#Foldrey (TOWB)

[percontaion-points]

TOWB chapters 61-64

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Chapter 61

“NO,” PERCY WHISPERED. “HE WAS supposed to be here.”

Well, he’s not. So you standing there going “He was supposed to be here!” isn’t fucking useful. And it’s wasting time. 

“Why not run? The Skra are against you, we’re against you. You are alone, Ranka. You have no allies, no friends. Why are you still helping us? Why are you still here?”

I was thinking about how at literally any point, Ranka could have run off to that address Foldrey had given her. Or straight up left the city. 

Except that the more I thought about it, the more I was like “But her watching the events unfolding from afar wouldn’t exactly make for a good story.” So literally the only reason why she didn’t do the only logical action for her character is simply because Ranka acting in character with herself would be a bad story. 

That’s how you know that you’ve got a real winner here. “What would Ranka do? Ranka would have turned tail and run.”

“You think you are—but trust me. This is how it works, with people who wield abuse like a knife and convince us they’re cutting us with love. There will come a moment more dire than the one you faced last night. A moment you can’t come back from, and everything in you, everything you’ve been conditioned for, every fear and hurt and hope and dream, will scream for you to choose Ongrum again.” 

Ranka’s breath hitched. “I’ll choose Aramis this time.” 

“No.” Percy shook his head. “No, that’s not the answer. That’s not how you heal. It’s time for you to be your own person, Ranka. We’re not responsible for the wounds we suffer—but we are responsible for healing them. So when the moment comes, and when that choice is in front of you—I’m begging you to choose yourself. That’s the only way you heal. It’s the only way you can be free.”

I seriously thank the book for this.

Not only for explaining that escaping from an abuser (especially when the abuser is a parental figure) isn’t as easy as simply leaving them. 

But also for saying that it’s not healthy to go from being dependent upon one person to latching onto another person. 

With the princess she’d betrayed wrapped in her arms, Ranka took a breath and stepped into the endless dark.

Chapter 61 summary: Percy starts to flip out over how Galen isn’t there, but doesn’t really do anything to try and actually come up with his next plan of action. It’s only Ranka who has to force him to focus. She pointedly tells him that if Galen actually was taken off and murdered, they have to protect Aramis, no matter what. Aramis is in bad shape, and won’t wake up. 

Somebody starts to come, so Ranka thinks about how there would have been more than one exit. She finds it, and asks Percy to burn through some lock. Rather than to do so, he instead asks Ranka why she’s choosing to not only stay, but to help them. Even after she’d betrayed them. Ranka talks some about love, but Percy is kind of quick to call her out on it. That Ranka’s acting like Aramis is the answer to all of her problems. But Ranka can never truly heal unless she chooses herself, rather than some mommy figure. 

He then finally opens up the door, and they carry Aramis in. 

Chapter 62

Foldrey Wolfe leaned against the frame, a golden pin gleaming on his chest, and gave them a humorless smile. “Hello, children. I suppose we have a lot to discuss.”

Chapter 62 summary: They go into one of the many tunnels under the city. But it’s not long before they’re set upon by some of the plague witches. The new ones that had been turned loose for the sake of terrorising the random citizens in town. However, Ranka is knocked out right as help comes. 

She wakes up in an infirmary with Aramis and Percy. As anybody could have seen coming, Aramis only knows of Ranka’s betrayal, and not how Ranka then turned around and double-crossed her own coven to rescue her. Percy calms her down, and asks how they got out of the tunnels.

Then in a move I didn’t see coming, Foldrey shows up. 

Chapter 63

“Trust me when I say this is not what I wanted. But after I’m done, we’ll have a new world. A just world. We’ll have trade regulations that make sense, an education system that serves everyone, not just the privileged. And finally, we will have peace.” He held her stare. “What are the lives of the few for the future of the many?” 

Once again, why is this supposed to be painted as the worse option? People were literally dying under Galen’s rule, because he couldn’t control his magic. People had become too reliant upon a singular person!

“We all have a common goal,” Ranka said softly. “Stop Ongrum and save Galen. The rest doesn’t matter if he dies.”

Except that there’s also nothing to gain if he lives. Especially considering that Foldrey literally finished telling Aramis that she and her brother will live the rest of their lives in a gilded cage, under guard. 

Ally or not, former friend or not—Foldrey Wolfe would pay for his hand in winalin. Ranka would make certain of it.

Chapter 63 summary: It doesn’t take much for them to realise that if Foldrey is still alive, and was in a position to rescue them, then he’s actually a member of The Hand. From there, Aramis guesses he was the one who kept stealing stuff from her lab, and who told the others how to get in and kill the first recovering plague victim. He agrees to all of it, but admits that there was a division in the ranks. Those who didn’t think the monarchy was worth saving. The only thing Foldrey wanted was to save the two children that he raised along with his own, even if they would be locked up for the rest of their natural lives. 

But Ranka knows something none of the humans knew: Ongrum is insanely persuasive. Of course she would have convinced those who reached out to the witches for “help” and convinced them to kill the wonder twins. 

Ranka tells them that the plan is to execute Galen on the anniversary of the Bloodwin treaty, in two days. Foldrey says that they can get soldiers from the neighbouring cities there by then, but it might not be enough to save Galen. But either way, soldiers would be there, and they would help remove the witches. 

Aramis and Percy start talking about their plan of action, intentionally leaving Ranka out of it. She eventually tells them that since her doomsday clock was activated, she doesn’t exactly plan to survive this. But the only thing she does know is that if she’s going to die, she wants to ensure that Foldrey pays for having brought the witch-plague to fruition. 

Chapter 64

“She betrayed us,” Aramis spat. “She’s a monster—” 

Right, but you were feeding into the system who kept her people oppressed and dying. You literally looked Ranka in the eye and told her “Yes, I know that there’s an anti-witch murder cult in the city. But they’re honestly not that bad once you get to know them!” 

When you talk about monsters, don’t forget to include yourself looking away from shit that you knew was wrong. 

He waved dismissively at her and settled himself on the kitchen table, eyes trained on the door. Reluctantly Ranka turned away, and she made her way into the back room, where Aramis waited.

Chapter 64 summary: Foldrey brings them some food, but basically fucks off and leaves them to their rest. As night falls, they decide that they need to keep watch, especially since Foldrey isn’t likely going to be back for a while. 

