The expedition eventually reaches the island of the Qosidar, building a fort in the east, while a large number of ships attack the only known city of the great serpents, destroying them with fire and vitriol. After a further attack also routs the serpents, doubts begin to emerge about their nature. As the front of attack widens, tensions emerge between the commanders, which are exacerbated when many men are killed by the serpents. However, the return journey is marred by a huge storm which kills many, including, it is thought, Navrid-Kastvar and Kaarvi. Ashmara supports the returning Wafar before the Saldjaran, but leaves him to travel to the New World - Karia and then Thania - in search of her father. The fourth volume in the epic "By Water" is set in a distant planet, not too dissimilar from our own, written by Richard Hernaman Allen, a former Commissioner of Customs & Excise, as a follow-up to "Through Fire".