Before They Are Hanged

The Book in Brief

Before They Are Hanged continues the six point-of-view stories begun in The Blade Itself. Dogman and Collem West face Bethod's invasion of Angland; Sand dan Glokta is sent south to defend Dagoska from the Gurkish; and Logen Ninefingers, Ferro Maljinn, and Jezal dan Luthar cross the ruined Old Empire with Bayaz. The novel contains fifty named chapters, divided evenly into two parts.

Part One

Chapter 1 — The Great Leveler. Dogman and his companions—Threetrees, Black Dow, Tul Duru, and Harding Grim—move through the fog near Black Well, uncertain whether Bethod's men or the Union will kill them first. They find the remains of a Union force ambushed beside the river. At Ostenhorm, a young officer refuses them entry, but Threetrees is determined to make the Union hear their offer.

Chapter 2 — Best Laid Plans. Lord Marshal Burr removes Lord Governor Meed from military command for marching into Bethod's ambush. He promotes Collem West to colonel and assigns him to Crown Prince Ladisla's division, whose leadership is already a danger to its own soldiers. During an inspection ride, West and Burr encounter Threetrees's band. Burr accepts the Northmen as scouts and places them under West.

Chapter 3 — Questions. Glokta reaches Dagoska with Severard, Frost, and Vitari. His orders are to discover what happened to Superior Davoust and prepare the city for a Gurkish attack. He finds Davoust's servants ruined by Inquisitor Harker's questioning, imprisons Harker, and confronts Dagoska's hostile ruling council with a royal writ giving Glokta supreme authority.

Chapter 4 — The Wounds of the Past. Bayaz's party stops in Calcis, a decaying city caught between rival claimants to the Old Empire. The local legate orders the travelers to leave because war has closed the river crossings. Bayaz responds with a display of fury. Elsewhere in the city, Logen and Brother Longfoot discuss the dangerous road to Shabulyan and the merchant disguise the group will use.

Chapter 5 — The Condition of the Defences. Glokta inspects Dagoska's crumbling land walls and badly outnumbered defenders. He orders the ditch flooded, laborers hired, and food gathered for the entire population. He also meets Nicomo Cosca, the cheerfully untrustworthy commander of the city's Styrian mercenaries. Korsten dan Vurms resists every measure until Glokta makes clear that obstruction can be treated as treason.

Chapter 6 — The Thing About Trust. On the road from Calcis, Ferro presses Bayaz for answers about Khalul, the First Law, and the Seed. He promises that the object they seek can give her revenge but refuses to explain further. That night Ferro tries to desert with stolen supplies. Logen intercepts her and proposes a limited bargain: remain with the group, watch his back, and see whether trust becomes possible.

Chapter 7 — Allies. Glokta offers Haddish Kahdia citizenship for Dagoska's native population in exchange for help defending the city. Under torture, Harker admits stealing money but denies knowing what happened to Davoust. Glokta then dines with Carlot dan Eider, who confirms Davoust suspected a traitor on the council. She and Glokta form a wary alliance, though she cannot provide the money he needs.

Chapter 8 — Campfire Politics. Ferro demonstrates the unnatural sight and precision granted by her devil-blood. At an abandoned village, Logen tries to turn the hostile travelers into something resembling a company. Quai tells them how Euz divided magic among his sons, how the neglected Glustrod broke the First Law, and how his attempt to reach the Other Side destroyed Aulcus. Jezal dismisses the history as a fable.

Chapter 9 — Small Crimes. West tours Ladisla's camp and sees starving levies, neglected equipment, and officers dreaming of glory. With no smiths available, he forces his way into an Inquisition prison camp. The badly burned convict Pike agrees to work for the army if West also takes Cathil, the young woman posing as his daughter. Her resemblance to Ardee persuades West to accept both.

