Summary

In Chapter Eight, Captain Kelechi tells the girls that they will each be paired with a boy soldier who will be their uruni, or brother, in arms. They will go out on raids to hunt deathshrieks after their initial three weeks of training. Deka is paired with Keita. Deka is registered and her skin is gilded with magical gold made from alaki blood from her hand to her elbow. She is told the gold marks her as property of the emperor. The gold will fade until her 20 years of service to the emperor are over.

In Chapter Nine, Deka gets into a wagon with Britta, Belcalis, Katya, Gazal, and a pair of twins named Adwapa and Asha. They go to the Warthu Bera, which is the most elite center where they are to be trained by the Okai, the emperor’s female spies...