Red Rising

Darrow plans to gain followers and sets out with a healing Mustang. They beset three Oathbreakers. The leader, Milia, argues for her family’s superiority. Mustang takes the slave mark of House Mars from Milia’s forehead. Darrow collects ten Oathbreakers for his new army, promising that none of them will be slaves. Their army watches Houses battle, including Cassius in his trademark dignified style. Darrow criticizes their tactics and says his army must fight with “Speed and extreme prejudice” (286). 

After camping out in the snow covered in wolfskin, Darrow’s army runs toward a band of House Mars students and slaves. They defeat the House Mars members and free twelve slaves, now added to the army. Pax, newly freed, embraces Darrow. 

In the night, Darrow sneaks over the wall to House Mars. A slave encounters him, and he convinces her that as a Mars student, he is not an intruder. As a sign of dominance, Darrow carves the image of his Reaper’s scythe on doors and tables. His army burns brush arranged like the scythe. 

Darrow plans to capture House Ceres’s castle, studies the allegiances of his new army, and trains them for battle. Darrow’s army of twenty-four sleeps in the snow and wakes, readying for their plan. The army carries a giant tree trunk toward the wall of Ceres’s castle. They prop the trunk against the wall, and Mustang, Darrow, and Milia scale it. 

The warriors fight guards, armed with bows and arrows, while Darrow’s army brandishes swords. Darrow opens the gates, and the massive Pax storms inside. Darrow’s army conquers Ceres in minutes. Tactus braids a Ceres boy’s hair, and at Darrow’s scold, Tactus threatens him and cites his powerful family, the Valiis. 

Darrow congratulates each member of his new army and frees all slaves. Mustang enslaves Ceres students, and Darrow promises them freedom if they assist his next campaign. That night, Mustang wakes up Darrow to tell him Tactus attempted to rape a Ceres slave. 

Darrow and Mustang discuss Tactus’s punishment. Darrow wants to maintain his power and exact justice, while Mustang wonders which decision will alienate the fewest people. Mustang tells Darrow a parable to explain that he needs his army on his side. 

Darrow talks with Nyla, the girl Tactus assaulted. Nyla says she does not want Tactus punished, since nothing will compensate for what he did. Darrow brings out his army and faces Tactus. Tactus argues for his inherited power over others, while Darrow argues for his own power. Darrow sentences Tactus to twenty lashes and administers them himself.

Darrow hands Tactus the whip and announces that one group member’s sin is shared by all, including Darrow. He challenges Tactus to whip him. Tactus whips him five times, then Pax takes over. The army is astounded. Darrow tells them he will receive lashes anytime a rape occurs within his ranks. Tactus, newly afraid, receives a hearty embrace from Darrow.  

Mustang cleans the wounds on Darrow’s back and teases him about his martyrdom. Darrow organizes his army, now fifty-six strong, into six parts. They scout throughout the land in search of House Apollo. The Primas of Apollo, Novas, approaches Darrow and his army. All of them pretend to be weaker and less prepared for battle than they are. 

Novas warns Darrow of the treacherous conditions and enemies in the South. Darrow pretends fear of the Reaper, whom Novas believes is dead. Novas belittles Darrow for his apparent lack of preparedness. That evening, Apollo’s cavalry attempts to raid Darrow’s camp, but Pax and his friends have chipped away at the frozen ice on the river to compromise Apollo. 

As Darrow’s company continues, Mustang asks why they no longer sleep side by side. “‘You distract me,’ I say” (310). Tactus taunts Darrow for his crush. Tactus, now loyal, asks Darrow where they are going. Darrow answers that they will conquer Apollo, and Tactus guesses that Darrow withholds information, since the Proctors have been following them. 

Darrow’s army defeats several bands of enemies and sends them away. Darrow and Mustang listen to Pax discuss his past as a covert Obsidian. The army learns that Proctors have cut their horses’ ropes, broken their pots, and placed weevils in their bread to disadvantage them. 

Mustang asks Darrow to tell him what happened between him and Cassius. He tells her, and she realizes the plot to prop up the Jackal. In the middle of the night, Darrow hears Mustang call him in the woods. He runs to a tree and climbs it, realizing someone has entrapped him. Proctor Apollo reveals himself and pushes Darrow from the tree. 

Apollo has sent a giant bear after Darrow, who unwittingly leads it into a trap. Darrow falls into a trap himself. Sevro rescues Darrow, and the two return to Darrow’s camp. Tactus and Mustang greet Sevro, now a legendary one-eyed warrior and Darrow’s trusted friend. Sevro tells the troops about his face-off with the Jackal. Darrow asks everyone to remove their rings before he shares what happened with Apollo’s Proctor. 

Darrow’s army bring chaos to Apollo’s ranks by ruining supplies, capturing slaves, and spreading rumors. Darrow fears another attempted murder by Apollo. Sevro shares more about the Jackal. He trapped himself and his other House members in caves, and they ate their own. 

House Apollo’s Proctor arrives around their fire. Apollo claims the students’ prospects after the game will suffer if they continue following Darrow, who is exploiting their loyalty for his own gain. Darrow’s friends challenge him and refuse to obey. Darrow reveals that he knows Apollo is cheating and that Drafters will be furious if their students die in a rigged game. Apollo threatens them. 

Darrow reveals that he has distracted Apollo on purpose and sent Sevro to the castle ahead of them. Apollo’s jamField vanishes, revealing distracted Proctors and the howls of Sevro’s squad in the distance. Darrow and Pax run through Apollo’s gates and defeat Novas’s bodyguards until only Novas is left. Darrow breaks Novas’s leg with his slingBlade. Mustang captures the lone runaway member of House Apollo, conquering the castle. 

Darrow, watching Proctors bicker above him, mocks Apollo and warns Jupiter’s Proctor he will defeat that House next. Darrow’s army yells his nickname, Reaper, at the Proctors.