Din Kol and Captain Kepheus Strovi leave the tower after curfew, moving through empty, heavily patrolled streets. Strovi explains the increased night patrols are due to deserters and mutineers slipping back from the wall and traveling by night. They stop at a Legion station for “hotfoot” (clar-tea with sotwine), which leaves Din unusually alert and keyed up.

While they warm themselves, Strovi makes friendly conversation and grows reflective about what the Empire means: service on the ancient walls and the people who hold the line together across centuries. Strovi awkwardly invites more familiarity, even suggesting Din call him “Kepheus,” then pulls back and urges they continue.

They reach Yonas Suberek’s fernpaper mill in the industrial canal district and find it dark. Before Strovi can knock, Din notices Suberek’s stable gate is ajar while the neighboring mills’ gates are shut. Inside, Din finds mildew and neglect, no animal tracks for days, but many recent boot prints despite today’s rain.

Din catches a faint stench of rot and confirms the overwhelming odor of death seeping from the building. Strovi extinguishes the lantern, concluding someone is still inside, and prepares to fetch a patrol. Din argues that suddenly killing the light will alarm anyone watching, and at that moment the side door opens and five armed men emerge and attack without warning.

Fueled by the clar-tea’s heightened perception and his dueling training, Din fights with startling effectiveness: he traps and disarms one attacker, then takes an imperial longsword and kills another with a thrust to the throat, fatally wounds the disarmed man near the collarbone, and cripples a third by smashing his hands and cutting him down. Din slips in the mud mid-fight, and Strovi cuts down one attacker to save him, then finishes the final assailant off to the side. Strovi identifies the attackers as Legion deserters and, shaken by Din’s skill, runs to fetch a patrol while ordering Din to stay put.