Contents
Chapter 17
Overview
Sancia and Berenice race to escape with Tribuno’s definition, realizing it makes the Mountain act as a local creator. Michiel troops overrun the atrium, capturing Orso and a traumatized Gregor. As a Michiel captain moves to execute Orso, the Mountain detects a vast, unified mind. A masked figure arrives, escalating the crisis.
Summary
Sancia and Berenice flee upward through the Mountain with Tribuno’s golden definition. Berenice realizes the device convinces reality that a lexicon is the local creator, explaining the Mountain’s expanded perception. Their progress halts when the Mountain reports new soldiers in purple—Michiels—and battle erupts in the atrium.
From the fourth-floor walkway, Sancia and Berenice witness a brutal Michiel–Dandolo fight. Orso and blood-smeared, dissociated Gregor are dragged out in bonds. The Dandolos falter, and the Michiels illuminate the prisoners, tightening control. Sancia despairs over Gregor’s mental collapse and the impossibility of a rescue.
On the floor, a scarred Michiel captain interrogates them. Orso claims they are saboteurs—Orso Ignacio and Gregor Dandolo—opposing Ofelia’s seizure of the Mountain. The captain, contemptuous of Foundryside and social upheaval, blames them for Tevanne’s unrest and rejects any alliance.
Determined to make an example, the captain orders Orso tied to a table for execution. As the blade rises, the Mountain tells Sancia it senses a colossal, composite mind entering its influence—a presence of “a thousand minds” in one.
Before the stroke falls, a rich, deep voice echoes through the atrium. A masked, cloaked figure appears in the entryway, halting the moment and introducing a new, overwhelming force into the conflict as Orso realizes this development may be even worse.
Who Appears
- SanciaThief coordinating escape; communicates with the Mountain; watches helplessly as allies are captured.
- BereniceAnalyzes Tribuno’s definition; explains its creator-like effect; remains hidden with Sancia.
- Orso IgnacioCaptured by Michiels; bluffs as a saboteur; nearly executed on a table.
- Gregor DandoloBlood-covered and catatonic after killing; captured alongside Orso.
- The MountainSentient lexicon network; reports Michiel incursion; senses an immense, unified mind arriving.
- Michiel CaptainScarred commander; denounces Foundryside; orders Orso’s beheading to make an example.
- Masked FigureMysterious entrant with a deep voice; arrival halts Orso’s execution and escalates stakes.