Story Recap of The First Ancestor, Book 2 of Ranger of the Titan Wilds
The Hidden Guardian may have already released, but if you’re continuing the series late, this might still be helpful for you!
What follows is a recap of the events in The First Ancestor, the previous book in the Ranger of the Titan Wilds series. It won’t cover everything that happens in the book, nor every character we meet, but it should at least refresh you on the major plot points.
I hope you find it helpful!
SUMMARY OF THE FIRST ANCESTOR
RANGER OF THE TITAN WILDS: BOOK 2
Leiyn of Orille, one of the two remaining rangers from the Wilds Lodge, ventures north through the Titan Wilds. She leaves to fulfill an obligation to the fallen shaman Zuma, to whom she owes her life thrice over, and for whose death she feels responsible. This obligation is to help Zuma’s people, the Gasts, and the other people of the Many Tribes, in their battle with a mysterious and deadly enemy.
Traveling with her are three companions: Isla Ogbi, the other surviving ranger and Leiyn’s closest friend; Batu Khatas, a plainsrider of the neighboring colony, Altan-Gaz, and a loyal comrade; and Acalan Tikau, a chieftain of a Gast tribe, who promises the aid of his people in exchange for Leiyn, Isla, and Batu’s help in their own war.
Crossing the mountains, they arrive at Qasaar, the cliff city of the Many Tribes. Upon their arrival, they are met by Teya of the Hunt, a Gast scout who holds Leiyn and her companions in immediate suspicion.
Their party is received with as little warmth by the rest of the indigenous peoples, with the Tetrad, the group of four leaders that includes Acalan, seeming skeptical of making an alliance with Baltesia in their war with the Ilberian Union, despite Acalan’s promises to the contrary.
The council is interrupted by Rowan, the dryvan who took an interest in Leiyn in the past, and whose intercession saved Isla’s life. Rowan has undergone some changes since they last met: silver fur covers her body due to merging with a silver fox, and she goes by a new name, Foxfur.
She whisks Leiyn away into the desert to stand before a black stone pillar, one of the many that form a protective border around Qasaar. There, Foxfur tells Leiyn more of the shadowy enemies she faces: lyshans, the malevolent cousins of the dryvans, who lurk beyond the border of black stone pillars.
After returning to Qasaar, Leiyn finds herself in trouble with some locals before Teya, the Gast scout, finds and saves her out of a sense of duty. A contentious conversation leads to a formal duel the following morning, during which Leiyn crosses spears with Teya. Only by using her mahia is she able to overcome the scout, who is superior in the contest in every other way.
This use of magic does not go unnoticed by a Gast shaman. This shaman, Mother Xepi, takes Leiyn under her wing and begins teaching her to properly use her mahia.
After several weeks of training and getting to know the Many Tribes and their cultures, Leiyn itches to break out of her routine. She leaps at the chance Teya offers her to accompany another shaman, Father Patli, who needs to venture out into the Barren, the wasteland beyond Qasaar, in the dangerous task of reinforcing their barrier against titans.
In the course of this hurried journey, they are ambushed by lyshans, and Leiyn experiences firsthand how deadly their enemies are. Only the appearance of Foxfur prevents their entire party from being wiped out, though Leiyn manages to kill a lyshan herself. It cannot stop one of the lyshans from whisking Leiyn into a grotto.
Wearied and injured from the fight, Leiyn is at the lyshan’s mercy, yet he does not kill her. Calling himself Sharo, he speaks enigmatically of sharing a mutual interest with her: namely, unseating Man’nah, the leader of the lyshans, from his position of power. Uncertain if he is being truthful or playing some other game, Leiyn navigates the precarious situation until the lyshan consents to let her go.
Wounded and disheartened, the scouting party returns to Qasaar as quickly as they can. Once recovered, Leiyn continues her training with renewed purpose. She has a distinct goal in mind: to harness the power of titans with a secret Mother Xepi claims Zuma knew. To unlock this secret, she must first access Zuma’s spark, a sliver of his soul, which he passed on to Leiyn as he died. This proves a difficult task for her, one that seems beyond her ability.
Making matters more difficult, Isla and Batu decide they must return to Baltesia to bear back early news of the terms of the Gast alliance and begin negotiations back home. The parting is bitter for Leiyn, who feels untethered without her friends.