Chapter 10 — Rain. Jezal endures rain, mud, and the collapse of every comfort he once considered essential. The travelers find a merchant company slaughtered on the plain, and the sight of his first corpses makes him vomit. Logen quietly preserves his dignity. With the ordinary crossings watched by armed men, Bayaz announces that their only route across the Aos runs through the dead city of Aulcus.

Chapter 11 — Bloody Company. Threetrees's band scouts ahead of Ladisla's division and clashes with Bethod's outriders. After killing the scouts, Dogman creeps forward and discovers an enormous gathering of Northern clans under Bethod's banners. Dow suggests slipping into the camp to murder the king, but Threetrees refuses the gamble. Their immediate task is to warn the Union before its scattered forces are destroyed.

Chapter 12 — Long Shadows. At the canyon of the River Aos, Ferro tells Logen that the Gurkish conquered her homeland and enslaved her as a child. She then spots riders following the group from miles away. The travelers hide in the ruins of an emperor's winter palace until the danger passes. Amid the tension, Logen's practical jokes and Ferro's cruelty begin to puncture Jezal's certainty that he stands above them.

Chapter 13 — And Next… My Gold. Sult refuses Glokta's requests for money and reinforcements, while Dagoska's council reveals that the city is already buried in debt. Mauthis of Valint & Balk arrives with a million marks and asks only for unspecified future favors. Glokta knows the offer is a trap and that reporting it could destroy him, but without the loan the city will fall. He signs.

Chapter 14 — Fear. Logen explains to Jezal that fear is useful and that surviving a fight depends more on preparation and luck than bravery. Cabrian's men ambush the party in a gorge. Bayaz uses the Art with horrifying force, killing several attackers before collapsing. Jezal freezes and survives only because Ferro intervenes. With Bayaz unconscious, Jezal reluctantly accepts Logen's authority.

Chapter 15 — One Hundred Words. The Magus Yulwei appears in Glokta's room and warns that a vast Gurkish force is approaching with a fleet and Khalul's Hundred Words—Eaters led by Mamun. He also reveals that an Eater inside Dagoska killed Davoust to protect a traitor. At dawn, five Gurkish columns arrive exactly as Yulwei predicted. Glokta floods the ditch and watches the siege close around him.

Chapter 16 — The Blind Lead the Blind. As the company crosses the Aos, Quai explains that using the Art draws power from the Other Side and always exacts a price. Bayaz may never wake. Longfoot argues for retreat, but Logen assumes command and orders the expedition toward Aulcus. He reassures Jezal that terror in a first battle is ordinary; surviving it offers the chance to act differently next time.

Chapter 17 — Prince Ladisla’s Stratagem. Threetrees and Dogman report that Bethod's veteran army is only days away and vastly superior to Ladisla's hungry levies. West begs the prince to withdraw or prepare a defense. Instead, Ladisla announces that he will cross the River Cumnur and attack, directly violating Burr's orders. Threetrees refuses to lead his men into certain defeat, leaving West trapped by his duty.

Chapter 18 — Until Sunset. A Gurkish envoy offers Dagoska safe passage if its gates are opened by sunset. Glokta pretends to consider surrender, then has the man seized. Under torture, the envoy names Korsten dan Vurms and Carlot dan Eider as the council members conspiring to deliver the city. Glokta finally has his traitors, though the confession tells him nothing about the Eater who murdered Davoust.

Chapter 19 — Long Odds. Ferro and Logen confirm that thirteen armed riders are closing on the group. With escape impossible, they choose a hill crowned by ancient stones and prepare an ambush. Ferro refuses Logen's offer to flee alone and makes him promise to bury her if she dies. Their handshake is a small but meaningful admission that each has begun to rely on the other.

Chapter 20 — The Road to Victory. Ladisla's division crosses the Cumnur in chaos. Knowing it is marching into disaster, West sends Jalenhorm to warn Burr that Bethod has slipped behind the Union army. He also asks Jalenhorm to tell Ardee that he is sorry if he does not return. West then turns back toward the bridge to impose what little order he can on the doomed advance.

