Story Recap of The Hidden Guardian, Book 3 of Ranger of the Titan Wilds
The Wilds Exile is releasing on April 3rd, 2025, so you may want to refresh your memory on what came before it!
What follows is a recap of the events in The Hidden Guardian, Book 3 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 get you up to speed on the major plot points.
I hope you find it helpful!
SUMMARY OF THE HIDDEN GUARDIAN
RANGER OF THE TITAN WILDS: BOOK 3
Leiyn of Orille, one of the two remaining rangers from the Wilds Lodge, travels south with her ornery horse Feral after spending half a year in Qasaar, the arid city belonging to the Gasts and other indigenous tribes of the Veiled Lands. There, she had encountered a new deadly enemy to both the Many Tribes and all of humanity: the lyshans, a malevolent group of shapeshifters that stood in opposition to the dryvans like Ata (also known as Rowan and Foxfur). With the Gasts and dryvans, they drove back the devils into the Barren, the wastelands beyond Qasaar, where they hope they will remain.
In the course of the battles, Leiyn forged a bond with a titan, an ash dragon she’s come to call Clouded Fang, after the mountain from which he first erupted. In the aftermath, however, she has become uncertain of their bond and fears it will break if she cannot mend it soon.
Now Leiyn must return to her duty to her homeland. Having secured the Gasts as allies in Baltesia’s war for independence from Ilberia, she goes to deliver the news to her governor, Mauricio di Siveña. On her way south, however, she comes upon a fresh conflict between two groups of potential enemies: the Suncoats of Ilberia and the plainsriders of Altan Gaz, the Gazian counterparts to the rangers. Opting for the lesser enemy, Leiyn joins the plainsriders in routing the Ilberian soldiers, but with the promise that she will tell of their incursion onto Baltesian lands.
That is not the only surprise she suffers during her journey south. In the borderland town of Folly, Leiyn discovers the former mayor, Itzel, has been promoted to a new position of “premier,” giving her power over the whole of the Frontier. Uncertain what these changing dynamics in power mean, Leiyn presses on for Southport, where she finds the people of Baltesia are not united in their allegiances. Communities have become divided in their loyalties, and atrocities are committed on both sides.
Upon reaching Southport, Leiyn discovers yet more unwelcome changes. Ilberia has not been idle and has sent its famed Armada to embargo Baltesia’s capital from the sea. Additionally, the stories about Leiyn have grown in her absence so that a new flag flies in her honor, and she carries an aggrandized title: “Tideraiser.” What is more, when she arrives before Mauricio, the governor bestows a new position upon her: that of Prima Maha, placing her at the head of the freshly established Order of Mahia.
The Order of Mahia is to be Baltesia’s source of “mahas,” or those who can wield magic, in the absence of the odiosas of Ilberia or shamans from the Gasts. Leiyn finds a dozen pupils under her tutelage and struggles to teach them as best as she knows how. All the while, she chafes at the responsibility and being trapped within the bounds of the city.
Her only relief comes in reuniting with her old companions, Isla and Batu. It’s not the only reunion she has, to her misfortune. Taban Khyan, the plainsrider who betrayed the old moorwarden of the Gazian Greathouse and hunted them, has become the new leader of the plainsriders and wormed his way into Mauricio’s good graces. For now, he only casts barbed words at Leiyn, but it’s a reminder that not every ally is to be trusted.
Bit by bit, Leiyn makes progress with her pupils and coordinates with the other efforts against the Armada’s oppression. She also has a breakthrough with rescuing an odiosa from his brainwashing, which she manages by breaking through a magical lock upon his mind.
But the very night of this discovery, an assassin infiltrates her room while she sleeps. Stabbed in the chest, she only survives thanks to Batu’s intervention. Though she uses magic to heal, Leiyn is still weakened, so much so that when the same kraken as first assaulted Southport rises in the bay, she cannot drive it back. It is left to Baltesia’s allies in the Gazian wisdoms, the magic wielders of Altan Gaz, to save the city from utter destruction. Yet they cannot stop the freed odiosa from being lost in the chaos, robbing Leiyn of further revelations he might have provided.
