About this story
You watch the Chalice of Oblivion drained at Lysia's banquet, refuse her one-word price, kill Sah-luma, and carry the fallen city's warning home. Forty chapters carry you from a Caucasus monastery to dawn in Cologne Cathedral, where Edris trades heaven for your hand.
How it opens
A mountain storm forced you into a monastery above the dangerous Pass of Dariel.
First MonkFood and fire are ready; questions about a traveller can wait until he is warm.
The hospitality demanded no creed from a poet who had come seeking one particular man.
Second MonkVespers begin now, and the refectory remains yours whether you attend or rest.
Choose
Stand quietly at the rear and observe without pretending to worship.
Ask which brother leads the prayers before crossing the threshold.