While Ranka sits in the front room, she listens in on a conversation between Aramis and Percy. Aramis calls Ranka a monster for having betrayed them. But Percy’s got some actual life experience under his belt; remember, this isn’t the first meltdown of a country that he’s witnessed. He says that there’s no winners here, only hurt people doing shitty things with little other options. 

Eventually, Percy comes out and orders Ranka to go into the other room and get some sleep. Or as I like to call it: she has to go kiss and make up with Aramis. So even if Ranka does die, she’ll do it cradled in Aramis’s arms. 

[percontaion-points]

TOWB chapters 29-32

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Chapter 29

Waves of pain rolled through Ranka’s stomach and pulsed down her temple where the Murknen had struck her. Her mouth filled with blood—she’d bitten her tongue. 

“Please,” Foldrey whispered. The guard was on his knees, his sword gleaming uselessly several feet away. “Please, just let them go. They’re children—” 

The Murknen made a low, guttural noise. Her words emerged strangled, as though speaking required a terrible effort. “So were we.” 

Ranka’s blood-magic rose—and this time she welcomed it.

[Image description: A screenshot of Severus Snape from Harry Potter, as played by Alan Rickman. He is a 40-something white man with long, black hair. It is captioned with “How Convenient”. End description]

“Run,” he whispered. And then he collapsed.

Chapter 29 summary: Ranka comes to in time to see Foldrey losing his fight against both of the plague witches. (Where the hell Percy is, I don’t fucking know.) She lets her blood magic take hold of her, but it doesn’t exactly do it quickly. We waste nearly 2 pages before she straight up murders both witches. But not before Foldrey takes a knife to the belly. 

Chapter 30

If the Hands found them now, they’d be easy prey. Galen and Aramis Sunra would be wiped from this world, and she along with them, with nothing but the cobblestones as witness to what had happened here. 

We’re 30 chapters and 160+ pages in, and this book has yet to tell us why the deaths of Galen, Aramis, and Ranka would be a bad thing. They’ve brought literally nothing but misery to every single person around them. 

“Poison,” she whispered. And then she collapsed at his feet.

Chapter 30 summary: Ranka and Foldrey were badly hurt. Except we apparently don’t give a shit about Foldrey. Ranka’s only focus is on the wonder twins, and getting them to safety before anybody finds them. 

And find them they do. 

In a stroke of what I can only describe as “author interference”, Ranka, Galen, and Aramis manage to not only get away, but to get to the free clinic Aramis works at without anybody else attacking them. (Yeah, if you think about it for more than a millisecond, the entire thing falls apart. So… literally don’t do that.)

Chapter 31

Ranka told Aramis she wasn’t violent because she loved it, but because she was good at it…

Except that she’s not even good at it. There’ve been three fights that mattered in this book: in the morgue, protecting Galen from the sick Yeva, and the fight a few chapters ago. 2/3rds of those fights were failures, where Ranka barely managed to survive. And she sure as fuck didn’t actually protect anybody. 

And for the first time since Ranka had entered Isodal, she didn’t know who to choose.

Chapter 31 summary: Ranka wakes up in the clinic, and watches as the healer takes care of them. She thinks briefly about Foldrey, and knows that if he had survived, the Hands would capture and torture him; he wouldn’t be alive for much longer. It’s literally the only moment of grief that we have seen Ranka having IN 31 FUCKING CHAPTERS. She didn’t care half as much about goddamned Yeva as she did Foldrey. 

Anyway, she randomly starts to info dump on Aramis about her own background. I don’t have any explanation for what’s going on anymore. (If I’m being honest, I’m not sure that the author cares about her own story.)

Chapter 32

And finally, after seven months of drought, the skies opened up over Isodal and poured.

Chapter 32 summary: After a few days, the four of them are released from the infirmary. Ranka tries to ask the other guards about Foldrey, but all they have to say is that they’re “still searching”. 

Ranka finds Galen brooding on a cliff overlooking the sea. She then basically goads him into figuring out how to unlock all of his magical abilities, and not simply blasting strong gusts of wind at everything. It finally starts to rain for the first time in 7 months. 

[percontaion-points]

TOWB chapters 25-28

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Chapter 25

Ranka looked between them, Foldrey’s words ringing through her ears. 

I have loved them, more than I ever had a right to. 

Ongrum said she loved her, but she’d never looked at her like that.

That would require Ongrum to view Ranka as a person. 

With her heart in her mouth, Ranka caught the scent and tried to shake the feeling she was leading them toward death.

Chapter 25 summary: Everybody goes towards where they’d trapped… uh… I guess patient zero? They’d stationed guards around the abandoned house where she was. But to the surprise of literally nobody, not only is she gone, but there’s evidence of a fight that went badly for Foldrey’s soldiers. 

Chapter 26

Ranka’s knees buckled. It couldn’t be Talis. It was just a coincidence, surely. Just another witch. And yet—she’d forgotten Talis.

Again, that would require a level of empathy in Ranka that I’m pretty sure the author doesn’t even know how to pretend to write. 

Aramis punched him in the arm, and together, they descended into the mines.

Chapter 26 summary: Ranka follows the scent of the sick witch into the worst part of the city. There, they find three badly burned witches. For a second, Ranka actually thinks about the 14 year old witch she’d encountered right before finding Yeva. But then the narration is like “Lol fuck that dumbass!” and quickly moves on. 

They get to a fork in the road, and Ranka knows that the witch went down one way. Foldrey begs the twins to go back to the palace, but they refuse. Galen insists that Ranka can protect. 

Chapter 27

The winalin witches raised their knives—and lunged.

Chapter 27 summary: They go into the tunnels under the city, where they find the dead bodies of the guards. Foldrey is upset, and hopes to find the sick witch who did this. 

They wander for nearly 2 pages before eventually stumbling across the witch. Except that now she has a young friend, who is also sick! The witches start to attack our heroes. 

Chapter 28

And her own, hard and determined, filling her mind, her veins, her world. I am not done.

Chapter 28 summary: They fight, but Ranka is so pathetic that she’s bested in about a page. She then has a random-ass flashback that has nothing to do with anything. Thank u, next. 

[percontaion-points]

TOWB chapters 21-24

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Chapter 21

The signs of drought were everywhere. Flowers wilted in their windows, the sprigs of basil that shared their plots shriveled to a fragile crisp.

Hey, you want to know how to resolve this drought? Literally do not rely on a singular person to provide 100% of your weather!

