Overview

Sybil, Maude, the gargoyle, and the knighthood travel from the Chiming Wood to the Cliffs of Bellidine for the final hamlet ceremony. Sybil rejects court politicking in defense of Rory, deepens her relationship with him, and publicly sheds her shroud, embracing her identity. Amid storms and a tense delay to the ceremony, a hooded intruder with a stone-like gait invades Sybil and Maude’s room at night and vanishes, escalating unease.

Full Summary

Departing the Chiming Wood, Sybil wore her shroud and armor to hide her stone eyes as the party headed to the Cliffs of Bellidine, home of the Heartsore Weaver and the loom stones. Some knights stayed behind to help rebuild the glen; Benedict Castor personally paid eighty gold to fund the memorial for Helena Eichel and the cleansing of the glen. Villagers honored Maude as a sprite killer while she suffered significant pain and rode in a cart. On the road, Maude confessed conflict over her heritage of killing sprites and the burden of expectations; the gargoyle offered keen observations on praise, motives, and the hunger to be special.

They arrived at Bellidine’s flowered hills and white sea cliffs as a storm broke. At the inn, Sybil noted the weavers’ loom stones and the hamlet’s gentleness tied to the Heartsore Weaver’s focus on love and heartbreak, even as Sybil resolved to kill the Omen next and then confront the abbess at Aisling. That night, a note from Rory summoned Sybil to the beach.

Before meeting Rory, Sybil stumbled upon Benji holding a late meeting with Hamelin, Dedrick Lange, and Tory Bassett about the coming ceremony and future plans. Hamelin derided Rory as politically useless; Sybil rebuked him, and Benji sharply warned Hamelin not to question a knight’s merit. Sensing Benji’s jealousy over Sybil’s note, Sybil chose to leave for Rory, asserting her own desires.

On the moonlit beach after the storm, Sybil and Rory met and kissed with urgency, then moderated their roughness with tenderness, recalling their first time at Petula Hall. Their intimacy reaffirmed Sybil’s desire and Rory’s reverence for her, deepening their private bond.

At dawn, Sybil woke to find the gargoyle missing and panicked, scouring the cliffs until she found him contentedly watching the sunrise. They spoke of home, change, and death; the gargoyle concluded that after seeing the world, one can never truly return home. Moved, Sybil walked to the cliff edge and released her shroud to the sea breeze, symbolically letting go of Six. Maude and Rory witnessed this; Rory, awed and wordless, kissed Sybil as the gargoyle clapped.

Another storm delayed the ceremony, and Benji kept to his quarters, not joining Sybil, Rory, and Maude. Sybil, now fully unshrouded, endured stares in the inn while Rory read poetry aloud, and the gargoyle playfully pretended to read. A lingering, indefinable disquiet built through the day and into the night.

Late that night, with thunder and lightning outside, Sybil heard harsh, stone-on-stone footsteps approach. A hooded gray figure entered her and Maude’s room, breathing raggedly, and leaned over the sleeping gargoyle. In a lightning flash, Sybil glimpsed its face and screamed. The figure fled; Sybil grabbed its arm and was struck hard on the shoulder. Another lightning flash revealed the intruder had vanished without a trace.

Who Appears

• Sybil Delling (formerly Six) — newly knighted; travels to Bellidine, defends Rory against court derision, deepens her relationship with Rory, discards her shroud publicly, confronts fear over her stone eyes, encounters a hooded intruder.
• Rory Myndacious — knight; watches over Sybil, meets her at the beach, shares intimate moments, later witnesses Sybil cast off her shroud and supports her in the inn.
• Benedict “Benji” Castor — king; funds the Chiming Wood memorial and cleansing, convenes a strategy meeting with select knights, rebukes Hamelin for slighting Rory, remains withdrawn during the storm-delayed ceremony.
• Maude Bauer — knight; travels injured, reflects on killing sprites and identity, comforts Sybil, witnesses Sybil’s unshrouding, stands guard by the fire and at night.
• The gargoyle (Bartholomew) — companion; offers philosophical counsel, suffers and then enjoys travel, wanders to the cliffs at dawn, shares reflections on home, is the focus of the hooded intruder’s approach.
• Hamelin — knight; mocks Rory’s utility, is chastened by Benji at the meeting.
• Dedrick Lange — knight; present at Benji’s meeting, drinks by the fire.
• Tory Bassett — knight; dismisses Rory’s political value during the meeting.
• Innkeeper of Bellidine — local weaver; provides rooms and displays a loom stone necklace.
• Hooded intruder — new; stone-like steps, ragged breathing, entered Sybil and Maude’s room at night, seemed to hover over the gargoyle, struck Sybil, then vanished.