Chapter XI: A Black Crown
Contains spoilersOverview
Gabriel and his companions flee through sleet as Danton Voss and a dozen thralls pursue in a blood-drawn coach. With the bridge at Haemun’s Hill destroyed, Gabriel creates a crash to delay Danton, then orders the group to jump into the Dílaenn River. Gabriel rescues Dior from drowning while resisting Danton’s psychic lure; they reach the northern bank but Gabriel realizes he lost his bandolier, including his sanctus.
Summary
Riding hard for the river in a storm, Gabriel leads Chloe, Dior, Saoirse, Père Rafa, and Bellamy down a muddy road as Danton Voss gains on them with a dozen thralled riders and a coach pulled by vampiric horses. Danton tries to invade Chloe Sauvage’s mind, forcing her to recite prayers to push him out. Gabriel loads his pipe with sanctus to rouse his bloodhymn and fires his wheellock, not at Danton, but at the lead horse; the animal’s skull explodes, flipping the coach and hurling its driver—Nahia, the serving girl from the Perfect Husband—to her death.
Some thralls stop to aid Danton, but others keep attacking. Crossbow fire strikes Rafa, and Saoirse nearly spills. Bellamy and Saoirse return fire, felling riders. Gabriel throws a silverbomb to scatter more pursuers, but Danton resumes the chase. Cresting Haemun’s Hill, the company finds the bridge down and the riverbank a ten-foot drop; Gabriel orders them to keep riding and holds the line alone.
Gabriel duels the onrushing thralls, killing several with Ashdrinker while Chloe, Dior, Saoirse, Rafa, and Bellamy launch their horses into the rapids below. Torn between confronting Danton and protecting his friends, Gabriel chooses the latter, spurs Jezebel, and leaps into the river after them.
In the freezing, fast water, a thrall tackles Gabriel and stabs him repeatedly; Gabriel kills the man underwater and surfaces to Chloe’s scream that Dior cannot swim. Gabriel dives, finds Dior by the flash of his fine frockcoat, and hauls him up, but Dior’s panic nearly drowns them both before Gabriel wrestles him into a hold and swims for a gentler bank.
Danton shadows them along the bank, attempting to enthrall Dior. Gabriel warns Dior to fill his mind with noise, but Danton’s attempt fails; Dior proves mentally impenetrable, which confirms to Danton the truth of Dior’s importance. Danton promises Dior a “black crown” and homage from the Forever King himself if he comes willingly. Dior, exhausted, refuses with an obscenity; Danton withdraws with a threat for Gabriel.
Gabriel drags Dior ashore on the northern side and finds Jezebel alive. Chloe calls from a distance as the group tries to regroup. As Gabriel takes stock of his injuries slowly healing, he realizes he has lost his bandolier in the river—along with his black ignis, silverbombs, spare silvershot, and, most critically, his sanctus.
Who Appears
- Gabriel de León
protagonist; leads the flight, causes Danton’s coach to crash, fights thralls, rescues Dior, and loses his bandolier and sanctus.
- Chloe Sauvage
Silver Sister; resists Danton’s mental intrusion with prayer and survives the river crossing.
- Dior Lachance
the living Grail; nearly drowns, resists Danton’s enthrallment, refuses his offer of a “black crown.”
- Danton Voss
ancien Voss; pursues with thralls and a coach, attempts to enthrall Dior, promises the Forever King’s homage, then withdraws when thwarted.
- Saoirse Dúnnsair
ally; fights off pursuers and survives the jump into the river.
- Père Rafa
priest; wounded by a crossbow bolt during the pursuit, survives the river.
- Bellamy
ally; returns fire on thralls during the chase and survives the crossing.
- Nahia
serving girl from the Perfect Husband; now Danton’s driver; killed when the coach flips.
- Jezebel
Gabriel’s horse; leaps into the river and survives to the northern bank.