Arriving in the depths of the underground hideout, Eagle feels Jessie's gaze but is unable to locate her. He denounces Garicalege Leader Rowan and Blue Doctor High Criminal Zai Gristen — both names having been sentenced to death. Rowan taunts Eagle, promising to give the Captain the same death as his wife Yuma. The two clash, unable to break past the other's defenses. Jessie looks on paralyzed by the binding fragrance. Eagle finally spots Jessie and fights with renewed vigor, while Rowan disparages him for falling in love with a Blue Person.
With a decisive final charge, Eagle severs Rowan's dragon arm from his body. In doing so he must get close enough to be slashed across the side by Rowan's claws. Jessie comes running, finally free of the binding fragrance. Eagle offers her the Blue Ring and she embraces him. He then presses his wife's earring into her hand before passing out.
Rowan taunts Jessie by telling her he has poisoned his claws before the battle, and that even her blood won't save Eagle. He professes to have poisoned Eagle "for her." Jessie begs "Dr. Zai" for the antidote.
Tisuodo arrives, seeing Jessie cradling an unconscious Eagle and Rowan lying on the ground next to his severed arm. The second-in-command of the Garicalege moves to strike Jessie down with his dragon-headed prosthetic arm.
Chapter 14 Provides Examples of:
- The Annotated Edition: The authors notes reveal that last name of Ray's dragon tamer, Idee, is "Pomero," and his age is 18.
- An Arm and a Leg: Rowan loses his fire dragon arm in the battle with Eagle. Once the dragon arm has been severed, it's physical effects on Rowan begin to reverse — his scarlet eyes turn blue again, and it's possible his blood would have regained the Blue Ramun's healing properties he lost when the arm was grafted onto him if he lived long enough to recover from the amputation.Jessie: Dr. Zai.... your... crimson eyes are turning the same blue as mine... you're returning to the Blue Tribe...
- Badass Cape: Eagle wears his white, standard issue police cape to contrast with Rowan's dark Scarf of Asskicking.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: Tisuodo is missing his right arm above the elbow. In it's place he is able to summon a dragon-headed prosthetic that he uses like a whip-sword.
- Blood from the Mouth:
- Although Eagle sliced through Rowan's arm, the first sign that Rowan took damage in their Single-Stroke Battle is a trickle of blood from his mouth.
- Similarly, Eagle received a gouge from Rowan's claws across his side, but as the poison starts to take effect he bleeds from the mouth.
- Heirloom Engagement Ring: Zig-Zagged all over the place:
- Jessie's Blue Ring — Dr. Zai was the original owner of the ring, which signified his status as an official Blue Doctor. When he abandoned the Blue Doctors to join the Garicalege, he left the ring with Jessie as a symbol of his affection for the little girl. Jessie's family kept the ring, and gave it to her when she turned fifteen and became a Blue Doctor. Jessie gave the ring to Eagle when he tried to rescue her from the Garicalege as a token of her love. Eagle wore the ring while leading the charge against the Garicalege, swearing to himself that he would return it to her personally when she was safe and he could tell her how he felt. In this Chapter, he returns the ring and gives her his earring.
- Eagle/ Yuma's Earring — Eagle and Yuma exchanged earrings when they married. After Yuma's death, Eagle had wore her earring for a year as part of the Silkdeep Empire's mourning traditions. He continued to wear it beyond that period as he was unable to let go of his guilt over failing to prevent her death, or to open himself up to another romance. When Eagle gives Jessie the earring, it signifies both that he has moved beyond his grief over Yuma's death and that he returns Jessie's feelings for him.
- Literal Disarming: Eagle slices off Rowan's dragon arm. Aside from a short katar dagger in his right hand, Rowan was fighting "barehanded" (if you count using a hulking, clawed dragon arm that can shoot blasts of fire and has been coated in poison as barehanded).
- Poisoned Weapons: Rowan coats the claws of his dragon arm with "Scarlet Thief" poison in preparation for his battle with Eagle. Though Eagle manages to cut off the dangerous transplanted arm, he has to get close enough that Rowan is able to poison him with a slash of the claws.Rowan: The 'Scarlet Thief'... I made this poison after I first became a member of the Garicalege. I dusted the nails of my fire dragon arm with a hearty amount of the poison. There wasn't even any left when I finished coating them.
- Scarf of Asskicking: Rowan wears a dark, ragged-edged scarf in his confrontation with Eagle, who in contrast wears a clean white police army cape.
- Single-Stroke Battle: Downplayed — Rowan and Eagle clash, but neither is able to damage the other until their battle is decided with their final charge. Eagle takes a swipe to the side from Rowan's poisoned claws, but Rowan loses his transplanted dragon arm.
- Symbolic Mutilation: Exaggerated — Rowan loses the fire dragon arm he had transplanted onto himself when he turned his back on the Blue People and Blue Doctors to join the Garicalege. Moments after the arm is sliced off, Jessie comments that his reddened eyes are going back to their original blue. Rowan postulates that the spells that were meant to suppress his blood's healing properties (and keep his body from rejecting the arm) have come unbound with the arm's removal.
