Mining colonies were set up on Mars as that was where the most helium-3 could be found. That was then used for terraforming the planets/moons. The wealthy on Luna were still being made to pay tax to Earth so eventually rebelled, the Golds and Silvers rose up against Earth and conquered them. 

Reds were first sent to Mars 500 years ago and the other Colors were able to come 300 years ago, meaning they continued to lie to them since then so keep them working. There are HighReds in the city who work in things like sanitation. LowReds are those below the surface like Darrow.

Darrow says Mars belongs to them, they worked for it. He realises it will take violence to take it back. Asks Dancer what his mission is. 

Chapter 10: The Carver - Darrow thinks of his uncle's daughter, Lana, who was married at 15 and in love with her husband. He got a nasty burn in the mines and she had to sell her body to get antibiotics to treat the wound. When he found out, he killed the Gamma she sold herself to and was then killed for it. Lana is no longer alive.

Octavia au Lune rules on Luna, with her Imperators and Praetors. The Ash Lord reports to her. She has control of 12 Olympic Knights, armies of Peerless Scarred and also Obsidians. Then there are also Whites, Silvers, Pinks, Grays, Blues, Yellows, Coppers. Every Color has a different job/purpose, all working to keep the Golds in power.

The mission Darrow has been given doesn't seem possible to him, he just wants to fight. But Dancer insists he was brought out for this mission only. Darrow asks how many have come before him and he learns that 97 failed the Carving, and those are the only ones they know about for sure so the number could be higher. Those 97 either died or asked to be killed.

Dancer and Harmony take him to see Mickey, the Carver. He has tattoos on his body, one is of the Sigil of the Violets. Mickey is an artist, who are as rare as Whites are. They tell Mickey they have a proposition and then hand him a small box. He opens it and is angry, tells them to leave. In the box were two golden wings, which are the Sigils for Golds. They want him to turn Darrow into a Gold. 

Chapter 11: Mad - Mickey tells them it isn't possible - that the wings are linked to the DNA of the person they belong to. And that Golds have markings in their skulls as well as datachips attached to their brains. Then there are numerous other things to do, including tracking devices and other things.

Mickey asks what will happen to Darrow if he can do what they ask. They say he will apply to the Institute and he will excel there until he can become a Peerless Scarred. From there he can train to be anything he wants, and the higher the position he can get to, the better for them. 

Mickey warns Darrow that he won't survive the Institute, as it is a culling of Golds where only the very strongest and smartest make it out alive. Watches with wonder as Darrow solves the puzzle he has been holding the whole time they talked.

Chapter 12: The Carving - The sigils are attached to each of his hands. He dies while having the datachip attached and they have to restart his heart. The Carving leaves him in a coma for weeks until he finally wakes up in agony.

He is tested each day to build up his strength and will have to learn to read before he can apply for the Institute. 

Mickey says they will work hard to turn him into an iron Gold. They have to carve him again, to make his bones stronger because Gold bones are 5x stronger than his. 

Mickey talks to him every night and tells him about himself. Tells him he grew up in a circus like culture, in a place known as The Grove. They would give them pulls that would give him fever dreams, and now he carves the things he used to see in them. 

Mickey can tell Darrow was bit by a pitviper as a child, it is why his heart is so strong. It had to change to balance out the effects of the pitviper poison.

Darrow has to have his eyes replaced with those of a Gold. 

Harmony takes Darrow down to a gymnasium and puts him into something called a concentraction machine. He works out in it, as it resists his movements and helps to build up his muscles quicker.

Harmony and Darrow grow to understand each other more, especially after he hears her speaking up for him to Dancer and Mickey. He can tell she once lost somebody too. 

Over time and through lots of work, Darrow grows stronger and stronger. He falls asleep listening to different literature, and drinks tonic filled with processing enhancers. He becomes smarter.

Darrow notes that Mickey gives the girls wings but doesn't let them fly - he says they can't and he can't afford gravBoots, so they dance for him instead. Darrow threatens Mickey, tells him to stop Evey dancing and to give her a life of luxury or he will come back and make him pay.

Chapter 13: Bad Things - Matteo, a Pink sex worker, helps apply cream to Darrow's body that kills the hair follicles - on his arms, legs, torso and private areas too. Matteo threatens to beat the slang from Darrow, because it will give him away. 

 Dancer tries to change Darrow's name to Caius au Andromedus but he refuses. His back story will be that he is the son of a family from a far off asteroid cluster who died in a recent shipping accident. He will be the only survivor, who has inherited their debts.

Matteo continues to teach him the ways of Golds - how to speak, how to eat and so on.

Chapter 14: Andromedus - Darrow learns to dance how Golds do.

Dancer had hackers gain access to the Board of Quality Control records in order to change Caius au Andromedus's name to Darrow au Andromedus, like Darrow wanted. 

Darrow learns to ride a horse, although is put on a pony first. It bolts and when he jumps off a girl with long golden hair makes fun of him and tells him to stick to the city.

Chapter 15: The Testing - Darrow's test comes two months after he started training his mind with Dancer. The one thing they can't seem to fake for Darrow is the results of his admissions test, he must pass it himself. 

He meets a Gold called Cassius, who admires the way he steals a stylus from a girl next to him who kept tapping it during the test. He invites Darrow out for the evening but he declines. Cassius au Bellona is the son of Praetor Tiberius au Bellona, an Imperator of one of the Society's Fleets. He rivals ArchGovernor Augustus in power and the families despise each other - often killing one another. 

There are 70 Golds in the Testing room with him. They test him in many different ways - getting him to hold his breath as long as he can, seeing how long it takes for him to shiver in a freezing room, seeing how long it takes for his heart to struggle in extreme heat and so on. 

In the locker room afterwards he hears someone whistling the tune Eo sang. The whistling woman turns out to be the Gold he saw when he was riding his horse, she is beautiful. He blushes at her nudity, even though a real Gold wouldn't. But he notices she blushed too.

Mars has 1,000 cities and a Governor rules each one, with the ArchGovernor ruling over all. 

He asks Matteo about the Institute, but not much is known about it. He tells Darrow that three types graduate - Peerless Scarred, Graduates and the Shamed. Peerless ascend through society, Graduates can as well but not nearly as high, and Shamed get sent to distant colonies to oversee terraforming. He can't tell him how one graduates as Peerless, although it is likely there is a ranking of some kind, maybe a competition.

