Vis wakes in darkness with only fragments of memory from the escape with Caeror and the triangular archway they used. Caeror tells Vis that they are in Qabr, in eastern Nyripk, and that the Channel that brought them there leaves travelers unconscious for a long recovery; Vis has been asleep for a week. As Vis follows Caeror out, he sees that Qabr is an immense crevasse lined with carved tombs and walkways, making it clear that Caeror has hidden him inside a vast necropolis.

As they head deeper into the crypts, Caeror warns Vis that the Qabrans are slow to trust outsiders. Caeror tells Vis to keep his hands at his sides, leave his chest visible, and avoid speaking unless necessary. When they reach a tense crowd, Vis sees thin, armed locals surrounding a naked dead man whose chest is marked by a large dark wound.

Caeror takes charge and questions the group in Vetusian. A young man reports that the dead stranger had been running near Duat in the valley, apparently from the city, when a Gleaner caught him, cut him with its blades, and then left him alive long enough to suggest he either surrendered something important or may be infected. The Qabrans also found the man's discarded khepri nearby and refused to put it back on, while Caeror concludes that they do not know enough about the stranger to move him safely.

Caeror argues that the situation is too dangerous, but the crowd insists that they need another purgatius. After confirming that no Gleaner sweep has begun, Caeror reluctantly prepares the corpse by tying its wrists behind its back and blindfolding its eyes, showing that whatever comes next is risky. Caeror then places a hand on the dead man's forehead, his eyes turn black, and the corpse jerks upright with a gasp, revealing the grim methods the people of Qabr use to deal with such threats.