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SPOILER-STOPPER LLAMA
This article contains plot and/or ending details.

"Treat these strangers with caution."

"We don’t know if they are friends or foes."

-Olvan to Rollan and Abeke, (from Chapter 3: Unwelcome News)


Broken Ground is the second book in the Fall of the Beasts series, and the ninth book overall. It is written by Victoria Schwab. Uraza, Essix, and three Redcloaks are depicted on the cover, most likely Stead, Howl, and Shadow. There is a pdf of the book here.

Official Summary[]

HOPE AND LOSS

Something ancient and evil has awoken from beneath the world of Erdas. Shrouded in shadow and older than memory, just a sliver of its power can destroy with a touch. Even the spirit animal bond, the sacred link between humans and animals that keeps Erdas in balance, is under threat.

Four young heroes, Conor, Abeke, Meilin, and Rollan, are determined to stop it. Together with their spirit animals, they embark on a desperate journey that takes them deep underground and to the far corners of the world. As friends and allies fall around them, the Four have no choice but to push forward and confront this darkness. If they stop to look back, they’ll see the truth: Evil already has them surrounded.

Plot[]

It begins with three Redcloaks in Stetriol, spying on Ninani and her summoner, Tasha. Tasha is reading a book to the swan, but she fumbles and drops it into the fountain she’s sitting at. Then, one of the Redcloaks on the roof, Howl, slips, sending a tile sliding down the roof. Shadow catches it, but Tasha hears the slight commotion and is momentarily suspicious before a voice calls her inside. She summons Ninani into passive state, grabs the wet book, and goes inside.

Conor, Takoda, Xanthe, and Meilin continue across Sadre. Meilin probes Xanthe for details on how she navigates the tunnels of Sadre so flawlessly. She confesses that every child in her hometown, Phos Astos, is left in the tunnels every year in hopes that they’ll return, which most do. She had learned to navigate the tunnels by experience, so she doesn’t believe that any of them could learn.

They run into a cyrix nest. Xanthe is hit in the chest by one of it’s tentacles and Kovo attempts to punch it, but it doesn’t seem to effect the creature much. A tentacle finds Conor’s leg and Briggan saves him. Everyone is struggling to hold their ground, but they manage to get away because Xanthe throws a flare and they run.

Meanwhile, Rollan and Abeke meet with Olvan at Greenhaven. Abeke thinks that it’s eerie without any of the Greencloaks’s spirit animals out. When they meet up with Olvan, he confesses that Conor and Meilin are trapped underground, which outrages Rollan. He assures them that they’re both alive, according to Lenori. After discussing the masked, red-cloaked strangers they’ve been seeing, he assigns them on a mission to Stetriol to find Tasha and Ninani.

That night, Rollan is busy being skeptical about Olvan telling them that Stetriol has changed. He and Abeke talk about Conor and Meilin, setting sail on the Tellun's Pride II at the break of dawn with an impressive crew of around twenty Greencloaks. Abeke and Rollan meet Nisha, the captain, and Arac, her husband. Rollan is shocked when he finds out that they’re married, since it’s a rare occurrence to see married Greencloaks.[1] Rollan briefly wonders if Stetriol has good stew.[2]

Meanwhile, King–the Redcloak that saved Abeke, Rollan, and Anda–is sharpening knives. A Ksenian crow delivers a message to him that reads King. A Great Beast has risen. Return to Stetriol. He leaves almost immediately.

Deep underground, Meilin questions Xanthe about how she keep track of time. The pale girl responds that she keeps track of time by regarding the changes in plants and the sound of the water, along with how tired she is.[3] Meilin and Kovo roll their eyes at the same time. Conor is temporarily possessed by the Wyrm and Xanthe realizes that he’s infected. She tries to insist that he’s already beyond their help, but Meilin refuses to leave him behind, and Xanthe reluctantly agrees to stay.

They stop to rest. Takoda and Xanthe make shadow puppets on the wall in the light of the blue fire.[4] Meilin goes to sleep, dreaming of her father calling her name. Then, it sounds like a bunch of different people, calling her deeper toward the Evertree. She finds the Wyrm, and when it wraps it’s hands around her neck, Xanthe wakes her up and shows her how to eat rockweed.

Meanwhile, Rollan jinxes the Tellun’s Pride II and a large storm materializes. Abeke claims that what he just did was tenavo and tells him to do the magical intenavo dance, but it’s unclear whether Abeke made it up or not. They talk to Nisha and Arac a bit about their bonds and Stetriol until it stops raining. As soon as it does, a whale is infected by the Wyrm. Nisha jumps in and cuts the whale free before it sinks the ship. When she comes back up, a parasite can be seen wriggling in her palm. They cut the other whale loose.