Impatient and angry, Leiyn is eager to leave the city and seek those whom she sees as her true enemy: Sharo and the other lyshans. She seizes on the first opportunity to leave the city in a diplomatic mission to the last of the Tricolonies, Ore-Ofe, to see if they can requisition aid and soldiers from them. Isla and Batu go with, along with the Baltesian captain Belen of Wharfhaven, with whom Leiyn was once flirtatious, and a host of soldiers to provide protection.
Their journey to the third colony is rife with trouble. First, they discover Ilberia has seized a Baltesian fortress. After fleeing the ambush, Leiyn takes captive and keeps alive a soldier whose arm she chopped off, a young Suncoat named Arias di Carille. Using the information he provides, they cross into Ore-Ofe and bypass the fortress that stood in their way, while Arias takes the opportunity to escape.
But their trials do not stop there. In the jungle, they come across a titan, a vine jaguar, that nearly lulls their party to a savage death. Leiyn leashes it long enough that they escape unharmed.
On the overgrown road beyond it, they are ambushed once more, this time by an enemy Leiyn cannot ward off. A lyshan, armored and armed, leads a group of Suncoats and odiosas. Unable to summon Clouded Fang to help, Leiyn cannot kill the lyshan. As their party is slaughtered or captured, including Captain Belen, she leads Isla and Batu and their mounts into the castle ruins above. There, a tempest hawk appears, which Leiyn attempts to leash to send against their enemies. To her shock, however, another seems to command the titan, if from afar. In an attempt to wrest away control of the titan, Leiyn brings out someone from hiding: a young woman who begs Leiyn not to hurt the one behind the titan. The lyshan being nearly upon them, the young woman spirits them all away, similar to how Ata and other dryvans have transported them in the past.
Whisked from danger, Leiyn and her companions find the ruined castle transformed into a village. A strange people surrounds them, all wielding powerful mahia, with precious stones embedded in their skin and wearing clothes of odd materials and in colors Leiyn finds garish. They identify themselves as Etemans, their village as being named Solace, and the young woman who had appeared being Ketti Ta’Rul.
Leiyn remains defensive, suspicious of this hidden people. But when Batu appears to be dying from wounds acquired during the battle, Isla compels Leiyn to let one of the Etemans heal him where Leiyn would fail. With that act of goodwill, Leiyn agrees to meet with their leader, an ancient man named Oro Ta’Rul. He is the great-grandfather of Ketti and also commands the tempest hawk Leiyn tried to take control of.
They are allowed to remain at Oro’s command, though Leiyn is unsure if they are being imprisoned or not. Without Clouded Fang, she and her friends cannot escape the grotto in which Solace exists, and she is still unable to wield the titan properly. Only with the help of Ketti or another Eteman can they get out of Solace.
But she discovers much during their short time there. The Etemans, she learns, are related to the ancestors of the Gasts. Long ago, they parted ways over the war with the Iritu, for whom they still harbor great ire. While the Iritu pruned the Gasts of much of their magic, the Etemans maintained their strength, though they have lost their martial ways after centuries of peace.
Yet they have not lost their vigilance. When Chispa, the silver fox who has long watched over Leiyn, appears and allows Leiyn to communicate with Ata, who lurks in the ruins on the other side of the grotto, Oro Ta’Rul summons them and his fellow Eteman elders to a gathering. There, he accuses Leiyn, Isla, and Batu of being allies of the Iritu, citing not only this communication with Ata and Isla’s leg healed under dryvan intervention, but also revealing a fact unbeknownst to all: Batu contains Iritu blood himself. This makes him one of the “beastfolk” of legend, who are said to have been able to transform into animals.
Their fates uncertain, Ketti provides them with further aid, helping Leiyn figure out why she cannot command Clouded Fang and allowing her to summon him should she master some basic skills. When Oro Ta’Rul discovers this, Ketti calls for another meeting, at which she declares Etemans cannot hide forever, and that they must heal the world, a task which Leiyn only vaguely understands.
As a result, Ketti accompanies Leiyn and her small company into the outside world. After overcoming the Suncoats and odiosa lying in ambush, they continue on to the capital of Ore-Ofe, Kunu, and finally reach it. Their reception, however, is not entirely friendly. After a tense conversation with Cloud Awera, the chancellor and leader of the colony, they are permitted to speak with the Ofean magic wielders, the eesuwé of the Coterie Tower. While initial talks stall, the eesuwé betray interest in Ketti, making all suspicious that they know of her true identity as an Eteman.
