59 pages • 1 hour read
Sarah J. MaasA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Celaena Sardothien struggles in the heat of the Red Desert in summer. A nomad guide has brought her two miles away from the fortress of the sessiz suikast, or the Silent Assassins. He refuses to take her further because of his fear of the assassins. Celaena struggles through the heat, angry at Arobynn for punishing her this way for freeing the enslaved people in Skull’s Bay. She finally reaches the fortress, nestled in an oasis, after hours of walking through the sand dunes. She pushes away her intense thirst when she arrives and is escorted by a silent middle-aged male assassin to the Mute Master, the head of the Silent Assassins. She delivers a speech that Arobynn required her to give to the Mute Master asking him to train her. He approaches and looks at the bruises on her face disapprovingly, then sets four of the assassins on her.
Celaena fights off the four men to prove she is worthy of the Mute Master’s training. When she finishes fighting, she sees a girl her age with red hair clad in wolf-adorned armor watching her from the corner. She finds the girl intriguing. The Mute Master summons the girl forward, and she introduces herself as Ansel and says that she and Celaena will be sharing a room. Celaena tells the Mute Master she’d like to stay for a month, and Ansel says the Mute Master agrees and that her training starts the next day at dawn. Ansel leads them to their room so Celaena can take a bath. Celaena is happy to see fellow female assassins, as she is the only woman in the Assassin’s Guild in Rifthold. Celaena asks Ansel about the kids cleaning their room, and she says the younger students are Acolytes and do drudgery before becoming full-time assassin students. Ansel came to the fortress when she was 13 and has stayed for the last five years, sent by her father, the Lord of Briarcliff in the Flatlands, also known as the Wastes. Though she has been here for years, the Mute Master has yet to train Ansel personally. Ansel asks Celaena if her master beat her, but Celaena avoids the question. Ansel shows Celaena to the communal baths and leaves her to soak in the cold water. When Celaena returns to their room, Ansel is gone, so Celaena snoops through her things, finding nothing out of the ordinary other than folded underwear. Celaena thinks Sam probably folds his underwear, which leads her back to the memory of the night Arobynn beat her before sending her away. That night, as Sam was forced to watch the beating, he screamed something that Celaena could not quite make out before she fell unconscious.
Ansel comes to find Celaena before dinner. She introduces Celaena to the other assassins, not all of whom have taken the vow of silence. Celaena meets Mikhail, a friend of Ansel’s who seems to have romantic chemistry with Ansel. They discuss Lord Berick, the leader of the nearby city Xandria who believes himself to be the rightful ruler of the desert and often attacks the fortress, hoping to deliver the head of the Mute Master to the King of Adarlan to curry favor. Ansel is the Silent Assassins’ envoy to Berick. Ansel also explains the presence of dignitaries from other countries that are present to make bids on the assassins that deem themselves available, though there are no dignitaries from any of the countries controlled by Adarlan as that is Arobynn’s territory. Ilias, the handsome son of the Mute Master, looks at Celaena flirtatiously, which surprises Ansel as he does not notice anyone. Celaena thinks he’s as desirable as Sam, then finds herself surprised by thinking of Sam as desirable at all. Mikhail asks Celaena if she deserved the beating her master gave her, and Celaena says Arobynn would think so, but the 200 enslaved people she freed would not, which astounds the other assassins.
The next day, Celaena begins her training with a six-mile round trip run through the desert with a yoke and two buckets of water on her back. She struggles, having to walk at times through the difficult terrain of the sand dunes. She makes it to the oasis at the three-mile mark and rests, drinking water before turning around to return to the fortress, having to walk the three miles back and arriving at dinner time. At dinner, Ansel tells her that during her first run she collapsed at the second mile, and Ilias had to carry her home. Celaena watches the Mute Master eat and then follows him when he leaves, questioning him as to why he isn’t training her personally when she only has a month in the desert. He refuses to answer, and Ilias grabs her arm before she can pursue him further. She introduces herself and doesn’t blame him for being protective of his father. She returns to her and Ansel’s room and asks about Mikhail. Ansel says they’ve been romantically involved since she was 15 even though Mikhail is much older. Celaena is nauseated by this, but Ansel tells her in the Flatlands girls get married as young as 14, which only horrifies Celaena more. As they fall asleep, she thinks about Sam again and why Arobynn thought it would take three men to restrain him while Arobynn beat her.
