Chapter 6

Before dawn, Sancia tells Orso, Gregor, and Berenice that Valeria appeared in her room, warned “he is coming,” showed a desert tomb with a bone, and a ship bearing it from the plantations. Sancia also saw a floating, black-draped figure like one from Clef’s memories.

Gregor shares dreams from his time under his mother’s control—searching underground chambers in the plantations—implying he once sought the same artifact. Pressed, the group identifies the likely “maker” as Crasedes Magnus, first and greatest hierophant, and fears Ofelia Dandolo intends to return him to life.

They resolve to verify the threat through Dandolo shipping. Gregor takes Sancia to Old Ditch’s Slopes, where rebel smugglers stockpile food and scrived arms under a vast tent. Their leader, Polina Carbonari, probes Sancia’s skills and past, then tries to recruit her to aid slave uprisings by crippling Tevanne’s supply lines. Sancia refuses, citing the imminent hierophant threat.

In exchange for bringing Sancia, Gregor requests naval intelligence. Polina reveals a troubling report: three days earlier, a Dandolo galleon arrived at the small plantation of Cefalea, halted all work, loaded at least a hundred slaves, and sailed off. Sighted passing Ontia, the slow warship could reach Tevanne by tomorrow.

Grimly concluding the ship likely carries the artifact tied to Crasedes, Gregor and Sancia hurry back to prepare. On the way, Sancia challenges Gregor for not warning her about Polina’s pitch; he defers to her choice and admits the hierophant overrides other fights. A hint of personal history between Gregor and Polina lingers as stakes sharpen to a one-day deadline.