Alex trudges along in pain and self-disgust, hiding how badly blistered and injured her feet have become. Sunny notices Alex's condition and offers the horse, but Alex refuses, partly out of pride and partly because Alex feels their friendship has been damaged beyond repair. Alex's bitter mood frames the march as another stretch of misery with little hope waiting ahead.

When Alex asks about a line of crooked posts decorated with skulls and metal charms, Brother Diaz explains that they mark a joint Papal and Patriarchal interdict. The travellers have reached the boundary of the Barony of Kalyatta, a land devastated by repeated plagues, especially the Long Pox and the Sighing Sickness. Because the dead overwhelmed graveyards and churches alike, both branches of the Church declared the whole region cursed, evacuated it, and forbade entry until clear divine intervention lifted the sentence.

The knowledge changes how the landscape feels to Alex, turning ordinary scrubland into a place of menace. Sunny notes that God never came to reprieve the land, Alex answers with cynicism, and Brother Diaz bleakly reflects that plague on one side and war on the other make it easy to think the End Times are near. Vigga mocks that kind of priestly doom-talk, then tries to cheer the others with rough humor, boasting about the enemies she killed and insisting that people should stop looking backward at grudges and regrets.

At the top of a rise, the party finally sees a village below with lights, music, and the smell of cooking. The sight immediately raises hopes of food, money spent on shelter, and a night out of the weather. Alex and Brother Diaz both recognize that entering the village, especially with Vigga in tow, could be dangerous, but exhaustion and hunger outweigh caution. Despite their misgivings, they decide to head down toward civilization.