The purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate what the Apache Traders and Nueguan Sisters can do in concert. Characters are: Dianire Redourine; Hunts-The-Ruins(HTR); Alyria of Tiala; Seamus Espinoza.
At its heart, the action and character arcs are the mirror image of Ghost Sickness. Where Rintiala become more godlike; Dianire becomes more demonic. The foreshadowing of Ariana’s murder occurs in the death of Sister Alyria at the hands of Seamus Espinoza (from Dianire’s point-of-view). From HTR’s pov, Dianire has acted rashly and Alyria dies because of Dee’s impulsiveness.
HTR and Dee are driven by the Western Bandits into an arms cache, and emerge with Sonic Suckers (soundwave weapons that can chew through rock). The Western Bandits are driven off after suffering heavy casualties. HTR is aghast when Dee decides on her own to leave no prisoners.
Here HTR proves himself as the problem solver and hero that he basically is. He deciphers the Sonic Suckers, and debates with Dee how to use them. She simply wants to obliterate the Western Bandits, but HTR knows the WB will be back in even greater numbers, once they realize they will lose yet another city.
His intention is to corral the WB with precision use of the Sonic Suckers, as that will cause the fewest casualties and not drain the last charges from the Sonic Suckers. (At the end of this chapter, there are only two Sonic Suckers, each with only one charge. Neither HTR or Dee knows that the ‘armor’ is part of the recharging system, as they do not have the time to decipher how to extract the power cables form the shoulder stocks.)
This chapter needs to make it clear just how much Dee hates Old Humans, and has no qualms about exterminating them. That being said, the motivation must be unambiguous.
Dianire is late returning to Clan Redourine, and misses her meeting in Village Tiala. Because of this, Berylia, Ariana and Tianara have a day’s journey (approximately 40 miles) lead ahead of her.