She couldn’t read all of it, but the general gist was that the treaty had invited demons into the city, the Star Isles were killing their country from the inside, the drought was a punishment from Solomei for not purging the unclean witches from their land, and the only way to reclaim their country was to join the Hands and fight back. Galen was hardly even mentioned. The leaflet made it seem like everything was her fault.

At this point, I can’t even sympathise with these people because they let their literal weather be controlled by a single person. 

As I said, the best way to have avoided this was to literally not have done it in the first place. 

Aramis rolled her eyes to the ceiling in a silent prayer. “There are spare robes in the back. Go get dressed.”

Chapter 21 summary: For several days, Ranka sits on the address that Foldrey had given her. Eventually, she decides that she could at least go check it out. However, as she’s leaving the palace, she also sees Aramis sneaking out as well. So she decides to follow the girl.

On her way through the city, she sees signs of Galen’s magical neglect. I said what I said about that. She also sees a poster from that cult that puts 100% of the blame on Ranka, despite the fact that these people kept their shitty system in place, even knowing that they could end up being destroyed if literally a single person died. Ranka decides that she doesn’t care, and continues on. 

She follows Aramis to a building. Inside, instead of literally anything she’d been imagining, Aramis is acting as a nurse to a couple of healers. A mother cries out that her son needs help now, and Ranka steps up, offering her training in basic first aid. 

Chapter 22

“If I were here as Aramis Sunra, these walls would be packed with nobles preening for attention. The people who need care wouldn’t be able to make it through the door—and even if they did, no one would get treated. No one would say what they actually needed.” She squinted. “Galen can’t leave the palace. But when I’m here, I can be his eyes and ears and heart.” 

Ranka’s hands slowed. It had to be a lie, right? Just another clever tactic of a calculating princess? Another deception from an enemy?

I don’t know how to explain to you that you should care about other people.

And I also don’t know how to explain to you that members of the royal family need to make sure that ALL of their citizens are well cared-for; not simply the richest of the city. 

“I know it doesn’t mean much,” Aramis said softly. “But Ranka—I am sorry.” 

Ranka’s eyes blurred. “Thank you.” Aramis nodded. 

She didn’t push the subject further. This grief was Ranka’s alone, and the princess knew better than to wade into it. 

This is literally the first time since it happened that the narration has acknowledged that Ranka is hurting. 

Because Yeva was literally nothing more than a shitty plot device to get the protagonist where she needed to be. She barely had any page time!

Did she want it to? She didn’t know that, either.

Chapter 22 summary: They all work in the clinic for some time. Finally, when the masses of sick and injured poor dies off, Ranka and Aramis have a second to talk. Ranka doesn’t understand why Aramis comes here, but I’ve said what I’ve said about that. 

Ranka talks some about her own history, before she became a blood-witch. There was a village not too far away. Back then, things were a lot better, and the humans and witches would work alongside one another, because it was beneficial to both parties. But then Ranka changed and she slaughtered that entire village. Aramis’s and Galen’s father tightened security, and people grew more afraid of witches than ever before. Ranka is only upset that her ability to trade with the human village was cut off, rather than the grief that she’d murdered hundreds of people and started what’s basically a cold war. 

Aramis says that she thinks sometimes about the first bloodwin, the one who married right away because of the treaty. Aramis says that that woman was in a relationship with somebody else, and thinks about how much pain that she would have been in to leave her lover behind to marry a king she didn’t know, let alone love. She encourages Ranka to seek out a lover of her own, so long as she’s discreet about it. 

She continues on and says that she wishes that her mother had been able to help the witch who destroyed that village. There’s this undercurrent of unspoken agreement from both of them that Aramis knows that it was Ranka who destroyed the village. 

Chapter 23

And across the crowd, dressed in commoner’s clothes, was Foldrey Wolfe.

Chapter 23 summary: Ranka dreams of simpler times, when she was with Yeva. She wakes up to the strong scent of smoke. She goes down to the stables, where she finds Percy, who reluctantly allows her to come with him.

As they go, he tells her some about the Star Isles. But then admits that the city there is no more; their queen destroyed everything. Too many people followed her, even knowing that it was probably not the best move. But desperate people do stupid things, and all that.

Finally, they get to the area where the smoke is, and find a young girl literally being burned at the stake. 

Chapter 24

“The Hands of Solomei reject the Bloodwinn treaty.” The man’s face was red, flushed with rage or excitement, Ranka wasn’t sure. He ripped the pin from his shirt and held it aloft. The humans who had just donned them touched their own as if bespelled, their faces alight. “We will purge the sickness from this land. We reject the demons so the Goddess might bring the rains again. If the prince will not protect us from terror, we will protect ourselves.”

Is it bad that I’m more on the side of this creepy murder cult than the actual protagonists of this story? Our so-called heroes are literally doing nothing. Yes, murder is extreme, but holy fucking shit, at least somebody’s doing SOMETHING. 

“Come on,” Ranka said, her voice low. “We have a witch to catch.”

Chapter 24 summary: Foldrey is standing and watching the entire thing, so Ranka goes to him. He says that they have to go and save the girl before she’s murdered. 

All of the people standing around suddenly put on the golden cult pins. They start screaming for the murder of the royal family, who has led them into a drought, who stand by in shielded comfort while average citizens suffer and are murdered by plague witches. 

In an act of amazing timing, the wonder twins show up. However, they all stand around too long, and the cultists light the fire. None of them can do a single thing except to sit back and watch as the young woman is murdered. Ranka takes sympathy on her, and throws a knife into her chest, which kills her instantly. 

[percontaion-points]

TOWB chapters 17-20

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Chapter 17

Yeva had protected her. Fed her, healed her, guided her when no one else had. Yeva had been a force of light and love and warmth when Ranka had thought she deserved none of it. Ranka had given up everything to save her and bring her home. And Ranka had failed. 

This is probably the first actual consequence that Ranka has ever had to face. Even after she slaughtered that village, she was mollycoddled. She doesn’t know how to use her fucking powers, as evident in this fight with Yeva. 

The only thing she knows is brute force, and not how to hold back on her punches. As powerful as she claims to be, she’s fucking useless!

“Hi, Foldrey,” Galen said weakly. “Thanks for coming.” 

Foldrey scowled. “You two are in so much trouble.”

Chapter 17 summary: Ranka continues to fight Yeva. But she’s so goddamned bad at fighting without killing, which makes her so worthless when it really matters. Galen is forced to use wind simply to defend himself. 

Halfway through the fight, Ranka has an intense PTSD flashback to the night when she slaughtered that village. She sees her sister, but instead of her sister, it’s Yeva. 