Chapter 16: The Institute - The results of his tests arrives via a towncraft, brought by a Copper and Three Whites. The Copper is Bondilus cu Tancrus from the Board of Quality Control, who needs to question Darrow. They hook him up to a machine that will be able to tell if he lies.

They question whether he cheated in any way on his tests. He was an elite scorer, and this is standard procedure when someone scores a lot higher than average. 

His Quality Control results come four weeks later, proving he didn't cheat. But his actual exam score takes two months to arrive and when it does it shows he only got one question wrong. 

Dancer gifts him the knifeRing he once used to slice his finger, having it reshaped in to an L. It stands for Lykos and Lambda. Harmony tells him Evey will come to live with her and Dancer, they will give her a good life. Matteo gifts him a necklace with the sigil of Andromedus. When he whispers Eo's name to it, it unfurls so he can hide a haemanthus petal inside. 

Meets Julian on the shuttle to the Institute, says his brother will already be at the Institute. He is sure his brother will be Primus, which means the leader of his House. The Institute contains 12 houses which are based on personality traits and named after Roman gods. 

Sevro is a small Bronze of a Gold who manages to insult Julian, who challenges him to a duel. Sevro says they will do if after the Passage, which he reveals is the very last test that many don't know about. He says he does as he has inside knowledge. 

They finally get to the institute and come to wait in a marble square. ArchGovernor Nero au Augustus is there to speak to them. There are also Institutes all over different planets and moons. Darrow can see the Sixth and Fifth Fleets in the distance. Sixth is commanded by Cassius's father and the Fifth by the ArchGovernor.

He talks of how not all men are equal and that Gold are superior. Speaks of how the Colors who mine may be harder than them, but they are not smarter. He speaks of Eo and says she was just a stupid girl who thought singing a song was worth dying for. 

Chapter 17: The Draft - Darrow is asked if he wants to request House Apollo as his family were supposedly both House Apollo, but he says no. Most Houses are dominated by powerful families. The three most powerful on Mars are the Augusts, Bellona and Arcos families.

Has to take another test, it is an immersive game. He has to get a goblet that is on a hill where there are obstacles in the way. He gets it after killing a wizard and enslaving a race of elves. Interviewers then arrive, known as Proctors who are all Peerless Scarred. 

He is interviewed by many of them, including Fitchner who is in charge of House Mars. He punches Darrow in the face and says he will send him home if he punches him back, so Darrow kicks him instead. 

They are all then put in front of the Drafters, who come to choose who will join their House. Two people, a man and a woman, both advocate to get Darrow. The man is Lorn au Arcos, who is the Rage Knight and the third most powerful man on Mars. He signals to Fitchner that he wants Darrow. Darrow is picked tenth out of one thousand. 

Chapter 18: Classmates - They now go to the dining hall where each House has a table with 100 place settings. All their names appear above their seats and Darrow has a single bar floating next to his name. The first to get five bars becomes the Primus of their house. A bar counts as one merit, Darrow seemingly got one for his high test score.

Cassius asks how Darrow cheated to get his high score and he insists he didn't. Cassius tries to say he could have done just as well if he had spent more time studying, Darrow makes out like he didn't study for it at all. 

Julian appears and Darrow realises that he and Cassian are twins. 

Chapter 19: The Passage - Wakes up vomiting, while being beaten by a man with extra fingers. He is being dragged out of his room by four men in masks. He thinks he has been found out until he sees golden bracelets on their wrists and realises it is just another test.

He lets them beat him before they place a bag over his head and drag him away. He is flown somewhere and the bag is taken off when he is inside a barren room, left completely naked. 

Darrow is put in the same room as Julian and he fakes a limp, having already realised what this is - the Passage. Fitchner comes to the door and tells them that while there are two of them in the room, they only have a spot for one of them. They have to fight to kill, whoever lives wins. 

Julian begs Darrow to just go home, says he can survive the shame but Julian wouldn't. All of his family is Scarred, so he has to make it through. Darrow knows what he has to do, but he still cries as he makes his way towards Julian. They fight and Darrow beats him to death. 

Part III: Gold

Chapter 20: The House Mars - Darrow cries over the beaten and dead body of Julian. Julian didn't score high enough on the tests so they put him with Darrow, knowing he would die.

The door is unlocked and Darrow leaves, following the light up some stairs and down a tunnel. He makes it out of the tunnel and finds the others, those who won in their own fights - people like Roque and Antonia. 

He realises the Passage was the first Test and what it will do to every House is the second. Cassius will know that one among them killed his brother and others will have lost friends and people they care about too. Sevro also survived, which surprises him.

Cassius finds him and helps pop in his dislocated shoulder, then gets Darrow to do the same for his dislocated fingers. Cassius is sure Julian will arrive soon, says he was trained in the Silent Art of Kravat. He asks Darrow who he had to fight and he lies. 

When all the seats are filled Cassius finally realises Julian must be dead. Others missing are Arria and Priam. Priam wasn't supposed to die. 

Fitchner talks to them, says they need to impress those who picked them for House Mars as they can gain apprenticeships afterwards. If they manage to win, they could be picked to apprentice in the House or with an Elder family. 

Darrow asks what they have to win. He tells them they are in a valley in Valles Marineris. Each House has been given their own castle and the next day they will go to war against each other. They will need to dominate the other Houses and gain control of the valley by any means necessary. 

Antonia asks what happens if you are the Primus of the winning House and he tells them that person will be guaranteed wealth, fame and power. Darrow knows he must be Primus.

Cassius asks everyone to say who they killed, he killed Nexus au Celintus. He wants to find out who killed his brother, but nobody else speaks up. Darrow hates Titus, finds him unlikeable. 

Chapter 21: Our Dominion - Their castle lies atop stone cliff and deerling graze in the woods below. There are sheep and wolves too. 

There is a floating mountain 2km in the sky - it is an artificial mountain (Olympus) where all the Proctors stay to watch what happens. 

Phobos Tower is southwest of their territory, and a mountain range (Deimos) to the northwest, and an eastern river (Furor) and western river (Metas). A bridge crosses the Metas, so enemies would need to cross it to get in to their territory. 

Sevro says that anyone can walk up on them, all they need to do is cross the river. They seem to be easy targets. 

A dropship comes down and sets out a feast close to Phobos Tower, setting a trap to draw people out. Only Darrow and Cassius make a run for the table. 

