meanwhile, fero and his comrades ride through the wastelands to vulcanus. one young bone hunter objects to the raid, and in response, fero kills him. he asks if any other bone hunters have anything to say, and when no one answers, unwilling to be killed, the hunters ride on. elsewhere, in roxtus, tuma thinks about the past few weeks, such as an agori betraying his kind, and supplying information to the skrall. stronius then comes in and asks why tuma supplied information to vulcanus. tuma tells stronius that it is a "test" for the bone hunters, and he wished to make the "test" harder for them.