She is pressed to rash action: entering a grotto through the barracks where she is living. First discovered by accident, Leiyn finds ancient weapons and armor as well as artifacts. Despite Mother Xepi’s warnings against it, Leiyn determines there is too much to gain by exploring it and ignores her advice.
Foxfur discovers her in the barracks’ walls and reveals that the city of Qasaar was once home to her people, who called themselves the Iritu long ago. She also confides her true name—Atastimina, or Ata for short—and declares her and Leiyn to be friends.
Teya’s growing companionship also proves a welcome distraction. Visiting one evening, the scout leads Leiyn to a mystical canyon where they share in intimate conversation and a first kiss. Leiyn feels herself binding tighter to not only Teya, but the war the Many Tribes are themselves embroiled in.
Soon after, Teya leaves on a follow-up expedition to reinforce the protective barrier. Leiyn is forbidden from going by Mother Xepi, who deems it too much of a risk; too few shamans remain who can accomplish this imperative task. Father Patli goes instead, but once more, their party is ambushed by lyshans. Captured, it is only a matter of time before they break the shaman and turn him against his own people. All but Teya are slain, and the scout barely escapes herself.
Frustrated by her lack of progress accessing Zuma’s spark and worried about Patli’s abduction, Leiyn once more enters the barracks grotto, determined to claim weapons and armor that might help in a contest against the shapeshifters.
Yet the lyshans remain one step ahead. Ambushed in the grotto, only Ata’s vigilance keeps Leiyn from being slain at their hands. In order to save Leiyn from further damage, Ata transports her into a grotto in the midst of the Barren. There, she lays dying, alone, with no way to return to the world.
It is then that Leiyn finds it in herself to access Zuma’s spark by reliving the painful moments of his death. The part of the deceased shaman within her is then able to show her how he bonded with a titan and accessed its power. Desperate and with nothing to lose, Leiyn manages to reach a titan deep within the ground and summon it to her.
An ash dragon rises at her summons—the same ash dragon, she senses, as first rose from the mountain Clouded Fang near the Wilds Lodge. What is more, within the grotto, the dragon appears to possess flesh and blood instead of being incorporeal as it is in her world.
The titan overflows her with its lifeforce, allowing her to heal, then transports her out of the grotto. Sensing an impending titan attack on Qasaar, Leiyn hurries back to the cliff city.
She reaches the Gast city in time to help Mother Xepi repel an attack by the captured Patli. Compelled through unknown means to turn against his own people, the shaman has driven a sand titan through the weakened boundary to drive against the city. The only way to stop the attack is to kill him with mahia, which Leiyn does with great reluctance.
Soon after the assault is repelled, the lyshan Sharo summons Leiyn out from the city to negotiate. Leiyn, knowing the city cannot withstand a direct attack by the lyshans, goes to hear him out. Sharo offers her the chance to face Man’nah and kill him, if she can. Seeing it as her best opportunity, not wishing Teya or any others to risk their lives further, Leiyn agrees and allows him to transport her away.
Arriving in a dead Iritu city populated by lyshans, Sharo then isolates Leiyn with Man’nah in a grotto. Summoning the ash dragon once more and using Iritu weapons, she narrowly manages to overcome the lyshan lord, though only after coming near to death herself. Just when she seeks to finish him, Sharo appears and sends her away, seeking to absorb Man’nah’s power for himself.
Leiyn is sent back to the ancient city to find a battle raging. Not only have warriors of the Many Tribes appeared, including Acalan and Teya, but also the dryvans of Glade. Summoned there by Ata, they transported the Gasts and strove against their long-lost brethren. Wielding Iritu artifacts and fighting side-by-side, they kill or drive off the lyshans, securing a lasting peace for Qasaar.
Leiyn spends another month at Qasaar negotiating with the chieftains of the Tetrad to secure an alliance with Baltesia. That done, she departs the cliff city and leaves behind Teya and Acalan with their promise that they arrive in Baltesia the following autumn. Alone, she crosses the mountains and returns to her homeland.
Now that you’re ready to continue Ranger of the Titan Wilds, you can pick up the latest installment in the series, The Hidden Guardian, through the button below.
