Ferro is the four-armed swordsman in the Technet crew that comes after Rachel in The Sword Is Drawn. Among people who can distort bodies or shut down an opponent's ability to th…

Ferro is the four-armed swordsman in the Technet crew that comes after Rachel in The Sword Is Drawn. Among people who can distort bodies or shut down an opponent's ability to think, he brings a much more recognizable danger: blades, reach and the skill to use several weapons at once. The extra arms make the design immediately useful in an action scene. A conventional sword fight depends on where the weapon is and what an opponent can do while it is committed to a strike. Four armed hands complicate that picture. The reader doesn't need a technical explanation to understand why getting close could be a bad decision. His furred, animal-like appearance also fits a group that refuses to settle into one visual category. He can look almost at home beside the Warwolves, even though they are on the other side of the fight. Resemblance means very little when different employers want the same captive. That confrontation kills him. It is an abrupt end for someone who might otherwise look like another colorful member of the ensemble waiting for a later spotlight. The abruptness matters. This launch contains slapstick, exaggerated designs and people talking as though kidnapping were office business. Ferro's death puts a cost underneath that presentation. The competing hunters have turned a London street into a place where a member of one crew can simply be lost. Gatecrasher's reaction makes the moment colder rather than softer. Her employee has died, yet the language of the job keeps intruding. Ferro is given very little space to be mourned. That lack of space tells us something about the outfit he worked for, even though his own story here is brief.