Things heat up for Amberle, an old enemy returns and a new one appears.  The Shannara Chronicles picks up the action as the journey to Safehold intensifies.

Despite the fact that I have done a video recap of the episode, I have decided to write up a more in depth recap of the episode of Pykon for all those out there that prefer to read over watching.  Here is what went down in the Shannara Chronicles episode 6 named Pykon.

The episode starts out quite steamy as Amberle is woken before everyone else by Wil, who leads her to what we know is a playground.  Flirtation ramps up between the two as they have fun on the defunct playground to having a heavy make out session (shirtless Wil and all).  Things take a turn for the dark when Wil transforms into the Dagda Mor, who is messing around in Amberle’s head, much like he did to Allanon in the premiere episode.  It seems that the Dagda Mor is getting stronger and I have a feeling that he is going to try and get into the trio’s heads more and more often.

As it turns out, it was all a nightmare, and Amberle’s awoken by the real Wil to discover that she was groaning in her sleep and saying Wil’s name, much to Eritrea’s dislike.  Amberle warns them that they have to leave.

In Arborlon, the Changeling, in the form of Eventine, is hard at work to sow the seeds of distrust against Allanon.  He calls Arion into the throne room and asks where Ander is.  Arion gives the convenient lie that Ander is off to secure an alliance with the human federation.  Eventine (or the Changeling) tells Arion that Allanon knew about a super sword that could slay the Dagda Mor, and thought to have been destroyed in a previous war.  In a book that the fake Eventine found, it states that this special sword is somewhere in storage in a secret room under the city of Arborlon and Arion vows to find it.

Back to Amberle’s group, there is a conundrum of how to get into the Wilderrun.  The safe way is to go around the mountain range in front of them, but it will take at least six days, and, as Wil states, that there may still be a spy in Arborlon, and that the normal way may not be safe.  The other solution is suggested by Cephelo which is the pass through the mountains guarded by Pykon, the Elven fortress, which Crispin claims is a myth.  Cephelo states that the fortress is certainly not a myth as his parents died in its dungeons, showing once more that there is definitely bad blood between Elves and humans.  The pass through the mountain would save them a lot of time, a factor that weighs heavily with Amberle after her nightmare.  Amberle decides to trust Cephelo to lead them to this mountain pass and fortress.

The scene switches to the toxic waste dump where we see the Reaper come back to life.  As predicted, he was not dead, and is going to be a hard enemy to take out.

In Arborlon, Allanon stands guard over a comatose Bandon, who is still under the Dagda Mor’s dark grip.  Catania comes to visit him out of worry, and, while there, the dark Bandon tries to attack Allanon.  The darkness passes to the Druid, and Bandon falls back asleep.  He sees Bandon in a cage under the Dagda Mor’s control, and the Dagda Mor attacks Allanon.  The darkness, momentarily takes over Allanon who then attacks Catania.  Inconveniently for Allanon, Arion, who was already suspicious of the Druid, is passing by, and saves Catania from the Druid.  Allanon comes out of the darkness, and warns Arion to stay away from them.

Arion pulls Catania aside and asks for her help.  Since she knows the castle well, she tells him of a rumored room under the castle where the magic sword may be, and he asks her to help him find this room and the sword.  Catania agrees to help him.

Prince Ander, Slanter, and Commander Tilton, on their way to the Breakline, come across a grisly sight.  They come upon a group of Gnomes that have been brutally slaughtered.  Slanter asks Ander to undo his shackles so that he can give his people their last rites.  In an act of compassion, Ander relents despite Commander Tilton’s misgivings, and undoes Slanter’s shackles so that he can give last rites.  While saying a prayer over his fallen brethren, Slanter steals a knife from one of them, and then turns the knife on Ander.  Helpless, Commander Tilton must allow Slanter to escape in order to save Ander.  Slanter rides off on his horse, leaving them without a guide into the Breakline.

Back to the Reaper, we see that the Reaper is quickly catching up to them.  Meanwhile, Amberle’s group are attempting to climb the narrow pass in search for the fortress during a snowstorm, and find the seemingly abandoned Pykon fortress.

They walk into the fortress and think it is abandoned  until they meet a little girl.  The little girl leads them to another room where they are met with a genial older Elf known as Remo, and the little girl’s name is Mag.  The elf is a caretaker for the fortress.  They tell him that they need to get to the Wilderrun, where he warns is not safe for Elves, and he tells them that the passage through the mountains to the Wilderrun had been destroyed by an avalanche.  He offers them warm food and bathes while they wait for the storm to pass and they can be on their way, to which they accept.