In the end, the guards come and kill Yeva. Which was something Ranka couldn’t do either. Not when it really mattered. Foldrey expresses how much trouble that they’re in. Despite the fact that Galen is about to become the king. 

Chapter 18

“You just can’t mind your own business, can you?” Gone was Percy Stone’s arrogant smile.

They forced Ranka into the situation, and decided to make it Ranka’s business. 

“Do you know your history, Bloodwinn? Do you know that before Witchik and Isodal fought each other, they came to our shores with warships and mage- fire?” He gripped the edge of the table until his knuckles went white. “Did you know your people nearly wiped mine from existence?” 

“That was hundreds of years ago.” 

“My people have a long memory.”

It’s easy for the one doing the hurt to say that it was a long time ago, and it doesn’t matter. For them, it was Tuesday. 

For the people who were enslaved and slaughtered… it was a core memory. 

“Test strands,” Percy said softly. “When I fled, a winalin-sickened witch could only survive for a few days, and it wasn’t infectious. But eventually the strain has to mutate. Eventually—” 

“The new blood-witches will live.” The room swam. 

“And if they don’t? Then our work is done for us.” His mouth twisted. “Either way, it removes the threat. We get our blood-witches, or you go extinct.”

I get what he’s saying here. But the problem is that the witch-illness has already mutated. 

Much like actual diseases, there are going to be people out there who have a natural immunity. They’re going to survive, and go on to breed children who are resistant to this new disease. 

Yes, this witch disease is going to be in the world now. But it’s going to keep mutating and getting weaker and weaker until it’s no worse than your average cold. 

It’ll weaken the witches right now. But enough of them will survive. And it’ll make them that much stronger in the long run. 

/actually paid attention in fucking biology class. The point of a virus is to breed. If it kills everything in sight, it’ll also die. 

“Why should I trust you?” 

Percy inclined his head to the side. “What other choice do you have?”

Look, all I’m saying is that murder never really went off the table as an option. 

“We should do it,” Galen said, his voice soft. 

Aramis whipped her head around. “What?” 

He straightened, making a point to lock eyes with Percy, Foldrey, and Aramis individually. “Ranka’s not the only one you’ve been lying to.”

Y’all fucked up in lying to Galen about the entire thing. In acting like he was some simpering fool who was too stupid to understand. 

“No,” Ranka lied, meeting their eyes one by one. “I’m with you, until the very end.”

Chapter 18 summary: The guards blindfold Ranka and take her back to the palace. Why the blindfold is beyond me, but whatever. Percy pulls it off, and tells her that she fucked up, big time. 

He then goes on to tell her that the citizens of Star Isles created the witch virus, because they were once almost annihilated by the witches. I said what I said about all that. But every single witch will be coming for the coronation in a few weeks; since the disease is running rampant in the city, they’ll all get infected. Again, I said what I said about that. 

Aramis and Galen show up. Ranka tells them that since the disease is meant to mimic blood-witches and the curse that ends up killing the blood-witches faster, they can find a cure by studying her, aka the only actual blood witch. Galen is hella pissed that Percy and Aramis have been keeping shit from him about his own city, and decides that he’d rather side with Ranka than the others. Aramis threatens Ranka into being obedient from here on out, and Ranka lies through her teeth to appease her. 

Chapter 19

It’s war, she reminded herself. They’d do the same to me. It’s not personal. So why was it starting to feel that way?

Chapter 19 summary: Some time passes, although literally nothing has happened. Even the book seems bored with itself, especially in this pointless filler chapter. 

Oh sure, Percy and Aramis are still “researching”, but this is a vague and nebulous catch-all that can mean literally anything. 

Percy explains for the benefit of the readers that most blood-witches are perfectly normal up until they hit puberty, when the body is already changing a lot, and end up going practically feral. Whatever is in their genes then kills them, like the slowest plague ever. 

Then there’s this weird almost-flirting scene where Aramis draws Ranka’s blood, but in like… a sexy lesbian way. I’ve got nothing. 

Chapter 20

“I went north once a few years ago,” Foldrey said slowly. “But everything had changed. That land, those people—the Bloodwinn treaty isn’t just a concept to them. It’s a promise, one we didn’t keep. I’m sure you feel the same.”

Look. We’re now about 1/4th of the way through the story, 100 pages, and 20 chapters in. The author has yet to make me give a shit about Ranka, or even why I should care about the witches and this plague. 

I really don’t give a shit about this random background character who only shows up from time to time. 

“I’m not a child,” Ranka said. “I’m a warrior.”

You are a whiny little brat who playacts at being a warrior because some shitfuck abuser groomed you into thinking that you were her weapon. 

Finally, she turned to look at him—but he stared past her, lost in some memory only he could see. Ranka left his office in a hurry, the echo of flies buzzing in her ears long after she had left.

Chapter 20 summary: One day, Ranka is called into Foldrey’s office. He talks some about the little mountain village where he grew up. And then he talks about how he followed the previous king into battle. About his PTSD, and how he can still hear the flies swarming the dead bodies a good 20 years later. Ranka knows some of what he’s talking about. But the difference is as I’ve stated: Ranka is a child who playacts at being a weapon. Foldrey is a man who has seen way more shit than Ranka can even imagine. Yes, Ranka is entitled to her trauma, but she compares it to his, and it’s kind of shitty. 

He goes on to basically humanise the previous king and his wife, the old bloodwin. About how stories either vilify them or worship them. But at the end of the day, they were people. They loved their kids, and each other, and tried to do what they thought was best for both. 

Foldrey continues on and says that Galen and Aramis are like his children. He knows Galen is weak, and that Aramis can never rule so long as Galen lives. They need each other. But it’s hard to protect your adoptive children when there’s a literal plague running around.

He tells Ranka that there’s an address, a fake passport, and clothes waiting for her in her room. He’s literally sending her away. She knows that she can go home, tell her people about the plague. They won’t like leaving, but it’ll be better than everybody dying from this. 

[percontaion-points]

TOWB chapters 13-16

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Chapter 13

“I hate you because you are a miserable, lonely, selfish girl, and because you’re a liar. I hate you because I believe if you get whatever it is you truly came here for, I’ll lose everything I love. But my country needs the treaty, so I tolerate you. And my mother was the Bloodwinn, so I help you—loathsome as you are.”

The problem is that she isn’t wrong. Ranka is a whiny brat who has never once had to face any sort of actual consequence for her action. 