They see a castle nearby, belongs to House Ceres and they decide to do some spying. But Darrow realises they are hiding in the grass, waiting to attack them. They each grab a leg from the table the food was on as a weapon and then rush towards the enemy. 5 from House Ceres are there and they fight, Darrow steals a slingBlade from one of them. They capture all 5. 

The Proctor of House Ceres comes to share wine with Fitchner as they look down at what has unfolded. Fitchner says it is suspicious her men were already waiting for them, as if they knew the food would be dropped off. 

Girls on horseback appear from the Ceres castle so they run. Titus almost kills one but Ceres zaps him with a stunfist and he pees himself - Sevro and Cassius both laugh at him.

Titus is angry they can't kill the others, Fitchner says the Passage was to cull the students and that isn't the point of thus. He says people dying by accident is fine, but they can't go around murdering each other. Even MedBots will be dispatched if needed. They are meant to win, not kill. 

They are to show how they can run an army and lead, show how they can win. Killing is easy but conquering is harder. They must take the others as slaves in order to win, which they can do using their standard - Fitchner gives it to them.

Chapter 22: The Tribes - The standard has a howling wolf on it, with a serpent coiled at it's feet. They can use the standard to turn enemies to slaves by touching it to their foreheads. A wolf sigil would them appear there until someone else presses their standard there. 

Sevro comes in with a dead wolf that he has already skinned, says he killed it with his bare hands. 

Cassius says it will be a while before anyone earns Primus so they should have a leader in the meantime. Antonia says they should wait until someone earns enough merits to be named Primus, as no one has earned the right to lead yet. 

The map they were provided on the wall comes to life as a horn bellows. It is announcing the true start of the game. 

They agree to go scouting, to try to find the location of more castles. 

Cassius and Darrow agree that to get their House working together, they must get rid of Titus. Cassius suggests killing him in his sleep, Darrow doesn't like that idea. 

Vixus, Titus's right hand man, appears with a girl that has been captured as their very first slave.

Chapter 23: Fracture - House Mars has fractured into four tribes. Antonia has the MidDrafters, Titus has high and midDrafts. Cassius and Darrow have another tribe, with some high and midDrafts, but mainly the lowDrafts. Sevro has another. 

Cassius and Darrow are out searching for more hidden supplies when they see a ton of medBots coming down from Olympus, followed by the Proctors.

Darrow found matches, so they're the only tribe that currently has fire for cooking.

Sevro's tribe is the one with all the information, although it appears he is the only member of it. He runs about dressed in wolfskin. Sevro appears to have a thing for Quinn, but she has a thing for Cassius.

Roque argues that they need to give the other tribes fire, as they are starving and it is not good if the House is weak. He believes offering them fire will unite the House. Darrow goes to find Vixus but Titus finds him first.

Vixus tries to threaten him but Darrow is quick enough to attack him first, leaves before he can know for sure whether he killed him or not.

Chapter 24: Titus's War - Darrow is being chased by three boys and one girl from Titus's tribe. Cassandra cuts him off before he can get back to his own tribe. Quinn comes to help him, knocking Cassandra down.

Titus doesn't go after them, instead he raids House Ceres again, capturing more slaves. 

Cassius knows Titus is lying about killing Priam in the Passage, believes he was the one who killed Julian.

Titus takes five slaves to the gates of House Ceres and orders four of them to beat the slave girl, and they do. Titus then took the girl back to the gates and hid her beneath a blanket of grass, tied up and gaged. Then he ordered another girl to fake scream, drawing them out to try to save her. But instead their horses trampled over her without them knowing, killing her.

Chapter 25: Tribal War - They hear screaming coming from the castle where Titus is, he is raping the women. Darrow comes up with a plan on how they can get more fighters to beat him.

Darrow sends Quinn to Deimos Tower to give a formal apology to Antonia. Quinn doesn't return. Darrow goes to find her but finds no sign of her. When he gets back they tell him that Titus captured her on the way back and beat her, then cut off her ear and sent it to them. It was meant for Darrow as they believed she was his girl, but Cassius is the one who cares for her.

Cassius snuck away while the others slept so he could challenge Titus. Cassius comes back severely beaten, having been tried up and pissed on by Titus and his men. Darrow says they will go ahead with the original plan and Cassius agrees, as long as Titus is his when the time comes. 

Chapter 26: Mustang - Cassius says they must get Quinn back before Titus can take her up to his tower. They are far from the castle when he spots the girl from the horse, the one he saw again in the changing room. They call to her and she comes over, he refers to her by the name Mustang.

She works out that they must be close to House Ceres and figures out the general location of their castle. He tries to trick her in order to get the horse she's riding but she makes a run for it. Cassius throws his pitchfork at her, causing the horse to trip and go down.

He goes to check she is okay and she whistles, signalling for more of her House to come. He can see 17 horses approaching them with riders on the back with stunpikes. They are from House Minerva.

Cassius and Darrow have to escape by swimming into the loch and waiting there until the fires are lit, which is part of their plan. House Minerva are under the assumption that their House is weak, with no weapons. Mustang leaves with all of her men except two, who are left behind to watch them.

They are stuck in the water until they hear screams, as the two men are attacked. They see a black wolf standing over their bodies - it is Sevro in his wolf furs. 

They sent the Minerva's to the castle so they can defeat Ttius. Sevro snuck in first and stole the standard and buried it in the woods so they can't take it.

Sevro says they have to get leverage in order to get the Minerva's out again once they take Titus down. He says they must steal the Minerva's standard.

They go to the Minerva Castle on the horses they took from the two men Sevro attacked. They know the password, as Sevro heard it last time he was there. They pretend to be of House Minerva to gain entry. Darrow learns Mustang's real name is Virginia. 

They find the war room and Darrow breaks everything and ruins their map. Cassius sets a fire, which begins to spread. They are spotted and House Minerva turns to chaos as they believe they are being attacked by House Mars. Darrow finds June, who he hears can cook and knocks her out to take back to House Mars.

They make it out of the castle and steal six horses before lighting their stables on fire. They know of a hidden back gate that leads away from the fortress and they know that is where someone will try to escape with the standard. Sevro comes running, holding the owl standard in his hands and they head back to House Mars victorious.  

Chapter 27: The House of Rage - Darrow, Sevro and Cassius meet up with some of their group at Phobos Tower, including Roque. They have stolen eight horses in total. 

Darrow, Sevro and Cassius then cross the bridge across the Metas towards the House Mars castle, meaning a scout can head back to the castle to warn Mustang. Darrow holds the House Minerva standard in his hand, so they can all see it. 