Celaena finds the desert run easier the next day, as Ansel promised she would. She does not try to talk to the Mute Master again, instead waiting and hoping he will send for her. She trains with Ansel in a number of drills, and some of the other assassins help her with her form. She notices that the environment in the fortress is much more friendly and collaborative than in the Assassins’ Keep in Rifthold, where Arobynn encourages cutthroat competition between Celaena, Sam, and the other assassins. She feels invigorated by the community and also hopes that the other assassins will report on her progress to the Mute Master, encouraging him to train her and sign the letter of approval she needs to return to Arobynn.
On Celaena’s fifth night in the fortress, Lord Berick’s men attack. The assassins take their positions, and Celaena watches in wonder as they all fire flaming arrows at the oil-soaked rope hidden beneath the sand, her own fire arrow singing her fingers. The rope wraps around the perimeter of the fortress and catches flame when the arrows hit it, scaring off Berick’s men. Ansel explains they don’t want all-out war with Berick, so the fire scares the men away. Back in their room, Mikhail gives Ansel a document to bring to Berick. Ansel invites Celaena to come to Xandria with her, enticing her by saying the Mute Master will admire her dedication to keeping the fortress safe, and she agrees.
Celaena struggles to get comfortable while camping with Ansel in the desert on their way to Xandria, hating the feeling of sand on her skin. Ansel makes fun of her for her desire for comfort, and Celaena asks her about the curse on the Flatlands. Ansel says they were cursed, especially with the presence of Ironteeth witches, but that the lands have become healthier since the movement of the Ironteeth witches east. Ansel then tells the story of when she, her older sister, and their friend Maddy went to explore an abandoned tor. In the tor, they found an Ironteeth witch, who grabbed Maddy and took her. Ansel and her sister ran back to Briarcliff Hall and told their father. When he sent a search party, all they found were the bones of a child, bright white and picked clean. Celaena is horrified by this and pictures what happened to Maddy as she falls asleep. Before they sleep, Ansel expresses disgust for the Silent Assassins keeping to themselves and refusing to help in the battles in Adarlan, as she thinks she could reclaim and protect the realm with an army of assassins at her disposal.
They arrive in Xandria on market day, so the city is crowded with vendors. Ansel tells Celaena to do some shopping while she meets with Berick, as Celaena is not allowed to hear the Mute Master’s business. Celaena walks through the market, debating about buying a pair of shoes or some perfume, until she finds a spidersilk vendor. Spidersilk is made by the stygian spiders that are as large as horses and create threads as soft as silk and stronger than steel. The price of the spidersilk is rumored to be anything from human flesh to years and dreams. Celaena approaches the vendor and talks with him, as he is surprised Celaena could recognize the spidersilk. He tells her that a stygian spider in the Ruhnn Mountains gave him the silk in exchange for 20 years of his life, which is why he looks over 40 years old when he’s really only 25. He asks Celaena to go slay the spider and retrieve his lost years. She tells him that she is booked until the end of summer, but if he goes to see Arobynn in Rifthold, he’ll find her for him. The vendor gives her a box with a small square of spidersilk in it as a reminder for her.
Celaena buys the shoes she was looking at before returning to meet Ansel, who arrives 15 minutes late with no explanation. She drags Celaena toward Berick’s stables. Ansel shows her two rare Asterion horses named Hisli and Kasida. Ansel then steals Hisli, encouraging Celaena to follow her on Kasida.
They flee Xandria, riding through the desert as Berick’s men pursue them. They jump over the fissure in the Desert Cleaver, a large rock formation, which scares and invigorates Celaena. They stop to let the horses rest, and Ansel is overexcited, which causes Celaena to punch her in the face. When they camp for the night, they discuss what the different constellations are called in Terrasen and in the Flatlands. Celaena points out the Lord of the North, the bright star that shows the people of Terrasen how to get home. Ansel then confesses the truth: there has been no Briarcliff Hall for five years: Lord Loch invaded the territories around Briarcliff and killed her sister and her father while she hid. Ansel took her dead father’s sword and fled. She collapsed at the camp of an Ironteeth witch, who told her it was not her destiny to die there, sending her south toward the Silent Assassins. She lied to the Mute Master to gain a place in the fortress. She wants to return to kill Lord Loch with her father’s sword. Celaena agrees that they will make the ones who hurt them both pay.
