The realities of Icaron's injuries are finally realized, as he soon passes away shortly after their escape from the tree runners two days later, from his injuries. Before dying though, Icaron reveals to Dusk that the dead saurian nest he had seen on the island was indeed caused by Icaron, which surprises them both, that their father had been lying all along. Nova then takes over as the colony leader after getting permission from the next leader in line (Auster, Icaron's eldest son).
We once again follow Carnassial, this time only with Panthera, as they travelled with the hyaernadon pack as they go to the place where the saurian nest was. Carnassial admires their hunting ability, and realizes that he can only become a the ruler of all creatures if he uses his wit, rather than strength. He plans to manipulate the hyaenadons.
Chapter 19 is when things start to get very interesting. After Nova became leader, it was decided that the best thing to do was for Dusk to go search for a suitable home for his colony. Since he was faster than the others, he could scout areas faster. Dusk could see from the top of a tree a suitable home in the distance, but it is far away across barren land (no trees for the chiropters to land on). Dusk goes to see if it really is suitable first. There, he meets other creatures, who look exactly like him. They called themselves bats. He meets a female bat named Chimera, who offers him refuge within her own colony of bats, just like Dusk. Dusk agrees, but must first go back to inform his colony. When he returns, he finds no one is there.
These two chapters have a common theme of trust, and betrayal of trust. Icaron's confession that he did indeed kill those saurians on the island went against his beliefs, which had gotten the colony in a lot of trouble (being rejected by the previous chiropter colony). Dusk, and indeed the whole colony trusted Icaron, that his beliefs were right, and that Icaron practiced these beliefs. Instead all along he had killed those saurian despite his beliefs. This in a way, also took away from Dusk his sense of security. Another act of betrayal was also when Dusk's colony seemed to have abandoned him when he returned to them.