Mustang comes to meet him along with Pax au Telemanus, a giant of a man from House Minerva. She is disgusted by what she found in the Mars castle - that they have been raping and murdering people. 

Sevro sneaks up on Mustang's men and begins taking them down. The Proctors come down to watch it unfold. The begin to fight and Pax manages to get hold of Darrow and squeezes him until he faints, but not before he hits Pax in the balls 4 times. 

After Darrow arrived Roque arrived with the others and fought them off. Mustang and 6 of her men managed to retreat to the castle. They have captured 11 of Mustang's men, and try to negotiate with Mustang by saying she can have them all back if she leaves the castle. She wants Titus but they refuse, so instead she demands they promise he will be punished for what he has done. 

Darrow questions if Mustang would care as much if Titus had raped a Red girl instead - according to law it doesn't count as rape unless the person has the sigil from an elder House. 

Mustang warns there is another in the game just like Darrow, known as the Jackal, who is smarter, crueller and stronger than Darrow is. She tells Darrow he must evolve or he will lose to the Jackal. 

Chapter 28: My Brother - Darrow lights a fire in House Mars, pretending he has only just got the matches. House Mars is still not united though because they're all still disgusted by what Titus and his tribe did. Roque says the Proctors haven't stepped in yet because they want to see how they will handle justice. 

Titus is locked in the cellar and Darrow knows he has to be the one to deal with him. Titus's men will never respect Cassius after what they did to him. Titus says Darrow can't judge him, not when he knows he had iodine and matches the whole time and yet let others in House Mars starve. 

Titus says he raped those girls because that's what they did to 'her'. He was made to watch as they did, and when they returned to do it again he killed them. While he is talking, Titus uses bloodydamn, a Red word and that is when Darrow realises he is another Red that has been turned to a Gold and sent to the Institute undercover. 

Chapter 29: Unity - Titus is exactly what Dancer didn't want Darrow to become, something who wants nothing but vengeance. Darrow doesn't know how many more Reds could be here, but Titus puts him at risk because of how unstable he is. He cries because he knows he has to kill Titus.

The next day Darrow drags Titus into the square where everyone can see him. He rattles off a list of his crimes and sentences him to death. Then asks if anybody contests and nobody does. But then Titus contests it and challenges him to a duel instead, with weapons of his choosing. Titus picks straight blades, knowing Darrow is good with a curved one. 

Cassius is not happy about it, as he wanted to be the one to kill him for what he believes he did to his brother and also for what he did to Cassius. He requests being allowed to be the one who fights him and Darrow agrees.

Cassius kills him, repeating over and over how Titus killed Julian while he does it. 

Roque tells Darrow it wasn't justice and Darrow knows he is right. It did work to make people scared of Cassius again.

Darrow buries Titus.

Darrow now has three bars beside his name, needs 5 to become Primus.

Fitchner comes to see him, and he questions again why they didn't stop Titus but he says the better question is why they didn't stop Cassius from killing him. Titus would have been useful after the Institute. The Board of Quality Control sets a limit each year on how many of them are allowed to die in the Institute. 

Fitchner comments that Darrow is an old soul who is full of sadness, and he can't work out why. Darrow questions why Fitchner doesn't change his appearance, even though he could - it holds him back. Darrow questions why he is only a Proctor and not something higher.

Fitchner asks what reward he wants for getting the Minervan standard, as Sevro has passed the reward on to him. He asks for matches, weapons and also horses. Darrow tries to touch Fitchner to stop him leaving and something happens to him - realises that he is wearing pulseArmor. 

He asks who the Jackal is and he finds out he is the ArchGovernor's son.

New horses are delivered and Darrow claims a pale horse that they call Quietus, it means final stroke.

Chapter 30: House Diana - It has been a month since Titus was killed and House Mars has gotten stronger. They outlawed the abuse of slaves. They have stores of food but no water and have to build basins and dig troughs to gather it. 

Darrow has Cassius teach him how to fight with a straight sword. He also teaches him Kravat. 

Mustang and the other Minervans want Darrow, have even tried to make deals with others in House Mars for them to hand him over. 

The wolves follow Sevro because he killed their pack leader. Darrow puts him in charge of the dregs of House Mars. They each wear cloaks made from the fur of black wolves - Sevro, Thistle, Screwface, Clown, Pebble and Weed. 

Darrow thinks they need to form an alliance with another House, they need Ceres as they have water and grain. Darrow thinks they need to destroy House Minerva first before they do that. Cassius wants to go with Sevro and Darrow but Darrow orders him to stay behind. 

Darrow questions why Sevro has no bars of merit yet, despite being the one to take the Minervans standard and also the one who hid the Mars standard so they couldn't get it. Darrow has worked out they picked him because he was the smallest and his scores were terrible. He was supposed to die in the Passage. Darrow knows that Sevro is the one who killed Priam, and that is why they won't give him any merits or allow him to be Primus. Sevro replies that he knows Darrow is the one who killed Julian.

They go to the woods to speak with House Diana. They are stripped of their weapons and blindfolded before being taken to their castle. Tells them that if they help him take House Minerva then House Mars will help them to take House Ceres. 

Chapter 31: The Fall of Mustang - They ride for House Minerva, not hiding the fact they are on their way but House Minerva doesn't realise Sevro is already hiding outside their castle. Sevro's men are known as the Howlers. 

The Minerva castles has a muddy ring surrounding it that the archers will shoot down into if they get too close, beyond that is extremely tall grass that is easy to hide in. Darrow shouts for Pax and Mustang rides out to speak to them. 

Darrow challenges Pax to a duel, the winner will receive all the slaves of the other House. 

Mustang is scared he has men in the grass so makes him push his men back 600m. Then she burns the grass to be sure. Then Pax and Darrow are surrounded in a circle by ten people from each of the two houses. The Proctors fly down from Olympus to watch. 

Darrow uses the mud to blind Pax to gain the advantage. Manages to take Pax's axe from him and take him down with it. Then Darrow sends out the signal, a howl. Then Sevro and his Howlers reveal themselves, cutting themselves out of the bellies of the dead horses that had been shot dead by the arches outside the castle.

Sevro and the Howlers and men from House Diana manage to get through the gate before House Minerva can close it. They take over House Minerva very quickly. Mustang manages to ride off and escape into the woods.

Darrow searches with Vixus and comes across Mustang by mistake, but Vixus is talking about how he wants to break her and so Darrow leads him away, pretending as if he didn't see her hiding in the mud. 

