Masked Lythans surround the Harbingers in the Plague Swamps, but Bjorn invokes Skjold and identifies himself as a guide for the scattered barbarians. The name passes through the silent group, and the Lythans lead the Harbingers beneath the immense willow into a village of people whose ruined bodies continue moving without their missing limbs. Within the tree's hollow, the Whispering One descends from a mass of roots and reveals Zandra bound within the willow. He recognizes Whisper and Ernan as prodigal sons whose mother will be pleased by their return to the mainland. Claiming that he wants to escape Tyve, he offers to release the forlorn goddess if the Harbingers destroy a resistance at Slyphash, described as the remnant memory of a forgotten people. He also offers to restore Torrin's missing memories by joining him to the tree, but Torrin refuses to surrender his freedom.

When the Whispering One withdraws from the failed negotiation, Whisper races up the tree and anchors himself to Zandra. The ancient being transforms into an enormous root-built crocodile while his priests attack and assume bestial forms. His foresight blunts the Harbingers' attacks, and the souls threaded through the willow repeatedly restore his strength. Vyr severs one of the hanging spirits and recognizes that a trapped life has ended, while Bjorn attempts to cut the Whispering One away from the tree. Bjork is repeatedly battered and nearly killed during his first battle beside his father, but Bjorn revives him with a goodberry and the two continue fighting together. Whisper and Vyr finally cut Zandra free, Len arrives through the hollow to protect her, and Zandra awakens with enough remaining strength to aid the Harbingers if they are willing to let her suffer for it.

The Harbingers refuse to abandon the trapped people, even as the Whispering One unleashes a firestorm and attempts to reconnect himself to the willow. After the cord linking him to the tree is severed, Vyr drives her shadow blade into him and pulls until his soul enters her. The dying vision reveals that the Whispering One was once a young Wood Elf named Aran Melosis, standing among others who coveted a light held by an unknown figure. Vyr then sees an ancient version of Tyve's arrival beach through unfamiliar eyes: one figure falls after another is stabbed and vanishes, a person wearing a hastily reassembled circlet of white radiance approaches, and an explosion of light leaves only a box behind. Aran Melosis dies, but the battle does not end. His surviving druids and the living willow remain active around the wounded Harbingers and the newly freed Zandra.