The Silent Assassins punish Ansel and Celaena for stealing the horses. Celaena worries that she’ll be beaten by the Mute Master like she was beaten by Arobynn, remembering that Sam had screamed that he’d kill Arobynn while he was hurting Celaena. The Mute Master does not hurt Celaena but punishes her and Ansel by making them clean the stables each morning. Celaena claims stealing the horses was her idea, which impresses the Mute Master, who then agrees to train her personally the next day at sunset.
After spending the entire morning cleaning the stables with Ansel and sparring in the afternoon, Celaena goes to meet the Mute Master. He has an asp snake in a basket and trains Celaena to learn to move with the snake, to mimic the fluidity of its movements. For the rest of the week, she studies the asp, before spending time hanging in the rafters with the bats and following the jackrabbits in the sand dunes. Each night, the Mute Master watches her silently. Celaena sees much less of Ansel during her training with the Mute Master. In her quiet moments, she thinks of Sam and why he would threaten to kill Arobynn.
Celaena puts makeup on Ansel before the assassins’ party for the Midsummer’s Eve, bonding with her as she tells Ansel how beautiful she looks. At the party, Ansel and Celaena drink wine before Mikhail pulls Ansel to the dance floor. Celaena thinks back to Sam and wonders with horror how badly Arobynn hurt him as punishment. She used much of her savings to buy an apartment before she left and plans to tell Arobynn she’s moving out. She also plans to tell him that if he ever hurts her or Sam again, she’ll cut his hand off.
Ilias invites Celaena to dance, and she goes with him. After they dance together, Ilias follows her to her room and almost kisses her, but Celaena pulls away, thinking of Sam’s face. Ansel doesn’t come home that night and instead sleeps with Mikhail. In the stables the next morning, Ansel seems cagey about the gossip about her tryst with Mikhail but says she’s with Mikhail for extra training. Ansel is jealous of the attention the Mute Master has shown to Celaena and snaps at her. They fight, and Ansel leaves Celaena to finish shoveling dung alone after calling her spoiled and selfish.
Celaena struggles to focus during her lesson with the Mute Master. He silently prods her to talk, and she confesses her fear of going home and seeing what has changed since the events of Skull’s Bay. The Mute Master looks sorrowfully at her but continues her lesson.
Ansel returns to their room and apologizes for their fight. She tells Celaena she’s the first true friend she’s made. She offers Celaena wine, which Celaena drinks before she tastes something odd and falls unconscious.
Celaena wakes with a pounding headache in the middle of the desert with the Asterion horse, Kasida, and a note that says the Mute Master wanted to send her away early without embarrassing her but included his letter of approval for Arobynn. Celaena almost cries at the feeling of rejection but rides off into the night toward home. When she gets near Xandria, she sees Berick’s men marching toward the fortress. She assumes the Mute Master sent her away to keep her out of the fray and that the assassins can handle it themselves. She continues her ride to the city, but remembers that Ansel seemed happy when she left Berick’s palace. She opens the sealed letter and finds it blank, so she knows Ansel stole the ring and sealed a fake letter to get Celaena out before she betrayed the Silent Assassins. Celaena turns around and rides back toward the fortress.
Celaena fights her way through Berick’s forces to find the Mute Master. An injured Ilias points her toward a room where Ansel is standing above the master, poised to cut off his head. The Mute Master looks sadly at his injured son Ilias, urging Celaena to save him. She instead throws a dagger at Ansel, hitting her in the arm. They poise to fight, and Celaena asks her why she’s doing this. Ansel says Berick promised her an army of a 1000 men to march to the Flatlands. Celaena begs her to stop, but Ansel approaches Celaena, touches her hair lovingly, and asks her to join her in the Flatlands. Celaena refuses, and Ansel attacks her. They fight, and Ansel admits she killed Mikhail and hurt Ilias. Celaena uses the movements she learned from the asp to disarm and pin Ansel. She asks Ansel if their friendship was real, and Ansel says it was when she sent Celaena away. Celaena tells her she has 20 minutes to pack her things and leave the fortress before Celaena fires an arrow at Ansel. If Ansel’s not out of range, the arrow will shoot her through the neck.