Chapter 32: Antonia - House Minerva is taken down but House Diana are trying to get out of the deal by locking Mars out of the castle, but Darrow knew they would do that and so that is why he sent Sevro into the castle with them. 

Sevro destroys the food stores that they have. Then he ruins the water supply too before hiding in the cellar with his Howlers. 

It takes four days for House Diana to try and bargain with them and they refuse. When they all try to sneak out on the 5th night, they are captured. Tamara dies falling from her horse and getting trampled to death. They find her saddle had been cut and think Tactus did it. They make all the remaining people of House Diana into slaves.

Cassius says he think of Roque and Darrow as his brothers now and that he will recommend them to his father, as he will need officers for his ships. They would be Praetors for House Bellona, one of the most powerful families. 

They find a girl called Lilath who has been sent by House Pluto to talk to Cassius, she was sent by the Jackal. She tells Cassius that the Jackal will give him 50 ionBlades in exchange for Darrow. Lilath gives Cassius a pouch that he doesn't open but tucks in his boot, Darrow asks Sevro to steal it from him. 

Darrow finally earns his fifth bar and will be named Primus.

Roque tells Darrow that he is planning to kiss Lea, having decided he likes her now. Darrow tells him to take her somewhere special for it.

Lea wakes him up that night, screaming that Roque has fallen into a crevice, broken his legs and can't get out of it. He follows her, taking nothing with him and realises it's a trap. He manages to drop and hide. 

Antonia calls to him from the mist, taunting him. Vixus and Cassandra are with her. They threaten to cut Lea's throat if he doesn't come out. He doesn't think they'll do it but they do. He hides until morning, after they have left. Lea's dead body is left behind but he doesn't find Roques, so doesn't know if he is really dead. 

Chapter 33: Apologies - Cassius wakes him up saying that Sevro has found Roque and he is a mess. On the way, he notices that Cassius has brought the two ionSwords that Lilath gave them. He realises this is another trap and that Cassius must know Darrow killed Julian. 

Cassius says he knew Julian was meant to die because he wasn't smart in the way they wanted, but he was kind and empathetic. His family has been in a neverending feud with the ArchGovernor's. Julian was excited when he got accepted to the Institute, and the letter came with the Governor's seal. It didn't make sense to Cassius or his other brother's because they never thought he would get accepted. 

Cassius knows Julian wouldn't have been in the bottom one percent, but they killed him because he was a Bellona. It is illegal to refuse an invitation to the Institute, so he had to go. Cassius didn't look at what the Jackal gave him until he caught Sevro trying to steal it. It was a holo, that showed Darrow killing his brother. 

Darrow notes that the game is rigged as the Jackal would have been given the holo by his Proctor. Reveals to Cassius that the Jackal is the ArchGovernor's son and they are manipulating Cassius to get rid of Darrow for them. 

Darrow tells him they could defeat the Jackal together but Cassius says they are no longer a we now that he knows what he did. Darrow realises that Cassius is going to kill him, as he isn't good with an ionBlade. They fight but it isn't long before Cassius stabs him in his stomach. Cassius leaves him bleeding out and crying in the mud.

Part IV: Reaper

Chapter 34: The Northwoods - Darrow wakes and is disorientated, doesn't see a clear image of who is helping him. Thinks it is Eo, and whispers her name. Darrow hates Cassius, as he chose to do this whereas he had no choice and had to kill Julian. 

He wakes again and realises it isn't Eo who is with him, it is Mustang. She whistles the song Eo sung, tells him she heard it from the HC. 

It has been four weeks since he was attacked by Cassius. Cassius is now Primus. Jupiter and Mars are the two most powerful Houses now. 

Mustang admits she likes to win - she realised you get a merit every time you get your standard back, so set it up for it to get taken over and over again until she made Primus, which only took her a week. 

She says he cries out for a girl called Eo in his sleep. 

He stays with Mustang in the woods, hiding and gaining his strength back. Then Mustang gets sick and he goes out to try to find food. Circles back when he realises people have found the cave she is hiding in.

Sees two boys inside the cave, eating what is left of their food. One of them sits on Mustang, who has been stripped to her underwear and tied up. When he sees one of them try to touch her he realises he feels more for Mustang than he realised. He attacks both of the boys, but Mustang tells him to let them live. 

She ties them to a tree before lighting a fire to draw others out to find them. But when Mustang falls asleep, he tries to sneak out to kill them so they won't have to move, as he thinks she is too sick. But she convinces him to stay.

He sings Eo's song to her as she cuddles against him.

He realises Mustang will die if he doesn't try to go out and find medicine for her. He wears a wolfcloak made from the white fur of a wolf he and Mustang killed.

Fitchner comes and finds him, he shoots an arrow at Fitchner to confirm he is always wearing the pulseShield. He also knows they wear gravBoots, ghostCloak and pulseFists. 

Darrow asks who gave the Jackal the holo and he says the Proctors did, it doesn't matter which one. He tells Darrow they won't allow him to win, so he realises they want the Jackal to win and are helping him.

The Jackal/Adrius is meant to win because of who his father is. The ArchGovernor bribed and threatened them all until they agreed. They have to be careful how they cheat because the Drafters won't be happy if they find out, they would kill the Proctors. The Board of Quality Control watches them as well as Senators and other people. There are even biometric nanoCams in the rings that the students wear. He realises he has been being watched the whole time, so Demetrius au Bellona has watched him kill his son.

Darrow realises he essentially can disappear if he takes the ring off. 

Fitchner says many Drafters like Darrow and want to offer him apprenticeships - including Lorn au Arcos, the Sword of House Mars. Tells Darrow to stay away from the Jackal or Apollo will have Darrow killed.

Darrow learns that when a House is defeated, their Proctor is sent home. Darrow wants to take down the Jackal and make him his slave. Asks Fitchner for antibiotics, which he gives to him. 

Darrow plans to take House Apollo down first as Apollo is the most dangerous, then House Jupiter. 

Fitchner gives Darrow a package, tells him he was told to tell Darrow that he has not been abandoned by all his friends. Inside the package is his Pegasus necklace with the hidden haemanthus blossom. 

Chapter 35: Oathbreakers - Takes Mustang a week to improve enough for them to move. They light a fire to gain the attention of the Oathbreakers. Finally some come and try to sneak up on them but they easily incapacitate them. Darrow speaks to Milia, their leader. Milia is daughter of a Justiciar, Gauis au Trachus. 

