Ciri’s captors are mercenaries called Trappers, led by Skomlik and serving under the command of a Nilfgaardian knight named Sweers. Skomlik suspects that Ciri is feigning muteness and threatens her with a whip, but Sweers orders him not to harm her. As they travel south through Nilfgaardian provinces, Ciri maintains her pretense and discovers that her magical abilities are gone.

Days later, the Blue Knight, a rival nobleman from the Varnhagen family, intercepts them. After arguing over Ciri, a brutal melee erupts. Two Tusks, the Blue Knight’s companion, kills Sweers’s squire. The knights clash savagely, exchanging devastating blows. Sweers kills Two Tusks and mortally wounds the Blue Knight, but both knights ultimately die from their injuries. Ciri attempts escape but is quickly recaptured. Skomlik beats her with a whip until she cries out, exposing that she can speak. The Trappers decide to take her to the prefect in Amarillo. To eliminate witnesses, Skomlik murders one of the Blue Knight’s servants but spares the other, Remiz, who is his brother-in-law.

They stop at the Nilfgaardian settlement of Glyswen. At the inn, they meet the Nissirs, militiamen led by Vercta. Their prisoner is Kayleigh, a fair-haired youth from the notorious Rats gang, bound to a post. The groups drink together, trading boasts about prisoners and rewards. When Ciri is forced to sit beside Kayleigh, he warns her that his gang will come and that she must help him escape. A reluctant innkeeper slips her a knife, and she begins cutting Kayleigh’s bonds while pretending to feed him.

The Rats suddenly storm the inn. Mistle, a close-cropped girl, kills a Nissir. Reef, a boy in a sheepskin jacket, joins the attack. Giselher, the dark-haired leader, and the broad-shouldered Asse fight alongside Iskra, an elven girl who bursts from the kitchen. They swiftly massacre the Trappers and Nissirs.

When Skomlik moves to kill the still-bound Kayleigh, Ciri instinctively uses witcher techniques to distract the Trapper, dodging his attacks. Iskra gives her a sword, and Ciri continues fighting but hesitates when she has a chance to kill Skomlik. Mistle intervenes and executes him.

The Rats flee as armed settlers emerge. Ciri escapes with them but hesitates again when confronting a crossbowman, who wounds her horse instead. When a settler attacks with a spear, Ciri reacts instinctively with a perfect thrust, killing him. She is horrified by her action. The gang escapes and rides for hours.

At their hideout, Giselher interrogates Ciri about her identity. When she refuses to answer, Mistle defends her silence. Iskra criticizes Ciri for knowing how to dance but not kill. Angered, Ciri declares that she can survive alone. Impressed, Giselher allows her to stay. The Rats perform an initiation, each giving her a gift representing their shared philosophy. Iskra asks what to call her. Ciri answers in Elder Speech: “Gvalch’ca,” meaning “young falcon.” Iskra declares that she will be “Falka.”

That night, Kayleigh attempts to force himself on Ciri. Mistle drives him away but then lies beside Ciri and initiates sex. Despite fear and conflict, Ciri submits. The next morning, she feels like she’s no longer alone. She washes in a stream, weeping.

The narrative provides the Rats’ backstories. Kayleigh survived the Nilfgaardian massacre of his family and found Reef, an abandoned Nilfgaardian soldier. Giselher deserted from an army, joined a gang destroyed by elves, and was saved by an exiled elf named Aenyeweddien, whom he nicknamed “Iskra.” Mistle, from a noble family, was separated from her fleeing relatives, captured by slavers, and then subjected to repeated sexual violence by Nilfgaardian marauders before being rescued by Asse, whose family was murdered. The six met at a harvest festival and formed the Rats. They became notorious for cruelty, giving stolen goods to villagers who sheltered them. They accepted no strangers until Ciri appeared.

In Amarillo, the provincial prefect interviews a soldier who reports that the Rats now number seven, with the newest being a skilled, fair-haired girl. Stefan Skellen, also known as Tawny Owl and serving as the emperor’s coroner, listens carefully. Though the prefect suggests capturing the seventh Rat alive, Skellen publicly dismisses this possibility. He orders the prefect to continue searching for Ciri and to hang all seven Rats without exception, explicitly forbidding taking the seventh alive.