Even when she literally murdered an entire village, all of the other witches were like “Well, sucks to be you!”

And it’s especially true about Aramis losing everything she loves! Ranka literally went there with the intention of killing Galen, with the hopes that it would destabilise the government long enough for the witches to gain some independence again. 

I’m pretty sure that this was written with the intent for the readers to sympathise with Ranka. But she’s such a shitty person, that I’m laughing so hard when Aramis calls her out. 

Who was this spoiled, privileged girl, who’d grown up behind gilded walls, to lecture her? Who was Aramis to judge Ranka, when her very existence was only possible because of everything Witchik had lost?

I get where Ranka is coming from here. But again, Ranka is such a self-absorbed brat that she didn’t give a shit about if the other witches in her coven suffered and died because of her inaction. Only when her friend went missing did Ranka decide to act. 

Aramis didn’t want to involve her? Fine. Ranka would simply force her hand

Chapter 13 summary: After that, Ranka is sent to tutors in the morning, and trains with Percy in the evening. The first several pages of this chapter are nothing but them fighting; it’s fucking tedious in a book that has done nothing in 12 chapters and 80 pages to make me care about any of this. 

As they wind down for the day, Galen shows up. But mainly because he’s bored. This guy is supposed to be the king, but he’s still acting like he can barely tie his own shoelaces. Ranka rudely implies that he’s an incompetent storm-witch, and he storms off. After he leaves, Ranka realises that the others want the Ranka/Galen marriage as much as Ranka does. And then Aramis spells it out for Ranka in no uncertain terms. 

Ranka tries to get Aramis to tell her about those sick witches, but Aramis shuts her down. Ranka says that this is the only thing that she cares about, and that it’s her problem, too. Aramis explains that those cult members played a huge role in helping to protect humans during the witch/human wars 200 years earlier. And that a lot of humans still view the group in the same way, despite how much society has shifted. 

Aramis then calls Ranka out on her shit. That the hate she has for the girl isn’t because she’s a witch, but because she’s an obnoxious brat. Ranka takes it the wrong way and decides that she has to force Aramis to tell her where Yeva is. 

Chapter 14

“Come on,” Ranka murmured. “We’ll need to be quick.” It was time they both met this city for real.

Chapter 14 summary: The next morning. Ranka goes to Galen’s room. However, she finds the servants getting him ready for the quarterly parade. He scoffs over Ranka not knowing about it, and figures that since Aramis usually gets out of them, obviously she wouldn’t have told Ranka about it either. Ranka demands to go, and Galen says that she can ride in the carriage with him.

On the parade route, Ranka apologises for what she said about his magic yesterday. He says that he knows that he’s shit at it, and that she won’t be the first naysayer. Ranka thinks about what it must be like to have come from such a long line of powerful storm witches, but you yourself are so bad at it. 

As they continue along, a guard comes over to Foldrey, who is walking ahead of their carriage. Ranka thinks that there’s blood on the man’s uniform, but Foldrey is quick to dismiss the guard. 

They talk about how neither of them want to marry each other. But Galen proposes that they should be friends instead. 

Then more guards show up, and the carriage starts to speed up. Ranka asks how often Galen gets out of the palace. He says only quarterly, and only along these parade routes. Ranka says she thinks that there’s something wrong with the city; something that Foldrey doesn’t want the royal family to find out about. 

They turn the corner, and encounter…??? A giant pile of trash blocking the road? This is apparently cause for panic, and people start screaming and trying to flee. Among the panic, Ranka drags Galen from the carriage, and they escape the parade route and into the rest of the city. 

Chapter 15

Galen licked his lips. “It just says: ‘Now we burn.’” 

Ranka turned before he could see the panic on her face. Her arrival had done this. Surely, they won’t actually burn witches, right? Not here, with a Bloodwinn poised to rule. It had to be an empty threat. 

Except they already tried to kill Aramis. And they tried to kill you, too. 

The princess’s voice floated through her mind. 

They are still protectors, in the eyes of many.

Aramis: We can’t kick them to the curb! A lot of people still like them!

Creepy murder cult: *is a creepy murder cult intent on murder*

Aramis and Ranka: *surprised Pikachu face*

Bell’s Corridor was painted in death. 

Corpses lay in the street, their throats ripped open, their panicked stares wide and unseeing. Shattered windows gaped like broken teeth. Doors hung open on their hinges—the occupants had left in a hurry. Fresh blood streaked the fronts of buildings, swept across cobblestones where bodies had been thrown and dragged. Overhead, a lone cloud passed over the sun. 

Galen’s eyes had a glassy, unfocused look to them. Gone was the prince, replaced by a child not yet eighteen, seeing the horror of his kingdom for the first time. He braced a hand against one of the buildings and immediately cringed away. Flecks of still-drying blood clung to his fingertips. “What happened here?” 

“I don’t know.” Ranka scanned the street. A few of the homes had golden pins pressed into the doors, as if the mark of the Hands was a mark of pride. 

We got Judaism at home!

The Judaism at home…

Something about this wasn’t right. Where were the city guards? Why wasn’t Seaswept on lockdown? These bodies were fresh—whoever had killed them was still loose.

Wow, it’s almost like the guards are in on it or something. How weird is that?

A guttural scream sounded, followed by howling wind and the stench of rot. Oh no. Galen

Chapter 15 summary: The city not on the parade route is full of misery, abandoned houses, and drunkards. Galen finds a poster that’s basically all like “Burn all the witches!” from that creepy cult that keeps popping up everywhere. 

They keep going, and they find the scene of a literal massacre. Ranka hears a noise and decides to go inside, leaving Galen outside to fend for himself.

There, she finds a girl around 14 years old, who looks like the witch plague is only starting to affect her. She says that she didn’t barricade herself in to protect the others, but to keep something out… And that something is now attacking!

Chapter 16

Tears rolled down Ranka’s cheeks. “What happened to you?” Yeva gurgled—and hurtled forward.

Chapter 16 summary: Ranka tells the girl to go and tell the guards that she’s under Ranka’s protection. She then goes in search of Galen. 

She finds him without difficulty, but the plague witch is right behind Ranka now. She spins around, only to find Yeva… Who is overcome with the plague. Ranka doesn’t understand how this happened, especially so fast.

[percontaion-points]

TOWB chapters 5-8

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Chapter 5

One guard flinched when she looked at him, and drew a prayer circle on his chest, whispering about the curses of witch-women. 