Oathbreakers are people in the Game who were made slaves but ran away. Darrow removes the slave marks from them and asks them all to join him willingly. After a week they have added 10 Oathbreakers to their team.

House Mars & House Jupiter continue to fight, House Ceres stays locked in their stronghold.

Darrow and the others block off the Metas bridge with trees and then hide. All of Darrow's group now have wolf cloaks. He is hiding beside Mustang when he has the sudden urge to kiss her, which makes him feel guilty and think of Eo instead. 

Cassius sends out some of his people to clear the bridge, a lot of them are slaves but Cipio, a House Mars boy, is among them. Take down the ones on horses in seconds and quickly make the Mars Slaves into Minerva one. Pax is there and they remove his House Mars slave mark. Including Pax, they've added 12 more people to their House.

That night Darrow sneaks up to House Mars, covered in charcoal so he can't be seen in the dark. He climbs up the wall of the castle. A slave sees him, but let's him go when she realises he is working with House Minerva, where she is originally from. She even helps by giving him a key. 

He moves around the castle, drawing slingBlades on every door he finds so they know he was there. He even draws a skull on Cassius's chair and puts a knife into the back of it - sending a message. While he is in the castle, the others have lit a fire on the hill in the shape of his slingBlade

Chapter 36: A Second Test - They plan to finally go after Ceres, as they need the food they can get from there. Plan to attack during the day because they are more on guard at night there. They go in pairs and hide in the snow outside the castle, Darrow and Mustang are together. They stay there overnight and come out in the morning - 24 of them in total. 

They carry a large tree between them that they then put up against the wall, making it so they can run up it to reach the top of the wall. Darrow boosts Mustang and Milia up first, who then use rope to get him up. 

They fight their way to the gate and get it open for the others. Takes 5 minutes to take control of it and make the House Ceres people their slaves. Tactus questions Darrow's authority in front of everyone, which he warns Tactus he will make him pay for it. 

Darrow frees the slaves he has that helped get castle Ceres, then tells the newly enslaved people from House Ceres that they will get the same treatment if they help him take down another House.

Darrow is woken in the night by Mustang, telling him Milia caught Tactus trying to rape a Ceres woman. He has to figure out the right way to punish him. He asks the girl, Nyla, what she wants him to do to him but she says nothing would be enough to make up for what he tried to do. 

He brings Tactus out in front of everyone to question him, but he doesn't deny what he tried to do. He says it is his right as he is stronger than her, but Darrow uses that to trap him - pointing out that he is stronger than Tactus so by his own logic Darrow could do whatever he wants to him.

Darrow makes sure everyone knows he will not allow rape. Then Nyla confirms again that she doesn't want any punishment given, but Darrow insists on having him whipped 20 times. Then he gives Tactus the whip and tells him to give him the same punishment. He barely manages 5 before Darrow gives Pax the whip instead and tells him to start again. Afterwards he tells everyone that they will all have to do the same to him if they commit an offence. 

Chapter 37: South - Darrow now has 56 soldiers, over 1/2 are slaves. He puts Mustang in charge of 6 lots of 3 scouts, and he puts one Ceres in each one. The six squads get one commUnit each that they found in castle Ceres. 

The plan is now to go after House Apollo next, like Darrow told Fitchner he would do. They find castle Juno first, that has been captured by House Jupiter. 

They see 3 enemy scouts in the nearby woods, which they assume belong to house Pluto (Jackal's House). They think Lilath is leading them, a girl on a silver horse. 

Then a small army appears from Apollo. Darrow orders his army to appear weak while he goes to meet a rider from the opposing army, while he pretends to be injured. They talk (He is Novas, the Primus of Apollo) and he offers for Darrow and the others to join him to take down the Jackal and then claim back the North. 

The Apollo army have ionBlades and ionLances, as well as horses. 

Darrow purposefully has them sleep on the banks of the river, meaning Apollo's army would need to try and cross a frozen river to get to them. They attempt it anyway because they believe Darrow and his army are weak. They don't realise they weakened the ice so they'd fall through - taking them out of the game. 

Mustang makes a comment about how he isn't getting enough sleep, and that he slept better when they would sleep next to each other. She asks why he stopped and he says it is because she is distracting, which makes her laugh. 

Tactus asks where they're going and Darrow tells him they will take House Apollo down next. Then Tactus reveals he has noticed tracks in the snow that can only have come from the gravBoots of the Proctors, which means they have been following them while in ghostCloaks so they can't see them. Tactus whispers this, not knowing the rings they wear mean they can always hear whatever they're saying.

They keep moving, and when small groups of scots from other Houses try to come for them, they easily take them down. 

Pax tells them about himself. His family had a summer home on Earth, in New Zealand. And he was often mistaken for an Obsidian, and would sometimes join them when they did the Nagoge - at night they'd go to steal food and he would fight with them for some. He would always win until he came up against a woman called Helga. 

The next day they find all their horses are gone, it seems the Proctors who were following them have let them go in an attempt to sabotage them. Have also damaged the pots they brought for cooking, as well as ruining the bread they took with them. 

Mustang finally asks why Cassius turned on him, and he tells her the truth - that he was the one who killed his brother. She then tells him she had a brother who died and that it changed her family. She assumes he told Cassius the truth but he tells her the Proctors did by way of the Jackal, and she finally figures out that they are rigging the game to let the ArchGovernor's son win (Jackal).

When he goes off in the night to pee, he hears Mustang call for him but she calls him by his name and not Reaper, like she usually does so he knows something is wrong. He knows it is a trap and can feel that he is being watched. He runs, climbing up a tree and waiting to see what comes for him. The Apollo Proctor then turns of his ghostCloak and pushes him out of the tree. 

Chapter 38: The Fall of Apollo - A giant white bear is waiting on the ground for him, one clearly made by a Carver. Darrow runs and manages to get the bear to fall through a trap in the ground and down onto wooden pikes. But then Darrow is immediately caught in a rope trap, that leaves him hanging upside down. Hours later Sevro finds him still hanging.

Sevro frees him and they head back to Darrow's camp together with the Howlers. Darrow notes Sevro only has 1 eye now and also has a limp. Sevro gives Darrow back his slingBlade - he took it where it was left in the mud and has sharpened it for him. Darrow tells him that Sevro is a real friend, one that will last after the games have finished.

