The group heads back home via the Rebma portal. However, behind them Isabelle sees gold and red explosions over Thuul. She is enamored with the beauty of the scene and simply must take a closer look. She asks her comrades to join her, but they take too long discussing it. She summons Falcor and away they go.
The others suddenly realize she's gone and chase after her, befuddled by her impulsive actions, as usual. Jericho flies over to her atop the palace wreckage. Gerhardt trumps over to her after she convinced him there was plenty to study. Silas used his hang glider to swoop into the left camp on the battlefield, a la James Bond. With impressive grandeur, he lands in the command area and introduces himself. He endeavors to convince the commander to take him to his leader, Ravenos.
Gerhardt uses his pattern lens and detects Pattern presence. Isabelle uses her Trump to zoom in and finds the source. It's Silas! He is being escorted in a marginally cordial manner into the commander's tent.
Jericho takes on a group of stingray-looking mechanical ships. He daftly maneuvers through them, and two take each other out in the crossfire. Two more are injured and one remains unscathed. Jericho takes out the two and captures the last one.
The capture is not so easy, as it turns out. The controls don't work for Jericho. He notices tattoos on the arms of the unconscious pilot. He calls Gerhardt for help, who then turns the call over to Isabelle. She takes over the mind of the pilot and manages to steer the ship to relative safety.
With the whole group reassembled atop the palace tower, Silas gets a trump call. Isabelle touches Silas on the shoulder to prepare for the contact. Suddenly everything stops… except for Silas and the caller — Brand.
Brand asks Silas to help him and the purple army. He wants Silas to convince the rest of the group to help him beat Magog, the black and red army. Silas agrees to betray Ravenos. When Brand wins, he will open diplomatic relations with Amber.
Time unfreezes and Silas tells the group that he's gotten a call from Llylandre asking to join forces. (The group knows nothing to the contrary.) Silas is careful not to convey his secret out loud. Instead, he writes it on a note and shows it to the group.
During the next communication, Isabelle jumps in and attempts a psychic investigation. Suddenly Silas goes blind and falls backward. A psychic blast hits her, but she is able to match it with her own power. She and Brand argue for a bit, and then it becomes clear that this is Brand… but he doesn't know about the other Brand in the black and red tent.
They close contact and Isabelle decides to call back. It's difficult, but with concerted effort, she is able to push contact through to Brand — all five of him.