“Can I copy your homework?”

“Sure, but change some of the answers so that it doesn’t look like you did.”

Ranka turned—and met the eyes of the prince she’d come here to kill.

Chapter 5 summary: At the palace, she meets the captain of the guard, a man who introduces himself as Foldrey. She thinks that if anybody can help her find Yeva, this guy can. She says that since she’s here, that they can release the other witch that they kidnapped. But Foldrey acts like he doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Ranka isn’t sure if he’s playing dumb or not, but doesn’t know who else would have taken Yeva. 

They take her across the palace, and for some reason, this takes two fucking pages. They finally go into a dining hall, and Ranka starts to reach for some food. However, somebody stops her, and she mistakes him for Prince Galen. The other guy laughs and then realises that she legit doesn’t know who she is. Ranka is instantly on edge when she realises that this man is a male witch. 

Chapter 6

Pastries and pale-pink wedges of cake were whisked forward. Ranka reached for the nearest and someone made a disapproving tsk to her right. Two silver forks gleamed in front of her, one slightly smaller than the other, their handles carved into the shape of a bird in flight. She hesitated, hand hovering over the forks. They looked the same. Why would anyone in their right mind have rules about forks that looked the same? 

I don’t know why she gives a shit. She’s literally there to murder Galen. 

Ranka knew, because on the way here she’d passed right through Kerth territory, hoping they’d know something about the rotting witch in the woods. Instead she’d found cold firepits, unlocked cabins, and dishes of maggot-infested venison still set out on tables, as though they had vanished midbite. There were no bodies, no bloodshed. They were just gone. 

But why? And how could the palace not know?

This entire time, Ranka has not shut up about how the humans have been literally starving Witchik out of their home. And she’s somehow surprised and baffled that another coven would have packed up and moved on to greener pastures?

She would start, then, with the ones who did seem to have a keen eye fixed on the happenings within the palace walls—the noble boy and the princess. And she would start with winalin.

Chapter 6 summary: Galen and his twin sister, Aramis, come into the room, and we spend nearly a full page describing them. According to the reviews, the only thing of value anybody needs to take away from this is that their skin is “dark”. Aramis was raised from the time she was born to not only become the next queen, but also to be a powerful witch. But the magic never manifested in her, and her parents eventually gave the crown to Galen. Their parents died under mysterious circumstances last year, and Ranka suspects an angry Aramis poisoned them. 

Ranka tries to talk about the weather; she’s from the mountains, where the snow never really goes away, so she’s dressed in a coat and boots. It’s a lot warmer down here, and people are wearing sandals. 

They sit down to eat, where Ranka tries again to make conversation. It’s not going well. Eventually Aramis asks why it is that Ranka took so long to get here, and then scoffs at her answer of “I needed time to adjust to the idea of my new feature.” 

Aramis then starts leading the conversation, and mentions one of the other covens that’s closer to the city. Ranka had passed that way in the hopes of asking them about the weird witch she’d encountered, but found their home abandoned. Literally nobody can put together why they would have left, even though the answer should be quite obvious. 

Eventually, Aramis and the male witch leave, and Ranka is alone with Galen. She realises that Galen might be counting down the days to his coronation, but he’s not actually in charge here. Killing him would be beneficial towards the people, but wouldn’t solve the problems of the witches. 

Chapter 7

And when that happened, there wouldn’t be enough blood-magic in the world to stop him.

Chapter 7 summary: They leave Ranka alone after that. She wanders the palace in search of Yeva, but fails to find her. She’s forced to admit that maybe the guard was telling the truth; there aren’t any other witches there. 

She also hates how her entire role has been fulfilled simply by her showing up. Nobody gives a shit about her. But that leaves her free to explore the palace grounds without anybody stopping her. The only place she can’t go is into the dungeons, which are guarded night and day. 

She’s exploring the stables when Aramis, Galen, and the mysterious male witch show up. He’s finally introduced as Percy, and he’s an ambassador from the Star Isles. This surprises Ranka a lot, since the Star Isles were involved in a war a while ago, and kind of “disappeared off the face of the earth”. At least politically. The fact that there’s representation here, that he’s chummy with the to-be-king, and the fact that they would have sent this glorified soldier is baffling to Ranka. 

Anyway, they came to the stables to work on Galen’s storm magic. Ranka hides and watches. After they leave, she realises that when Galen finally matures and learns to control his magic, he’s going to be a powerful weapon. One that not even she can stop. 

Chapter 8

Ranka opened the hatch and leapt into the dark.

Chapter 8 summary: Some more days pass without event. Ranka is finally awoken by the start of her period. It also coincides with her blood witch hunger; she needs to feed, and it needs to be now. 

She remembers Aramis, Galen, and Percy mentioning tunnels in the stables, so she goes out there in search of them. If she can get out of the palace, she can subsist on rats or literally anything. But she can’t find them.

Then Aramis and Percy show up. They talk about keeping something from Galen. With her blood magic, Ranka can sense anxiety and guilt coming from both of them. Foldrey shows up, and mentions that the witch is dead, and the morgue has been alerted for the next two hours. Aramis and Percy leave via the tunnel Ranka had been searching for, but Foldrey remains for a moment longer.

It’s only after he leaves that Ranka decides that she can’t sit by knowing that Aramis and Percy are going to go look at a dead witch. She hops into the tunnel to follow them. 

[percontaion-points]

TOWB chapters 65-68

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Chapter 65

Now Aramis was crying, and Ranka was crying too. How badly Ranka wanted to hold her then. How much it stung to know she couldn’t. They remained like that for a long time—wiping furiously at their eyes, Aramis telling Ranka over and over again how angry she was, and Ranka only saying I know, because she did, truly, and she loved Aramis too much to do anything but take every ounce of anger she’d earned. 

I feel like this scene would have been better suited to literally any book. 

Mainly because, as I keep saying, the author has yet to make us care about Ranka and Aramis. I don’t think for a goddamned second that they actually love one another. Especially not Ranka. 

Besides the fact that I saw this sort of emotional bonding scene happening at the end of the last chapter. 

“Maybe we will, Princess,” Ranka whispered. “Maybe we will.”

Chapter 65 summary: Ranka goes into the room and goes the furthest away from where Aramis is in her bed. Aramis gets kind of angry, but then frustrated over Ranka’s behaviour right now. 