Chapter 21 — Necessary Evils. Glokta presents the Gurkish envoy's severed head to Dagoska's council. Eider claims Cosca's mercenaries have seized the walls and opened the city, but Cosca has accepted Glokta's richer offer instead. Kahdia controls the gates, the Inquisition holds the Citadel, and Frost arrests Eider and Vurms. General Vissbruck, terrified by the failed conspiracy, pledges himself to the defense.

Chapter 22 — Among the Stones. Logen and Ferro spring their ambush among the standing stones, killing the pursuing soldiers at close quarters. Jezal remains with Quai and the cart but is forced to fight. His fencing skill kills two men, and his triumph lasts until a third smashes his jaw with a mace. By the time the last attacker falls, Jezal is unconscious and terribly broken.

Chapter 23 — The Fruits of Boldness. Ladisla orders his cavalry to chase a small Northern force into the mist, where Bethod's trap closes. Flatbows shred the Union lines and Northmen wearing captured armor strike the headquarters. Cathil saves West with a smith's hammer. As West, Pike, Cathil, and the cowering prince flee, Dogman finds them and leads the survivors away from the massacre.

Chapter 24 — One for Dinner. Eider admits she tried to surrender Dagoska to prevent a slaughter but denies knowing Davoust's killer. Glokta spares her despite Sult's likely expectations. That night his servant Shickel reveals herself as the Eater: she murdered and consumed Davoust. A prepared trap and the combined efforts of Glokta's Practicals barely restrain her, and her shattered body heals before their eyes.

Chapter 25 — One of Them. Jezal wakes while Logen, Ferro, and Quai reset his jaw, stitch his face, and splint his broken limbs. The agony and the glimpse of his ruined appearance destroy what remains of his composure. Surrounded by people whose scars he once treated as proof of inferiority, Jezal hears Logen welcome him as one of them.

Part Two

Chapter 26 — Heading North. Dogman confirms that Bethod is moving north, intending to defeat the Union's separated forces before turning on its towns. Threetrees decides the group must follow and warn Burr. Ladisla insists that they escort him south instead, but his rank has lost all meaning in the wilderness. Threetrees tells the prince plainly that he no longer gives the orders.

Chapter 27 — Scant Mercy. Glokta falsely reports that Eider has been executed. On a dark wharf, he removes her chains and places her aboard a ship bound for Westport. In return, she must forget Dagoska and never enter the Union again. Eider offers him a final gesture of tenderness before leaving, and Glokta reflects that she may be the only one of them allowed to escape.

Chapter 28 — So This Is Pain. Jezal wakes in the cart and learns how thoroughly the mace shattered him—and that Quai saved his life with a cooking pan. While Ferro removes his bandages, Bayaz lectures him on the uses of suffering. Dependent on companions he once despised, Jezal recognizes Logen's kindness and his own selfishness. He resolves, perhaps for the first time, to become better.

Chapter 29 — One Step at a Time. The survivors struggle through winter while Ladisla blames his soldiers for the defeat he caused. Dow offers to solve the problem permanently, but West still defends the prince. Cathil tells West that Pike is not her father; they adopted the fiction for mutual protection. Pike reveals that he once served under Glokta. Cathil's closeness briefly gives West hope amid the march.

Chapter 30 — The Rest Is Wasted Breath. Near Aulcus, the travelers meet Zacharus, one of Juvens's former apprentices. He begs Bayaz to abandon the Seed and join him against Khalul, accusing Bayaz of causing Juvens's death and seeking power he cannot control. Bayaz rejects both the accusation and the alliance. Ferro dismisses the two Magi as competing liars, and the company continues toward the dead city.

Chapter 31 — A Matter of Time. The Gurkish breach Dagoska's land walls, and Glokta orders the Lower City abandoned. In the House of Questions, Shickel explains that Khalul's priests forced her to eat her mother and transformed her into an Eater. She calls Bayaz the true murderer of Juvens but refuses to reveal more. Glokta has her burned and instructs Cosca to make every Gurkish advance costly.

