Chapter 25

After Hanz departs, Galva discovers Inocenta’s note inviting her to a midnight service of Dal-Gaata at an ancient Keshite temple near the recent battlefield. Though exhausted, Galva goes, seeking the calm she envies in Inocenta and answers her fear of death.

Guided by Inocenta through the dark, Galva enters the overgrown shrine where worshippers quietly gather under banners depicting headlessness, a skeletal hand and heart, a reclined hourglass, and the Lady’s fearsome winged aspect. She learns the faith’s precarious place under King Kalith’s Sath-centered rule and views a pre-Knock statue showing Dal-Gaata’s serene, beautiful face to initiates.

A masked high priestess of the Blessed Dead speaks through two clergy, welcoming all and promising strength beyond fear. They read the Parable of the King of Wounds: a tyrant’s queen, horrified by his atrocities, destroys herself to become the queen of the dead, then possesses the new bride to behead the king, asserting the Lady’s sovereignty over life and death.

The priests exhort devotees to anticipate union with the Lady’s living face and to reject fragile comforts. The rite culminates in the warrior prayer, which Galva joins—“Short life, bloody hand!”—accepting the bargain of skill for a shorter life. Galva leaves committed to this daily vow, her courage and allegiance shifting more firmly toward Dal-Gaata.