Sevro believed Darrow was taken by the Jackal, as that was what Cassius told them. Sevro went to go find him and that is how he lost an eye. 

Sevro tells them that only Apollo, Venus, Mercury and Pluto remain in the game now. 

They ask for the story of how Darrow got in Sevro's trap, so he tells them all to take off their rings first.

Darrow splits his team into 6 lots of 10. He leads one that includes Sevro and the Howlers. Other 5 leaders - Pax, Mustang, Tactus, Milia and Nyla. They take on Apollo first - destroying their supplies and water, killing their food sources and taking their slaves. They let people from the actual House escape, so that word of what they have done will get to the other Houses. 

Sevro tells them what he knows about the Jackal. His castle is in the low mountains near Vulcan. Vulcan almost took down Pluto and the Jackal, but he collapsed the tunnels they were in to stay in the game even though it killed people in his own House. Left 40 of them in the tunnels with limited food and it took them a month to dig a way out - which means they ate the dead people from their house. 

Proctor Apollo shows up again, putting Darrow and the others in a jamField, so they can't be heard by anyone outside of it. Offers them wine and only Sevro drinks and then walks off to go pee. He tells them to turn back. Then says that Darrow winning won't benefit any of the others because they are not from his original House. Other Proctors have come to watch. 

Darrow asks what will happen when the Drafters realise he has been fixing the game for the Jackal to win. He makes everyone aware that Apollo is the one who tried to kill him with the bear. He says that the Drafters will be angry when they find out the ArchGovernor has bribed him and the other Proctors.

Darrow then asks Mustang how fast Sevro could run to Apollo's castle. Only then does Apollo realise he fell into a trap. The jamField means that Proctor Apollo couldn't hear the MedBots going towards the castle or Sevro howling from the castle. 

Sevro, Tactus and others from their group are already inside castle Apollo. The Apollo Primus, Novas, has a pulseWeapon that must have been given to him by the Apollo Proctor. Darrow and the others head to the Castle to help.

Darrow announces that he wants to take Novas down himself and his army should enslave everyone else. He, Pax and the others run towards the enemy and Pax helps to launch Darrow into the air so he can land on the enemies guarding Novas. Then he and Novas faceoff. 

Darrow easily manages to take him down by breaking his leg and then steals his spear too. 

One House Apollo girl manages to get away, taking the standard with her - she is clearly helped down from a high castle tower by Proctor Apollo, which means his House technically hasn't lost yet and are still in the game. But Mustang hunts her down easily and brings both the standard and the girl back. 

Darrow sees Proctors Apollo, Venus and Jupiter all talking and throws the pulseSpear at them and tells Jupiter he is taking his House down next. 

Chapter 39: The Proctor's Bounty - Fitchner comes to speak to Darrow, reveals that Apollo hasn't left Olympus. Mustang is there while they talk and only leaves after Fitchner insists and makes a weird jab about her name. Fitchner then gives Darrow back the knifeRing he was given by Dancer. Tries to warn Darrow to stop, says there is a limit to how high people can go - people like Fitchner and his son and Darrow too. Darrow, at the mention of Fitchner having a child, realises he resembles Sevro. Fitchner is Sevro's father.

Darrow asks him to help them but he refuses. Says Darrow is already falling into a trap, a girls trap but doesn't say who he means. 

Darrow pretends like he is going to shake his hand to say goodbye, but uses it to hold Fitchner in place so he can knock him out.

Chapter 40: Paradigm - Darrow speaks to Mustang, tells her he wants to go after House Jupiter next. They travel to the Jupiter castle in 4 days and surround it. Most of the Jupiter forces have got stuck across the river. 

The Jupiter castle waves a white flag on day 3 and send a boy out to speak to them, called Lucian. Only 7 in the castle, who are starving and they surrender easily under the condition they can stay free and not be made slaves, Darrow agrees.

They spend the night in the castle and Darrow orders everyone to get drunk on wine, except the 7 people from Jupiter. He then has Lucian follow him, Mustang sees them together but Darrow tells her to leave them alone. He and Lucian talk for over an hour. Then has Lucian show him his hand at the same time Darrow dumps out all the sigil rings he has - ones from Jupiter, Neptune, Venus, Bacchus, Juno, Mercury, Diana, Ceres and Minerva. Doesn't yet have one from Pluto, but then looks up at Lucian who is now looking at him differently, who Darrow knows is really from Pluto.

Chapter 41: The Jackal - Lucian tries to get away but Darrow pins him to the table by putting a dagger through his hand. Darrow introduces himself as the Reaper, and makes it known that he knows Lucian is actually the Jackal.

Then Darrow's soldiers all get up - had all been pretending to be drunk. Darrow also knew that the Jackal had his men hiding in the castle. 

Jackal makes fun of the Howlers, says they refer to them as Toadstools. He tells the Howlers to kill Darrow and they will be promised great positions in the world once the game ends. Then he changes tactics when that doesn't work, trying to get Darrow to let him win. Tells him his father will make sure he is rewarded if he does.

Darrow knows that Dancer would want him to agree as it would put him close to the ArchGovernor but he can't bear to let the Proctors win.

Pax comes in and tells him they found the Jackal's hidden army and that he has left Mustang with them to make them all slaves. Makes a note that Mustang is acting weird.

Darrow asks if he knows the Proctors are helping him win and he does. Makes an identical statement to one Mustang used about cheating. 

Darrow puts another knife on the table for the Jackal - as it is said real jackals would chew off their own limbs if they are trapped. Essentially he is telling him to cut off his hand if he wants to get free. Darrow is certain he won't do it but he does start doing it. Pax ends up handing him an ionBlade to make it easier. He ends up doing it, cutting off his own hand so he can leave. 

Darrow is so distracted he doesn't realise the Proctors have come to help the Jackal. They throw him a sonic detonator that he picks up and then he sticks the ionBlade into Pax's neck before activating the detonator. Pax ends up throwing his body on top of Darrow to protect him as the Jackal stabs him repeatedly to try to get to Darrow. By the time he crawls out from underneath him, Pax is dead and the Jackal is gone.

Darrow follows the trail of blood that the Jackal has left, taking the Howlers with him. Darrow realises Mustang knew who the Jackal was, but still believes she is loyal to him.

They chase the Jackal through snowy mountains but then Proctor Apollo appears in front of them. He has a pulseFist and uses it to send Sevro and 5 Howlers down the mountain. Darrow attacks, stabbing his sword into Apollo's head, but he knows the PulseShield will stop it, which it does. 