Chapter 32 — Scars. Around the fire, Bayaz describes his rivalry with Khalul, his love for Tolomei, and the war against her father, Kanedias. Logen confesses that the Bloody-Nine is a state in which he cannot distinguish friend from enemy. Ferro reveals that, after being sold to a brothel at twelve, she scarred her own face to reduce her value. Their wounds become a history none can dismiss.

Chapter 33 — Furious. West joins the Northmen in an ambush, nearly freezes in a river, then turns his anger into appalling violence. Dow gives him the name Furious. Returning to camp, West finds Ladisla attempting to rape Cathil. He shoves the prince, who falls from the cliff and dies. Dow discovers West above the body and decides that he is beginning to like him.

Chapter 34 — To the Last Man. Sult orders Glokta to abandon Dagoska and leave Vissbruck to defend it to the last man. Glokta advises the general to choose suicide over Gurkish captivity and quietly tells Kahdia to seek terms for his people. Vitari first threatens Glokta for deserting their mission, then begs to accompany him. Glokta, Vitari, Frost, and Severard escape by boat under cover of darkness.

Chapter 35 — Jewel of Cities. Bayaz's company enters Aulcus, where nothing living remains. A great chasm blocks their route, but a bridge made by Kanedias still spans the Aos. Ferro refuses to continue until Bayaz explains that the Seed is a fragment of the Other Side, used by Glustrod to destroy the city. Her devil-blood makes her the only member of the party who can safely carry it.

Chapter 36 — Luck. The travelers find Shanka hiding among Aulcus's ruins. As the creatures swarm, Bayaz collapses a temple roof with the Art, opening the floor beneath the company. Logen catches Ferro above the chasm, and Jezal tries to haul them up with his coat. The cloth tears. Logen and Ferro fall into the darkness while the others remain trapped above.

Chapter 37 — Beneath the Ruins. Logen and Ferro survive on a ledge and escape into tunnels beneath Aulcus. They discover a Shanka forge surrounded by human remains. The sight unleashes the Bloody-Nine, who massacres the creatures while Ferro fires from the dark. When he turns toward her, Ferro aims an arrow at him until Logen regains control. Horrified by himself, he follows her toward an underground stream.

Chapter 38 — No Good for Each Other. The stream carries Logen and Ferro beyond the city. Sheltering in a ruined mill, they sleep together, but morning turns their fragile intimacy into anger and embarrassment. They rejoin Bayaz, Jezal, Quai, and Longfoot at the agreed rendezvous. Neither will explain what happened below Aulcus, and Ferro chooses to walk rather than share the cart with Logen.

Chapter 39 — The Hero’s Welcome. Back in Adua, Glokta expects punishment but finds Sult delighted: Dagoska's long resistance weakened Sult's political enemies, and saving the city was never the point. Glokta also helps Ardee recover property seized by a creditor. She tells him West is believed dead with Ladisla. The news wounds Glokta more deeply than his unexpectedly warm reception relieves him.

Chapter 40 — Cold Comfort. West reaches Burr's winter camp and conceals the truth about Ladisla's death. He obtains a position for Pike and warns that Bethod is close behind. After reuniting with his officers, West goes to find Cathil and instead sees her with Dogman. The private future he imagined collapses, leaving him isolated among an army that still desperately needs him.

Chapter 41 — The High Places. Crossing the Broken Mountains, Jezal tells Logen he intends to marry Ardee, and Logen encourages him to choose a life beyond violence. Bayaz explains that Shabulyan's spirit will surrender the Seed only to the bearer of Juvens's staff, which Bayaz has carried all along. That night Jezal wakes beside Logen and Ferro's renewed intimacy and feels more alone than ever.

