Iron Flame Chapters 13–17 Summary & Analysis

Summary: Chapters 13–17

Chapter 13

Varrish punishes Violet by forcing her to summon lighting over and over again until she nearly burns out—a phenomenon that occurs when a rider pushes their magical abilities too far and exhausts their energy source, causing them to perish. Varrish only lets up when Professor Carr, the wielding professor at Basgiath, says that Violet’s death could lead to Xaden’s as well as their dragons, a loss for Navarre’s forces.

Later, Violet watches Sloane get decimated on the training mat. She and Imogen worry that Sloane will be destroyed during challenges next week if she does not let either of them train her. A distracted Violet heads to physics with her friends when a bag is suddenly pulled over her head and she is knocked unconscious.

Chapter 14

Violet wakes and realizes that she and her friends have been abducted for a surprise RSC test. She’s relieved that this isn’t an actual kidnapping, but her relief is short-lived, as she realizes that unless the test is short, she will almost certainly miss her visit with Xaden. Professor Grady gives them water laced with an herbal concoction that cuts off the riders from their dragons and their signets, leaving them both without their bond and without their powers. He then explains that they will be grouped with an infantry team, some healers, and a scribe, and they will all have to find their way through the forest while being hunted by the other team’s dragons as well as some of the unbonded—that is, students who did not bond with dragons during Threshing.

The riders and infantry squabble as they make their way through the woods; both sides hold some amount of prejudice against the other. The team eventually realizes that they are lost because they have been too busy fighting to notice that they were given two different maps. The team has barely had time to process this fact when they come across an orange dragon that used to belong to Jack Barlowe—a Basgiath student whom Violet ultimately killed the previous year after he spent most of it trying to kill her. Everyone survives except a squad leader named Tomas. He sacrifices his life in order to save an infantry cadet named Gwen, who ran from the dragon out of fear.

Chapter 15

Night falls and the team is still stuck in the woods. Rhiannon offers to cover Violet’s watch. She then says she is hurt that Violet is keeping secrets and distancing herself from their squad, but insists that she is here when Violet is ready to talk. Grady arrives the next morning, explains that they all failed, and informs them that this type of unscheduled testing will happen again. He then gives them an elixir that returns their abilities, and the team agrees that something strange is going on at Basigath this year; why would leadership want to weaken its riders? The elixir is clearly new, and so are the guarded infirmary doors that Rhiannon saw earlier. Violet reunites with a Tairn, who is furious at having been cut off so completely from Violet. She is glad that he and Sgaeyl got to spend some time together, even though she is also upset that she herself missed getting to see Xaden.

Chapter 16

Violet visits Jesinia and tells her that the student they saw getting dragged away was killed. Jesinia says that he asked for a report on a battle that killed his family, a report that did not exist in the Archives’ records. Jesinia, like Violet, has realized that the Archives are keeping secrets, which is why she has not been reporting the texts that Violet has been asking for. The two friends agree to help each other: Jesinia will look for texts on the creation of the wards and Violet will lend Jesinia her book of folklore, to help her understand what information is being concealed.

Violet later uses poison to help Sloane with her first challenge and then convinces her to train with Imogen in exchange for Liam’s unsent letters, one per weekly training session. Violet leaves to see Xaden and is searched by Varrish again, who says that she will regret not bringing Andarna to him. Violet arrives at Samara and realizes that Varrish has remained true to his word; Xaden has been called to a 24-hour duty in the operations center and Violet will not get to see him.

Chapter 17

Violet realizes that Varrish is keeping her and Xaden apart as punishment for not bringing Andarna to campus. Later, she talks with Imogen about Xaden, and Imogen berates Violet for not getting back together with him. Violet uses an analogy to explain that Xaden’s propensity to keep secrets has gotten her hurt in the past, so she’s merely protecting herself. She says that if, one day, a battle-axe were to come hurtling out of someone’s armoire and nearly kill you, wouldn’t you want to know if there were any other battle-axes that might emerge in the future before getting back together with them? However, Imogen is unconvinced. She says that Violet would not have fallen for Xaden in the first place if she wanted a normal relationship.

Read an in-depth explanation of Violet’s battle-axe analogy.

At Battle Brief, Rhiannon shows Violet a regional notice that says to be on the lookout for Poromish refugees seeking shelter and to not take any of them in due to a series of violations along Navarre’s borders; the notice insists, “Your kindness could kill.” Markham notices the documents and uses them to teach a lesson about Poromish wartime “propaganda,” saying the refugees are claiming they’re being attacked by dragons, which justifies Navarre’s refusal to help them. This causes Violet to become angry and suspicious. She does not trust Markham’s words and thinks that he is lying about the refugees. She rushes to the Archives to talk to Jesinia, accidentally interrupting a scribe lesson. Jesinia smooths over the situation and quickly promises to bring her more texts later that night. Before Violet leaves, Jesinia urges her to only visit the Archives during Jesinia’s shift on Saturdays so that they do not get caught.

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