Lore

Lore and Athena descend into a tunnel, where Lore follows a thudding noise through twists and turns. The sound comes from a hunter who’s bouncing “a small rubber ball” while guarding a door (348). Feeling dumb, Lore disables the guard and, with Athena’s help, opens the door. Inside, they find a bruised and battered Tidebringer.

Tidebringer tells Lore and Athena she was captured at the Agon’s start and given a choice—to die or lend her power to Wrath as needed. She agreed to lend her power in hopes she would survive the Agon to take action in the next one. She fills them in on Wrath’s plan to crush any opposing gods through war once he wins the Agon and awakens his full power. Lore argues he can’t win without the poem, and Tidebringer tells her that Wrath’s had the poem for years. He’s spent this Agon putting his plan into motion and is “within days—hours—of winning the hunt” (353).

The unconscious guard wakes and makes a run for it. Athena goes after him. As soon as the goddess is gone, Tidebringer warns Lore to get away from Athena.