Chapter 42 — Coming Over. While scouting Dunbrec, Dogman meets Caul Shivers, the surviving son of Rattleneck. Shivers and forty Carls want to abandon Bethod, who now listens to Caurib, tolerates mutilation by his eastern allies, and has joined forces with the Shanka and an invulnerable champion called the Feared. Threetrees accepts the defectors, whose knowledge gives the Union its first genuine tactical advantage.

Chapter 43 — Cheap at the Price. After Dagoska falls, Sult appoints Glokta co-Superior of Adua and assigns him to question Tulkis, the Gurkish Emperor's envoy. Tulkis claims the costly siege has opened a divide between Emperor Uthman and Khalul. He proposes symbolic reparations—empty chests the Union can describe as treasure—so both sides can accept peace without admitting weakness. Glokta agrees to carry the offer forward.

Chapter 44 — To the Edge of the World. At the Great Western Library, the Magus Cawneil greets Bayaz as a former lover and tears apart his account of the past. She accuses him of using Tolomei to enter the House of the Maker and leaving destruction behind every ambition. Cawneil nevertheless provides the ship kept for his journey to Shabulyan. That night, Ferro seeks warmth beside Logen and briefly permits herself to feel safe.

Chapter 45 — Before the Storm. Burr plans to draw Bethod into the valley with Kroy while Poulder attacks from the wooded ridge. West reserves the cavalry for Burr despite Poulder's outrage. He places Threetrees's men on what he believes will be the quiet end of the line. Cathil then confirms that West saw her with Dogman and explains her choice: West's anger frightens her more than Dogman's rough appearance.

Chapter 46 — Questions. Crown Prince Raynault is murdered in the palace, apparently by an Eater, leaving the Union without an heir. Glokta finds white cloth in the dead man's hand. Under Sult's pressure, he frames the innocent Tulkis and tortures a confession from him, even though the envoy warns that Khalul's agents want to destroy the peace. Glokta secretly continues investigating the real killer.

Chapter 47 — Holding the Line. At Dunbrec, Shanka attack the far left and kill Cathil. The Feared emerges through unnatural mist, shrugs off every wound, and mortally injures Threetrees before withdrawing. Elsewhere, Burr collapses from illness, forcing West to issue orders in the marshal's name. His decisions prevent a rout until Burr reappears to preserve the deception. The Union holds, but its victory is paid for in graves.

Chapter 48 — A Fitting Punishment. Tulkis is publicly disemboweled for Raynault's murder. Glokta tells Ardee the condemned man was innocent and discusses the succession, including rumors of a vanished woman who may have borne a royal bastard. Mauthis then warns Glokta to abandon the murder investigation. Seeing genuine fear in the banker's face, Glokta understands that Valint & Balk serves something powerful enough to terrify even its own agents.

Chapter 49 — The Abode of Stones. On Shabulyan, Logen summons the island's stone spirit. It gives Ferro the object left in its keeping, but Bayaz recognizes an ordinary rock rather than the Seed. Kanedias deceived his brothers and kept the weapon elsewhere. Bayaz erupts, Ferro loses the vengeance she was promised, and Jezal sees only a wasted journey. On the returning ship, Logen and Ferro admit through silence that they will part.

Chapter 50 — Back to the Mud. Dogman, Dow, Tul, Grim, West, and Pike bury Cathil and Threetrees. Dogman offers Cathil a plain farewell, and Grim remembers a decade beside the man called the Rock of Uffrith. Shivers's defectors need a chief. Because Dow and Tul will not follow each other, the surviving Named Men choose the astonished Dogman to lead them. He leaves the graves and returns to the living.

About the Book

Before They Are Hanged is the second volume of Joe Abercrombie's original First Law trilogy, following The Blade Itself and preceding Last Argument of Kings. Gollancz first published the novel in the United Kingdom in March 2007; Pyr published the American edition. The title comes from a line attributed to the German poet Heinrich Heine.

If you want to continue the story, the final book in the trilogy is Last Argument of Kings.