After a moment, Aramis has a break-down because of Foldrey’s betrayal. She explains through her tears about how despite how much her parents loved her and Galen, they still had to put the country first. That Foldrey stepped up in a way that her biological parents couldn’t.

Ranka talks some about loving somebody who turned out to be a piece of shit, and hurting no matter what you do. She talks about how she was found and turned into something that she never wanted to be. The two girls have their break-down bonding moment, even if it’s not the literal kiss and make up scene that I anticipated. 

Ranka finally tells Aramis her surname, the one she was born with. She says that Ranka Volst died along with her sister, but maybe it’s for the best. Because that’s not who she is anymore. 

Chapter 66

“The witches have changed their mind,” he said. “Galen dies at sunset.”

I can’t even be angry over this because I’m honestly super fucking tired of this stupid book. END ALREADY. 

“A few loyal men won’t be enough—but a whole coven might. Ongrum never won the favor of all the witches, correct? Her grip on power is tenuous at best. That was why she needed me.”

At this point, I’d say that the witches are probably not on Ongrum’s side. Especially since most of them have probably heard by now that they’re literally throwing the plague at everybody, and… What’s that? Still a 100% death rate? 

Would anybody willingly side with that?

“All right,” Aramis said quietly, her eyes burning. “Now how do we get my brother back?”

Chapter 66 summary: The chapter opens up with an entire goddamned page of Ranka and Aramis waking up after accidentally cuddling during the night. And OMG u gais, soooo embarrassing!!! Why we needed a full page of this is beyond me.

This moment is interrupted by Percy and Foldrey showing up to say that the witches have decided to kill Galen tonight. Foldrey says that he sent out messengers who should each be getting to those other cities right about now. But even if they decided to act and march their armies, literally none of them would get to Seaswept in time to save Galen. 

Ranka says that if they can’t rely on outside help, then they need to gather their own forces. Foldrey says that half of the Hand deflected to “kill them with kindness” plan Ongrum accidentally offered them. Then about half of those who were left were slaughtered during the attack last night. And half of those who survived, he guesses are probably locked up in the dungeon right now. 

Ranka then says that the witch leader she talked to last night was not on team “Infect the witches with the plague to make us immune”. If she can talk to her again, then she and another coven might back the rest of Foldrey’s men. That would only leave two covens defending Galen and the palace, which they think they can take. 

Chapter 67

Ranka climbed the stairs, and she did not look back.

Chapter 67 summary: We waste two fucking pages with them getting into position. TWO PAGES. NONE OF ANY OF THIS WAS FUCKING NECESSARY TO THE ADVACEMENT OF THE PLOT. 

When they get to the palace, Aramis and Ranka pause. Aramis points out that Ranka still doesn’t have her magic, and they both know that Ranka is going to die, no matter what happens. But she still makes Ranka promise her that she won’t die. Aramis then kisses her, because I don’t think that the author could help herself at this point. 

Chapter 68

Ranka turned the blade over in her hand and stepped forward to battle the woman who had raised her.

Chapter 68 summary: Ranka walks up to where the witches are about to murder Galen. She kind of stands before all of the witches for a second and nobody says or does anything about Ranka’s sudden appearance. 

She then challenges Ongrum to a battle to determine who will lead the coven. 

Ongrum is like “You know that this is a battle to the death, right?” Ranka knows more than anybody what’s on the line here. 

[percontaion-points]

TOWB chapters 37-40

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Chapter 37

It took four Hands to pin her down, and still she fought back, screaming around her gag as they bound her. Black ink stamped her limbs, depicting whirling krakens and three-finned sea dragons. She was Oori, a seafaring coven that spent their lives navigating between the temperate Broken Sea and the harsher waters of the Trija Ocean cradling Witchik’s eastern shores.

This would probably be interesting if the plot actually fucking cared about the different covens.

It was like the author spent a lot of time creating these different covens, but ended up going in a different direction. But by god, she was going to shove it all in anyway!

Ranka lifted her head. “Tell me what I have to do.”

Chapter 37 summary: They watch as the council brings out two witches. They’ve got a second strain of the virus, which is supposed to be slower. The two of them watch with horror as they infect the first witch, and the council discusses the long-term strategy here.

Finally, Aramis puts a hand on Ranka’s and tells her to calm down; that attacking right now would solve nothing. She reminds Ranka that she’s not simply protecting her coven sisters anymore, but all witches. Ranka says “You don’t understand”, but Aramis is quick to call her out on her shit. Nobody understands the burden of power and responsibility better than the goddamned PRINCESS. 

Chapter 38

Ranka kicked through the window. The glass shattered, and she swung them out into the cool air of Seaswept, leaving the Hands of Solomei behind to burn.

Chapter 38 summary: Before the council can infect the second witch, Ranka chucks a torch into the galley below. In the confusion, Aramis stands and shoots at the person holding the witch, which allows her to escape. Ranka then takes Aramis’s hands and they jump out a window. 

Chapter 39

“All of this is too much. I convinced myself the Hands weren’t a threat.”

They were only murdering a little bit of people, rather than a lot! 

Aramis fell silent, and the weight of what she’d said settled between them. Ranka didn’t know if she was terrified, furious, or both. Aramis had known this the entire time and kept it from her. Had strung Ranka’s hopes along, let her believe her power might be managed someday, while the memory of a girl ripped in half for attempting the same haunted her. 

In case Ranka forgot, but the entire purpose of Aramis studying Ranka is to fucking find a cure for this death-sentence!

“She’s not in the city.” He gulped. “I, um, caught her. She’s here.”

Chapter 39 summary: They spend some time searching for the newly-infected witch who escaped at the end of the previous chapter, but are unable to. After they give up, Ranka tells Aramis that Foldrey knew. He wanted her to go, not because she was a shitty person, but because if the bloodwin wasn’t around, the other witches wouldn’t come into the city. There would be no reason to do so. But now, there are reports of the covens getting closer and closer; it’s too late for Ranka to abandon her post now. 

Aramis then tells Ranka some critical detail about other blood witches. About how most of them don’t remember how they came into power, only that it revolves around some sort of extreme violence and death. We actually don’t know the specifics of what happened to Ranka in that village, BTW. Only that something happened. 

Aramis tells Ranka of another bloodwitch who came to the palace seeking her mother’s help. That the girl tried to work through the mental block her mind had put up to shield her from whatever trauma caused her to turn into a bloodwitch. But doing so literally killed her, made the magic literally erupt from her veins. But not in a quick way; it was so slow that eventually, Aramis’s father shot the girl to put her out of her misery. 

