Hadrian and the other myrmidons survive a battle against a tentacled pelagic creature in the Colosso. Hadrian lands the decisive blow, and Count Balian Mataro, pleased that no fighters have died, publicly praises the survivors and throws down a pouch of gold. Because Pallino is absent from the formal moment, Hadrian kneels and offers the required thanks, inwardly resenting the need to grovel despite knowing it is only expected ritual.

Later, rumors persist that Chanter Gilliam Vas has been visiting the underground prison with foederati, and that something dangerous is being held in solitary confinement. Hadrian believes Kogan's earlier theory: the captive is likely a Cielcin brought by the Obdurate. After training, Hadrian separates from Switch, Pallino, and the others, using the mealtime routine as an opportunity to investigate the prison block.

Hadrian disguises himself by altering his posture, hair, and accent, then lets a kitchen chef named Stromos mistake him for a worker. Hadrian helps move food trolleys until he can take a cart into the prison area with the serving staff. Once inside, Hadrian pretends not to understand the guards, fakes needing the bathroom, injures a guard accidentally-on-purpose while acting confused, and slips away deeper into the underground prison.

Hadrian descends below the coliseum into fouler cells where seawater and sewage run through the stonework. The lower prison reveals a calculated cruelty: prisoners have been kept beneath shafts from the public privies. Following voices and alien sounds, Hadrian reaches two guards tormenting a captive Cielcin, which seizes one guard through the bars before being beaten back with shock-sticks.

Hadrian shouts a Cielcin command to stop the violence, then sees the captive: a pale, long-limbed being whose crest has been cruelly sawed away. Hadrian speaks to the creature in its language and learns its name is Makisomn. The Cielcin tells Hadrian that Hadrian speaks like a child, but Hadrian is thrilled and unsettled to be communicating with one of the species he has long wanted to understand.

Using Gilliam Vas's name and a nobleman's authority to intimidate the guards, Hadrian learns that Makisomn is a gift for the count's son's Ephebeia and is to be sacrificed in triumph in the Colosso. Hadrian corrects the guards' assumption that the Cielcin is male, then tells Makisomn honestly that it will not die well. Before Hadrian can hear Makisomn's response, one of the guards stuns Hadrian from behind.