Jorg comes back to consciousness hearing two Teutonic women discussing whether he is alive. He recognizes one as Katherine and reasons that Hanna, the other, older woman, is one of her servants. Hanna The older woman proposes that they smother Jorg with a pillow. Katherine says that she wished for Jorg to be killed after his defeat of Sir Galen but that she feels pity towards him now since his own father tried to kill him.

Jorg gathers that he has been laid besides his mother’s marble coffin. Hanna again proposes to kill Jorg and wraps a hand around his throat. Only when Katherine scolds her does Hanna release Jorg’s throat.

Four years earlier, in Corion’s lair, Jorg and the Nuban lay completely helpless. Corion reveals that he knows all of Jorg’s secrets and can read his mind. Corion knows that Jorg wonders why a man of such power does not attempt to make himself emperor. Corion explains that the Emperor must come from one of the royal families—“Nations won’t follow monsters like me” (306)—and that people like Olidan and Renar are game pieces manipulated by the real players like Corion and