The scene switches to a strange bath scene where Amberle and Eretria must share a bath. Eretria hits on Amberle, which Amberle shoots down.  While this encounter is going on, it seems there is a peeping tom, who is watching the girls through a peep hole.

In the entrance room, Cephelo is expressing distrust of Remo to Crispin to which Crispin ignores.  Wil is more worried by the fact that it would be easy for demons to attack the fortress since they walked right through the front door, and suggests someone should keep watch.  It is at this point that Remo returns to them to announce that dinner is ready.  Wil gets stuck with first watch and waits by the front door while Crispin and Cephelo follow Remo to get dinner.

Back in Arborlon, Catania leads Arion to the rumored room.  It’s an ancient crypt with strange runes on the walls.  They activate the runes, and unlock the special hiding place that kept the sword.

In the Pykon fortress, the group minus Wil sit at the dinner table, and watch as Remo eats the food.  Wil has a plate of food brought to him Mag as he keeps watch at the entrance.  At the dinner table, no one is eating as everyone is a little distrusting especially Cephelo.  Cephelo trades plates with Remo.  Everyone watches as the older elf eats from the plate that was once Cephelo’s and when they see nothing happen, they start to eat.

Wil and Mag have an interesting conversation about Mag’s mother as he notices that Mag has the same type of half-elven ears as he does.  It is during this conversation that Wil passes out after eating the food.  Remo has drugged all of his “guests”.

Wil wakes up in what I assume is Mag’s room. As for the rest of the group, we find them all hanging unconscious and tied up by their wrists in a room.  Remo comes back in to get another victim, and goes for Crispin.  Amberle tells him that she is the princess of Arborlon and orders him to release them.  This only makes Remo take Amberle.

In Arborlon, Allanon comes to face Eventine, and he is confronted by Arion who has the sword.  Allanon sees the open book that has the picture of the sword.  He tells Arion, who confronts him about the sword, that the sword in the picture is not a sword of good, but a sword of evil.  Arion, who doesn’t believe Allanon, pulls out the sword and stabs Allanon in the back. He then stabs Allanon again in the chest, and Allanon disappears in a flash of fire.  Is this the end for the Druid?  I really doubt it, at least I hope its not.

Back to Amberle, we find her strapped to a chair, and Remo begins to torture her. Mag comes in to tell her father that Wil tried to escape and that she took care of it.  Remo returns to Amberle, and tells how her how likes to basically lobotomize his victims to make them more compliant, which was what he did to Mag’s mother.  He plans to do the same to Amberle and use her as a breeding mare.  Wil breaks in and gets the jump on Remo.  He attacks him and knocks him out with the help of Mag.

Meanwhile, Eretria, who is strung up by her wrists like everyone else, uses some gymnastic moves and wiggles out of her bonds.  She then frees the others, and then races to the room where Amberle was taken.  She comes into the room to find Wil and Amberle having a passionate kiss.You can tell that she is hurt, but that she expected it.  There is definitely going to be more of this love triangle going on, and I will admit that I felt bad for Eretria at this part.

They begin to make their escape out of the fortress, and that is when the Reaper catches up and attacks them.  They find the pass through the mountains, and there is a deep crevasse blocking their way to which they have to use a zip line to cross.  Crispin and Wil try to fight off the Reaper, and Eritrea and Cephelo get to the pass first.  They zip line across with Eretria believing they will send it back over to Amberle and Wil.

In the fortress, Crispin is killed by the Reaper, but his death bought Wil and Amberle time to escape the Reaper and get to the pass where they await the zip line.  Cephelo, being the traitorous character he is, begins to cut the line.  Eretria goes against her father’s warning and takes the zip line back to save Will and Amberle. All three get on the zip line as the Reaper bears down on them.  As they start back over, Will successfully uses the Elfstones to holdback the Reaper.  They begin to zip line back across with the Reaper jumping after them.  Before they can make it across, Cephelo cuts the line and they all crash down into the crevasse.

The episode ended with Ander and Commander Tilton.  Slanter comes back to Ander and Tilton and tells them that they need to work together now more than ever.  He leads them to the Breakline where they sneak up on it to see thousands of demons amassing at the border, and that is how the episode ends.

I think this episode really upped the stakes for the characters and the world that they are fighting for.  Allanon’s supposed death, and I say supposed since I don’t think he’s dead, was dramatic and does not bode well for Arborlon.  The characters relationship are starting to become complicated and interesting.  I can’t wait for next week!