Apollo takes him by the air and takes him really high in the air then tells him they have caught Mustang and they will 'ruin her' if he doesn't purposefully lose to the Jackal. Darrow realises that Apollo has turned his shield off to touch him, which means there is one weak spot on his body not covered by recoilArmor. 

Apollo drops him, not realising Darrow wears Fitchner's gravBoots. Uses the surprise he has to bring out his knifeRing and punch the blade through the one weak spot Apollo now has - into his eye socket. He kills Apollo, not what he originally intended. He tells the Howler's that they have Mustang and so they now plan to attack Olympus. 

Chapter 42: War on Heaven - Darrow takes Apollo's armor, razor, helmet, pulseFist, shield and boots, giving Fitchner's to Sevro, who also gets the ghostCloak. Reveals to Sevro that he knows who Fitchner is to him. 

They use the gravBoots to lift themselves and all the Howlers to Olympus. Darrow is specifically looking for Jupiter. They find Venus first and tie her to her bed. Juno is found and subdued next. Vulcan is next, who is watching screens that show the Jackal being helped by Lilath in a cave, and that Cassius has been given missiles.

More of Darrow's army is arriving on Olympus to help them. Only Proctors left to find are Minerva, Pluto, Mercury and Jupiter. 

They find Mercury next and he and Darrow fight, Darrow uses the pulseFist to subdue him so they can tie him up. 

Jupiter finds them, he has a pulseShaft and razor too and has Minerva with him, they begin to fight, making it so Darrow and his forces have to retreat. Darrow and Jupiter then begin to fight and Darrow is wounded. They end up going through a window and Darrow no longer has his boots on, so they fall and crash into a snowy mountain below.

Jupiter tells him he won't win, that the ArchGovernor will send his men, he will send Obsidians and Golden Legates. Darrow says they won't get away with it, as the Drafters will be able to see what they did. 

Sevro was using the cloak to hide himself, and helps Darrow by putting a razor through Jupiter's thigh. Then take him back to Olympus where they've found Mustang and also found the armory. 

Chapter 43: The Last Test - Darrow finds Mustang asleep in a room, her food had sedatives in it that have knocked her out. He had found a blossom on the mountain and wants to give it to Mustang, but he thinks of Eo and feels guilty again.

Mustang wakes up and he tells her what they have done. Also reveals that the Jackal's army have gone after Mars but that he is hiding in the mountains with Lilath. He says she can take a force and go after him and she asks if he is sure he can trust her. He says he can and then he kisses her. When they leave he tells her to go and find the Jackal and bring back his standard.

Sevro has found where they send out the footage to the Drafters, which has a delay of 12 hours. Darrow gives him the task of taking out the footage he wants so they see only what he wants them to see. 

They bring Fitchner up to Olympus and Darrow tells him Mustang will take down the Jackal and then they will take down House Mars and then the game is done. Fitchner says it isn't and there is 3 reasons why. But he won't tell Darrow what they are unless he tells him what motivates him.

Fitchner tells him Cassius will insist on duelling him and that they will have to fight until one of them dies. Darrow in turn tells him rage and love fuel him. Fitchner says the second thing is what has happened here - Darrow killed a Proctor and also has knowledge of all the cheating the ArchGovernor did. Then he tells him the final thing, that he sent Mustang and half his forces to take out the Jackal but Mustang is the Jackal's twin sister.

Mustang is actually Virginia au Augustus, his twin and daughter of the ArchGovernor. Cassius didn't know who she was because her father kept his children hidden to avoid assassination attempts. Darrow now wants to go to House Mars as he needs the forces, because he is sure Mustang will be working with the Jackal.

They get to House Mars and see three people tied up on crosses - Vixus, Cassandra and Antonia. Antonia and Vixus are both still alive. He takes the people of House Mars up to Olympus, as they are weak. They then make slaves of all those inside from House Pluto, Jupiter and Apollo. Roque is still alive and so is Quinn and Pollux.

Cassius is waiting for him. Pollux tells Darrow that what Cassius did to him has got to him and that everyone found out what he did. 

Darrow finds Cassius and apologises for Julian. Cassius tells him that he has won, then gets up and sucks blood from a wound on his hand before spitting the blood in Darrow's face. Tells him they have a blood feud and if they ever wind up in the same place again, they will not leave until one of them is dead.

Chapter 44: Rise - They are readying to fight Mustang and the Jackal. Darrow now has an army of 300. He sends Nyla, Milia and a few others in ghostCloaks to go spy on the Jackal. 

Then Nyla and Milia return with Mustang, who says she has brought him a present. It is her brother - Adrius au Augustus, the Jackal. She realises that he thought she would betray him, but she has brought the Jackal tied up. 

Mustang doesn't blame his distrust, but she doesn't view Adrius as her brother. Her older brother was the one she cared for and he was killed by Karnus, one of Cassius's brothers. 

Dropships arrive on Olympus. 

Sevro heard that the last words Darrow said to Apollo included bloodydamn, but he deleted it from the footage they gave to the Drafters. So Sevro may know that Darrow is a Red, or at least suspect.

Over 200 people arrive, including the ArchGovernor and Imperator Bellona and Adriatus. 

Director Clintus seems amused by what they have done on Olympus, and most there seem to like Darrow. They will have a proper celebration back on Agea at some point. Darrow is given a badge and then they are told they will soon be allowed to go home.

The ArchGovernor comes to speak to him, says his wife begged him to help Adrius. Darrow makes it obvious he hid the fact that the ArchGovernor cheated when they edited the footage. ArchGovernor says he will look after Darrow on one condition. Tells him he has many enemies, most from the Bellona family. Tiberius au Bellonas has over 50 nieces and nephews and 9 children of his own, whereas his family is small. His best son was killed by Karnus. 

But if Darrow agrees to become a lancer in the ArchGovernor's household, he will give him whatever he needs. He will get money, power and position if he does that. 

Darrow is sure of the loyalty of his friends but the ArchGovernor warns him they will all go off to different places and join different families and that loyalty will not survive. 

He demands an answer to his proposition, making Darrow have to declare it in front of everyone. And he does. He has to kneel before him and declare that he is forsaking his old family and joining the ArchGovernors (Nero au Augustus). The book ends with Darrow declared Lancer of House Augustus. 

Red Rising Recaps:

Red Rising
Golden Son
Morning Star
Iron Gold
Dark Age
Light Bringer
Red God