About this story
Euthanasia, countess of Valperga, refuses your wedding, holds her valley until Florentine gold buys her cistern, and warns you of the plot her name was forged into. Beatrice, prophetess of the waters, reads fates in a mountain basin and goes to the Inquisitor's fire rather than recant. Forty chapters carry you from the painted hell on the Arno to a duke's fever and an empty saddle.
How it opens
Five days of secret riding brought you from Ancona to Florence before your father could answer the note you left.
Florentine HeraldCome to the Arno and behold the punishments of the next world represented upon the water.
Curiosity had defeated obedience long before the city's crowd carried you toward the river.
Bridge WardenThe Carraia bridge is full; use the quay unless another soul can stand upon your shoulders.
Florentine HeraldLet no man call the pageant tame merely because its torments are painted.
Choose
Ask the warden for a view from the near bank.
Follow the crowd toward the bridge but stop at the closed approach.