Celaena helps the Mute Master and Ilias with their injuries, then the Mute Master cues her to fulfill her promise and fire the arrow. She goes to the battlements and looks at the figure riding into the distance astride the other Asterion horse, Hisli. After 21 minutes, Celaena fires, the arrow landing in the sand behind Hisli’s hooves. The Mute Master summons Celaena to his chambers and speaks to her in words for the first time. He tells her he is glad she did not kill Ansel and that he knew that there was no Briarcliff all along; he was waiting for Ansel to trust him enough to tell him the truth. In gratitude for saving his life and sparing Ansel, he gives Celaena the letter of approval for Arobynn, along with enough gold to pay off the debts Celaena has to Arobynn, a fortune he made her borrow throughout her training. He also tells her to tell Arobynn that they do not beat their disciples in the desert. Celaena thanks him and leaves.
Celaena’s time in the desert marks a turning point in her character development, especially in the way that she views herself and those around her, highlighting the theme of Self-Discovery and Empowerment. When she first bathes in the fortress of the Silent Assassins in the Red Desert, the memory of Arobynn’s beating returns to her. She relives the moment, and “the last thing she remembered was a pang of guilt at the sight of her blood staining Arobynn’s exquisite red carpet. And then darkness, blissful darkness, full of relief that she hadn’t seen him hurt Sam” (137). These thoughts reveal a number of things about Celaena. Firstly, she still feels some sense of debt to Arobynn, as she experiences guilt about staining his carpet with the blood that he beat out of her. Secondly, she feels comforted knowing she did not have to watch Sam suffer. Sam is physically absent in this novella, but his presence looms even larger than it did in The Assassin and the Healer. When Celaena looks at Ilias, the son of the Mute Master, she thinks him as “desirable” as Sam, then thinks, “...When had she ever thought of [Sam] as desirable? He’d laugh until he died if he ever knew she thought of him like that” (143). Though the spark ignited in Skull’s Bay when they held each other, it now burns brighter as Celaena realizes she is attracted to Sam. However, she still fails to notice Sam’s feelings for her, as he loves her and would not laugh at the thought of her being attracted to him.
Celaena also reflects on the environment that Arobynn fostered in the Keep. She thinks, “Even when they were children, he’d set her and Sam against each other, use their victories and failures against them. He’d made her see everyone but Arobynn and Ben as a potential enemy” (155). This informs the theme of The Fine Line Between Loyalty and Betrayal. Arobynn sought to keep Sam and Celaena loyal to him by ensuring that they felt in competition with each other, nurturing the animosity between them until he thought a friendship between the two of them could never flourish. However, after their shared mission in Skull’s Bay, they form a bond of loyalty to each other that surpasses their loyalty to Arobynn. Celaena even thinks, “If Arobynn ever laid a hand on her or Sam again, she’d see to it that he lost that hand. Actually, she’d see to it that he lost everything up to the elbow” (192). She would attack Arobynn if he harmed her or Sam, a thought that would not have crossed her mind before the events of Skull’s Bay when her loyalty was only to herself and Arobynn.
Celaena also forms a meaningful friendship with Ansel. Like Yrene, Ansel has many similarities with Celaena. Ansel also lost her family to an unjust ruler and became an assassin out of necessity. Ansel also differs from Celaena in significant ways. For example, Celaena describes Ansel’s eyes as lined with silver while Yrene notes Celaena’s eyes are lined with gold. Though somewhat similar, silver and gold are different metals, reflecting the opposing qualities in Ansel and Celaena. Despite their differences, Celaena thinks, “[S]he’d never had a female friend […] and somehow, the thought of returning to Rifthold without Ansel was a tad unbearable” (190). Though they only knew each other a few weeks, Ansel and Celaena bonded over their shared experiences and traumas.
However, their reactions to their traumas are very different. Celaena defends the Mute Master when Ansel attempts to take over the fortress on behalf of Berick. Afterwards, the Mute Master tells Celaena, “You spared her life, and returned her father’s sword. She will not soon forget that. And maybe when she makes her next move to reclaim her title, she will remember the assassin from the North and the kindness you showed her, and try to leave fewer bodies in her wake” (224). Celaena endures her pain without letting it turn into hate, without killing those she does not feel deserve it, a quality that will continue to develop as her character arc continues in the next two novellas.
By Sarah J. Maas