Once more kept as uncertain captives, Leiyn finds an ally within the Coterie, an eesu by the name of Ekosa Siza. Ekosa reveals they do, indeed, know of the Etemans, and that his leaders do not intend to help her. But Ekosa feels differently and wants to aid them, for he wants the Tricolonies to be free.
But even as Leiyn meets with Ekosa, the Coterie Tower receives an unexpected visitor. Leiyn returns to the room she shares with her friends to find Ata there, utterly devastated. The dryvan reveals that the lyshans have attacked the home of the dryvans, Glade, and all are dead—all but for her.
No sooner does she reveal this than a less welcome visitor appears. Khamo, the armored lyshan who ambushed them before, has come to finish the job. Ata, grief-stricken, throws herself at him in battle. Seeing no other way to fight a lyshan, Leiyn manages to summon Clouded Fang with Chispa’s help. With her tenuous connection, she tries to aid the dryvan in the tight quarters.
They drive off Khamo, but not without Ata taking a terrible fall from the tower. With Chispa’s help, they reach the grotto where Ata has taken shelter and lies dying. Leiyn saves her, however, using the power from her bonded ash dragon, though she nearly kills herself doing it. Upon awakening, she finds Ata whole once more, if still weakened, and grateful for her intervention. Ata swears herself to Leiyn and her cause, ensuring they have a powerful ally in the dryvan.
Fearing for Southport after their long absence, they first secure future aid from the eesuwé in the form of providing mentors for the students of the Order of Mahia, then bring along Ekosa, who has been banished from his home for all he did to help them, and make back for Baltesia. Ata accomplishes this in a moment by her strange form of teleportation.
It is not without its costs, however. Leiyn and her party appear in the bay of Southport, devoid of their animals and many belongings. To make matters worse, the kraken is once more awakened and wreaking havoc upon the city at the behest of the odiosas. Ata swims them to safety, then Leiyn, aided by Ketti and Ekosa, attacks the odiosas by mahia. It is enough to keep Southport safe for the moment, and the kraken subsides once more.
Returning to Mauricio to report their varied success—and discovering the governor has solidified his power by becoming the “Elected Consul” and uncontested leader of Baltesia—they find they’re not the only ones to have arrived in Southport. Gast warriors led by war chieftain Acalan Tikau and Teya, Leiyn’s lover, have come to the aid of their new allies. After reuniting, the decision is made that they cannot endure the siege any longer. The time has come to break Ilberia’s hold on the Tricolonies—and end the war.
With Ata’s aid, they make a plan to attack the odiosas who have been besetting them for so long. Without odiosas, Baltesia can send its own titans against the Armada and complete their destruction. Ketti and Ata first go off to fetch a titan not in the bay, assuming they will find one in the ruined city of Breakbay.
Upon their return, Leiyn and her friends commit to the assault along with Taban and his plainsriders. Ata transports them to several ships, where they kill the odiosas in a frenzied battle. Meanwhile, Ketti drives a new variety of titan into their midst, a giant one known as a reef whale.
The Ilberians do not stand alone, however. Midway through the assault, the lyshan Khamo comes to their defense. Amid the battle, Leiyn is pitched overboard and, grievously wounded, it looks as if she’ll drown. At the last moment, she manages to finally summon Clouded Fang on her own, thanks in part to the discovery that she carries a piece of Tadeo, the deceased lodgemaster and father-figure, with her in the fox figurine he carved for her. Rescued by the ash dragon, she finds herself revitalized, and with the dragon’s aid, she and her companions take down Khamo and win the battle.
But victory comes at a high price. Though Taban fought beside them, it’s revealed after the dust settles that he shot Isla in the melee and killed her. Overcome with grief, Leiyn appears before Mauricio to demand Taban’s life. When the moorwarden is brought before her, she ignores the Elected Consul’s orders to leave him to the rule of law and kills him then and there. His hands tied, Mauricio orders her exiled from Baltesia, and at Leiyn’s behest, Ata whisks her and her companions away to the Titan Wilds.
Now that you’re ready to continue Ranger of the Titan Wilds, pick up the latest installment in the series, The Wilds Exile, through the button below!
