Haile Selassie walks his garden, knowing that civilians are suffering from gas and poison. The specter of his late daughter, Zenebwork, whom he married to a traitor to mend family ties, haunts him. A telegram confirming Kidane and Bekafa’s victory in Debark scares him. He never gave the order to attack. He must contend with both a rebellion and an invasion. He apologizes to Zenebwork, but he cannot change his choices.

A line of trucks unfolds near Debark. Though the Italian journalist Indro Montanelli, the American journalist Herbert Matthews, and the English novelist Evelyn Waugh each looked at those hills and pronounced Mussolini Ethiopia’s only hope, Hirut knows better. All that came of Mussolini’s war is blood.

Kidane must move the army quickly. He orders the wounded to be left behind. Hailu is inconsolable over Dawit’s injuries. His shattered leg will not mend, and they cannot spare resources to carry him. Kidane instructs Hirut to tend Dawit, but when the men leave, she sees the Wujigra and leaves Dawit’s side to hide it. Kidane catches her.

The Chorus describes Kidane’s rage as his guilt shifts to anger directed at Hirut. Still carrying the rifle, Kidane forces her backward into the cold campfire pit.

Kidane rages and beats Hirut senseless. Seifu, Aster, and Aklilu try to intervene, but he orders them away. When they are gone, Kidane rapes Hirut.

Haile Selassie packs to leave Addis Ababa for Dessie. Italian agents have captured his transmission lines and know where his northern armies will strike. He fixates on a misplaced photograph of his son, Mekonnen. He imagines both his deceased father and the ancient Greek philosopher Simonides reminding him to use his mind’s palace to find the photograph and a way through for his country. He asks his aid to recommend one of the Italian records he has purchased. The aid chooses Aida.

Kidane prepares to counter-ambush Fucelli. The Emperor has warned Kidane of the leak. Afterward, he will move to Maichew. Again, Aster offers her women as reinforcements. Again, Kidane reminds her of her place. When Aster gathers the women, Hirut remembers that Aster is to blame for Dawit’s death. She is the one who found the Wujigra and set fate in motion.

Fucelli prepares to ambush Kidane as Kidane prepares a counter-ambush targeting their tanks. Fucelli drives Ibrahim and his men into Kidane’s trap. Kidane’s men sneak aboard the tanks and dispatch each driver with a sword and a single gunshot. Italian planes dump gas to turn the tide.

Ettore leaves his gas mask and retreats, but watches as the planes open fire on the soldiers in the valley. He understands that what he is witnessing is slaughter, not war. In the future, Ettore will try to tell reporters about the gas, but his only evidence will be the gas mask he left behind.

Kidane’s lost battle deepens the Emperor’s despair. He listens to Aida. The Emperor chides Aida for her divided loyalties.

Ettore ruminates on his father’s advice to avoid serving unworthy causes. A priest gathers the troops, but Ettore does not partake of the absolution. A letter arrives from his mother, but Ettore is disheartened to find no letter from his father. He interprets his father’s silence as a signal of disapproval.

Ettore does not know that his father writes but saves the letters for his return. His father cannot write letters to pass the censors and cannot properly convey his concern for his son’s position as a soldier without revealing his own identity: He is not Italian, but an Eastern European Jew who lost his first wife and child to a pogrom. It is too late to warn his son of the dangers of serving a country that will turn on its own.

At Aster’s camp, mourners show respect for the dead. Hirut struggles with guilt for leaving Beniam. Since the gas attack, she has tended the wounded and dying. Her penance is mistaken for devotion.

In his cave in Maichew, Haile Selassie plays Aida. He believes Aida holds a clue to the Italians’ defeat. She is a stereotype of a submissive Ethiopian; if this is how the Italian leaders see Ethiopians, then they will not expect an offensive. He prepares a speech and an offensive.

The Emperor leads a defiant offensive, but it is not enough. Armies receive the order to retreat. Haile Selassie and his family flee Ethiopia.

Haile Selassie has fled. Kidane must remain near Debark to slow the Italian advance. He can expect no foreign aid and no intervention. Italy claims victory, but Haile Selassie will not surrender, and Kidane chafes at the expectation that he should continue fighting indefinitely.

The Chorus rewinds through the events of Kidane and Aster’s wedding night to imagine what might have happened in the absence of duty, tradition, oaths, expectations, and the fatherly advice to dominate.

The camp celebrates the news they will camp permanently near Debark. Kidane has kept the Emperor’s abandonment from them. She and Aklilu lose themselves in the revelry, finding joy in the throes of war.

The Chorus returns in distinct voices. The first tells of Kidane’s nocturnal assaults on Hirut and of her resistance. Another tells of Hirut’s desire to repress memories of the darkness and her devotion to working in the light. The last voice reminds her that there will be no escape except the one she makes for herself.

Hirut resists Kidane, but he overpowers her. She reminds him of his promise to her mother, but he violates her again. She curses him loudly enough that the entire camp hears.

Ferres sends word to Kidane that Fucelli will build a prison near Debark. Ferres is the male persona of Fifi, a spy and courtesan serving Fucelli. He debriefs Seifu’s son, Tariku, and prepares him for a scouting mission to the prison site. The camp will relocate to a more strategic position.

In the women’s camp, Hirut has become a pariah. Hearing the gossip, Aster lashes out at Hirut, insinuating that she traded sex for the Wujigra. When she challenges Hirut to explain what she might do with such a gun, Hirut says she will kill Kidane. Aster threatens to kill her if she does.

Ibrahim questions Seifu’s son, Tariku. He claims his name is Anbessa, meaning lion, which Ibrahim connects to the Black Lion Resistance. Fucelli orders the boy to hang from the gallows tree and tasks Ettore with documenting his death.