THE RUSTED KNIGHT: BOOK TWO

Chapters 1-2: Loss & Assembly**

- Poetry finds his village in ruins, his mother's grave dug up

- Writes his first war poem on a burnt door

- Gathers a ragtag "army": Brenna (blacksmith), Old Torvin (blind shepherd), Lark (pickpocket), Mother Ilsa (poison-maker), and three exiled criminals led by Cutter

- Trains to fight dirty, kills for the first time during a raid on a supply caravan

- Learns Medium is alive in the **Bone Pit** prison, singing his poems

**Chapter 3: The Rescue**

- Lark poisons the fortress's water supply (Kael drinks only wine, staying awake with 50 elite guards)

- Poetry crawls through a sewage drain into the prison

- Reunites with Medium, frees the royal family

- Stands alone against Kael's guards while others escape

- Brenna and the villagers attack from the rear; the group flees as the Bone Pit burns

**Chapter 4: The Cave of Echoes**

- Survivors hide in a vast mountain cave for three months

- Poetry trains obsessively; writes his fourth poem on the cave wall

- Lord Ferris (mute governor) writes poison messages blaming Poetry

- Medium defends her husband fiercely

**Chapter 5: The Final Stand**

- Kael finds them with 200 warriors

- Poetry holds the narrow cave entrance while prisoners escape through a rear crack

- Medium refuses to flee—picks up a sword

- **The silent horse** returns with 20 villagers, trapping the Bone Readers

- Poetry fights Kael; Medium beheads the warlord

- Poetry nearly dies but survives; the king offers thanks; Poetry says loving Medium is thanks enough

## Epilogue Notes

- Kael's brother **Varn the Boneless** rises in the east—a patient, worse threat

- Poetry writes six more poems—not for war, but for Medium

- The remaining seven poems (from the promised ten of war) are deferred to a future book