In Sadre, the four come to a fork in the road. According to Xanthe, both paths lead to the Evertree, but one is easier than the other. The easy one is a pit of thousands of the Many, meaning that the hard path must be much, much worse. They turn back around and take the other path.

The Tellun’s Pride II docks in Stetriol. The entire crew leaves the ship, barring Nisha and Arac. The friendly air in Stetriol surprises both Abeke and Rollan as they’re greeted by the Greencloaks who now occupy Shane’s old castle. When they enter the castle, they find Tasha and Ninani. Bern says that news of Ninani has been kept secret. Ernol says that word is spreading. This isn’t good, what with Zerif at large. They tell Tasha that she has to leave with Abeke and Rollan and give her two days–long enough for the ship to restock–to decide.

Ernol shows them their rooms. Abeke goes into the gardens and runs into someone from Stetriol’s royal lineage that looks exactly like Shane. The boy, James, has a kitten, Barnabas. Abeke releases Uraza, but the leopard doesn’t stick around long and takes off. She sees the Redcloak that helped them escape from Zerif on the roof. She looks away for a split second, and when she looks back, he’s already gone.

Meanwhile, Meilin discovers that Kovo’s nickname for her is Cranky, Xanthe’s is Pale Girl, Takoda’s is Little Friend, and Conor’s is Cursed. Soon enough, they reach an immense chamber, The Archane Fields, one of the three challenges one must face to reach the Evertree. It’s an enormous spiderweb that creates a lovely tune. They travel across it successfully until Meilin slips. Conor helps her up.

Abeke eavesdrops on a conversation that Rollan has with Tasha about Tarik and trying to convince her to go with them. Tasha agrees. Then, Rollan and Abeke go out into Stetriol, and Rollan helps a girl steal a piece of bread. Soon after, they hear cheering and fireworks, so they head towards the noise and find a festival celebrating Ninani’s arrival.

Then, as the Evertree’s roots retract, the bonds stretch. It’s not as much pain as usual, which worries them that it might have been a warning. They didn’t have time to dwell on this, though, as they see the Redcloak that saved them again and they chase him through the streets. Just when they think they’ve cornered him, the Redcloak jumps onto the roof and tells the two heroes that they should go. The bonds stretch again, though, and this time, it’s a wall of pain. The Redcloak urges them up and suddenly Stetriol is under attack as the fireworks become explosions.

Just like Abeke and Rollan, Conor, Meilin, and Takoda experience the same pain from their bonds stretching. After it ends, Kovo comes out of passive state and attracts the attention of the spiders and The Webmother. They light a torch to fend them off, but the wall of pain hits them and Takoda drops the torch, setting the web alight with devouring flames. They make it to the edge of the Archane Fields, a precarious, narrow ledge before a plunging drop. When Takoda and Kovo barrel forward, Xanthe leaps out of the way while everyone else goes tumbling into the darkness. They slide down a muddy precipice and into the Sulfur Sea and soon realize that Xanthe is gone and they’ll have to navigate across it without a guide.

A volley of explosions rings out in Stetriol as Abeke and Rollan make their way to the castle. The Many are everywhere, attacking the citizens and infecting others. They make it to the castle, and Abeke is saved by Uraza from a possessed wild dog. Tasha is cornered by three infected and a jaguar, and she takes out one of them with the help of Abeke. The jaguar and Uraza lock in combat while Rollan takes on the other two. When they finally defeat them, they climb on the courtyard wall and run through the town and to the docks. They’re cornered by the Many, but the Redcloaks appear and save them, and they’re forced to kill Nisha and Arac who were infected on the boat. They sail away from Stetriol.

The next day, WikerusAidana’s spirit animal–appears with a message: Greenhaven has fallen. Find Cabaro in Nilo. Do not return.

Zerif conquers Greenhaven. He tells a man, Alon, to release his spirit animal or he’ll break the bones of an older Greencloak. He acquiesces, and his spirit animal is infected immediately. Then, he tells them that if even one of them refuses to be infected, he’ll kill everyone.

After every Greencloak is infected, he goes to Olvan’s chambers and infects him just as Wikerus takes flight with the message for Rollan and Abeke. Zerif preens in his victory.

Trivia[]

  • This is the only book in the second arc to be written by a female author.
  • This is the only book in the series to depict Stetriol in the background.
  • This is the only book in the series to not depict any of the Four Fallen summoners on the cover.

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. Broken Ground, page 43
  2. Broken Ground, page 44
  3. Broken Ground, page 50
  4. Broken Ground, page 54

Navigation[]

List of Books in the Spirit Animals series
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Spirit Animals (Series 1)

Fall of the Beasts (Series 2)

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