About this story
A veiled rider, Princess Valeria, fighting to reclaim a stolen inheritance, cuts you free and pulls you into her escape. Mercenary captain Facino Cane shields you both from your pursuers, but only if you pose as his long-lost son to enter a court where every faction already knows more than you do.
How it opens
Seventeen years inside the abbey had taught you books and almost nothing about roads.
Abbot BartolomeoBellarion, Pavia will enlarge your learning and endanger your conclusions.
You had entered as an orphan and now left with a mule, two letters, and no family name.
Fra SulpizioThe world calls appetite wisdom whenever monasteries are out of hearing.
Fra SulpizioI volunteer as guide, though the abbot has trusted me with none of the money.
Fra SulpizioThis road descends through villages taxed by whichever captain arrived last.