Ranka is really upset over this, regardless of the fact that Aramis has been trying THIS ENTIRE TIME to find a cure for the entire thing. 

They go back to the palace, and Percy comes over to them. Says that the sick witch turned up at their doorstep. 

Chapter 40

As the morning sun rose, a new feeling swept through Ranka, so unfamiliar it stung. It was a thing she hadn’t felt properly in five years. It was hope.

Chapter 40 summary: Aramis works hard to save the witch from her plague death, but she still dies anyway. Aramis then has a break-down, but it’s not simply about the now-dead witch. It’s about how shitty that the world is; how they groomed her to take over as queen, yet took away her crown the second it was obvious she wasn’t actually a witch. About how out of every named character, she’s the only one without powers. 

Then the leeches that they’d put on the now-dead witch start to fall off. This gives Aramis an idea and she randomly brings the witch back to life. I followed literally none of it; it’s some of that vague hand waving and the next thing anybody knows, A RABBIT IS PULLED OUT FROM A HAT. 

However, the woman isn’t doing well; Aramis likens the condition to having been paused, rather than the woman being dead-dead. She’s still really sick, so Aramis asks Ranka if she’ll give some blood to the woman. Ranka agrees. 

[percontaion-points]

TOWB chapters 33-36

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Chapter 33

“I never wanted this,” Galen whispered. He flexed his fingers again. A breeze slipped around them, playful and light, summoned by only a twist of Galen’s hands. “I still don’t want it—why can’t they see that? Why can’t anyone?” 

So here’s a legitimate question that’s been present this entire time yet not one single person has bothered to address:

In the start of the book, Ranka explains to the reader that witches are thought by humans to be bad and evil things that must be exterminated. This entire idea has been reinforced by encroaching on their lands and starving them out, in Percy explaining about how his people made the witch plague to kill all of the witches, and Aramis explaining that the Hand is an organisation founded on the principle of exterminating the witches. 

Yet at the same time, the humans themselves literally created a witch-based enviromental system so damaging to the entire world’s ecosystem that the death of literally one witch practically murdered an entire fucking city. 

Why is Ranka viewed as being “savage” and “other” yet Galen is literally celebrated for doing the most basic of tasks?

All this time she’d been torn—the twins or the Skra, Isodal or Witchik. But what if she didn’t have to choose? What if she could have both? The entire coup was predicated on the idea that Galen Sunra was a cruel, selfish prince who sought to punish Witchik. But Foldrey had been right—Galen had a rare heart, a gentle heart, one that promised a future she’d never dared dream of. What if there was another way?

In case you hadn’t been paying attention, the plot of this book is literally about systematic bigotry. (One might even call it racism if you squint.) 

Getting the literal king over to her side is great. But it’s not going to do fucking shit about the goddamned murder-cult whose sole purpose in existing is to MURDER WITCHES. 

And the fact that the girl who is literally being oppressed by this murder-cult doesn’t fucking understand this is so goddamned frustrating. 

A wave of dread dampened her ease. Because in five days, if Ranka couldn’t convince Ongrum that the right course of action was mercy, not murder, Galen Sunra would cease to breathe at all.

Chapter 33 summary: They stand in the rain and Galen mopes about Foldrey. He then switches gears and complains about how shitty his lot in life is. As if he’s not standing next to a girl whose entire existence has been legally declared a curse and a plague and that she should be extermined at all and any cost. 

And I get the fact that he didn’t ask for his powers, and Aramis was groomed to take over when their parents died. But at the same time… Suck it up, buttercup. This is happening, and a lot of people are depending on you. 

Ranka thinks about how good and nice that Galen is, and decides that she can’t kill him because he’s an ally. That things are way more complex than “us vs them”. But she doesn’t know how to express this. Only that she must find a way, and do it fast, before Ongrum shows up and murders Galen. 

Also, Galen is gay, and Ranka thinks that he and Percy should be a thing. Galen also says that Aramis is gay, too. 

Chapter 34

“Princess. You saw what those witches are like—five of us were barely enough against two. You need someone to protect y—”

It’s fucking adorable how Ranka thinks that she can protect Aramis. She failed to win two fights against those things. And she literally repeated that there were five against two, AND RANKA STILL LOST. 

Aramis trained her attention ahead, her earlier mirth hardening into grim resolve. “Percy found the base of the Hands of Solomei.”

Chapter 34 summary: Ranka waits for Aramis in the stables. When the other girl shows up, she refuses to let Ranka go with her. When reminded about the fight that they’d barely escaped with their lives, Aramis produces a sort of crossbow-like contraption that releases tranquiliser darts. 

However, Ranka is adamant that Aramis not leave unattended. She literally picks Aramis up and threatens to take her to her brother if Aramis doesn’t cooperate. Aramis eventually relents, and the two of them set off. Aramis explains that Percy found the HQ of those murder-cult people. 

Chapter 35

Aramis smiled. “Nope.” They linked arms and stepped inside.

Chapter 35 summary: Since the last they were in the city, the entire place has turned into an extreme, anti-royalty haven. Instead of simply fliers talking about how evil Ranka is, there are also now fliers that are like “Down with the prince! Down with the princess!” There are gold pins everywhere.

The two of them get near a tavern that’s bursting with people. There’s a guard outside who is checking people’s hands. What’s more is that there’s an obvious dress code. Ranka beats up two randos passing by for their grey outfits, and she and Aramis put the “borrowed” clothing on. Ranka then chokes out the guard and they go in. 

Chapter 36

The Star Isles had sought to turn witches into weapons. Now the Hands would wipe them out entirely.

Chapter 36 summary: Inside, they decide to dance as a cover. However, a guard comes towards them, so they start making out. The entire plot screeches to a halt as Ranka kisses Aramis. FOR TWO FUCKING PAGES. WITH A GUARD STANDING LITERALLY RIGHT THERE. The entire thing is so goddamned MADDENINGLY TERRIBLE. 

Anyway, after the guard is like “kids, am I right?” he leaves them to their hanky-panky. Aramis and Ranka sneak upstairs, where Aramis picks a lock. They then hide behind some things and watch as the inner circle discusses their evil plan, evilly. 

The gist is that they have the plague in liquid form. Ranka knows that the first plague witch she saw was a test to see if the disease would spread to other witches. And that the reason why it’s here in the city is because these people fucking hate the treaty, and would rather “suicide bomb” the city than live alongside a witch for a second longer.