Fangs that do not fear people, blood carried back to the hearth, and a night that slips into blood-rot turn Brad Village into a place where legend must be tested against flesh. Aida and the villagers learn to distinguish beasts from demon beasts, preserve wounds, carry the injured, and keep life from vanishing between mountain and sea. What they call the hero's blood is not waiting in a distant tale. It is breathing beside the fire, inside people who refuse to let one another die.