Chapter 4

Din arrives at Lacanthim’s jail amid a Burav mob facing a lone, weary Armenta warrior. He invokes Iudex authority and his engraver’s memory to deter violence, claims custody of Castus Armenta, and compels both sides to withdraw, aided by custodi princeps Atun Seriv. The Armenta guard identifies himself as Trikao, Castus’s uncle.

Trikao explains that clan matriarch Velona Armenta has lost three of four heirs in recent years—two suicides and one accident—fueling talk of a curse and Daljen ancestral displeasure, which he denounces. He offers to summon his son and betrothed, who knew Castus well.

Inside, Seriv outlines the Burav–Armenta feud: Apoth grafts made the Armentas dominant in urhosi cattle, then later plant-graft advances let the Buravs seize wealth through feed, producing a stalemate and escalating skirmishes. Seriv presents the bloodied, serrated flensing knife recovered from Zansay Burav’s room.

Din interviews Castus, a numb and despondent youth. Castus confirms a secret love with Zansay and plans to flee together. He says a flensing knife inexplicably appeared in her bag, then a distant, angelic song seemed to fill the world. He experienced sensations of the flensing halls, then came to with Zansay cut open and lying calmly in her blood, without recalling wielding the knife.

Panicked, Castus fled to the forest to pray at old Daljen shrines and felt pursued by an unseen follower before the custodi caught him at dawn. He details flensing methods that mirror Zansay’s wounds, despairs over his family’s tragedies, and welcomes execution rather than living with uncertainty.

Din leaves Castus in his cell and, despite Seriv’s reluctance, decides he must examine the old forest where Castus was found.