Raoden is back in Roial's house. Shouldn't he be at the palace now? Anyway, he wakes to the sound of fighting in the city, and what's worse, Dilaf in his house with a bunch of demon soldiers. It looks like these are superhuman ninja priests with armoured bare chests. They fight off Raoden's guards without getting scratched and capture Raoden.
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Sarene is out arranging deliveries of weapons to Elantris because they're concerned about upcoming unrest due to Raoden becoming king. Little does she know she's about to be attacked by marauding superhuman ninja monks. The demons are running around slaughtering everyone in sight. The see Sarene. Her coachman is killed. She makes a run for Kiin's house but is caught.
Luckily, it turns out that Kiin is more of a total badass than his friendly merchant-chef persona lets on. Kiin the axe wielding hero actually manages to kill one of the monsters, though it takes a lot of effort. They escape to his house where all their friends are hiding (including Shuden and the previously missing Torena) and collapse the bridge. We finally learn why Sarene's dad doesn't like his brother: it turns out Eventeo stole the throne from his older brother while Kiin was off partying. So Kiin became the pirate Dreok Crushedthroat and learnt very useful fighting skills in the process.
Presumably Sarene is about to start worrying about Raoden but the viewpoint changes to Hrathen, who is learning all about Dilaf. It turns out Hrathen also went to the Dakhor monastery where monks are given potions to transform their bodies and give them superhuman abilities (dark magic I expect rather pre-dates Shu-Dereth, as that book Sarene found would no doubt explain), but Hrathen dropped out.
Dilaf did not drop out. He became a super-human ninja monk and has been hiding out in Arelon for decades preparing for the invasion. He also outranks Hrathen because he is a gradget, in charge of the Dakhor monastery. This rather explains his previous insolence. Hrathen's only purpose was to serve as a distraction. The real aim is to kill everyone in Arelon and wipe out the Elantrians forever.
Uh-oh.
The only hope now is for someone in Elantris to switch the magic back up to full power and use it to fight back. Who can do it? No-one in Elantris is as good at Aon magic as Raoden (although he sent Galladon back to teach people about AonDor and we don't know what has been happening there lately; hopefully someone there turns out to be a natural magician once given the opportunity). Raoden is captured. Can he use his magic to escape?
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