Balthazar trudges through the rain and mud with growing misery as Bishop Apollonia’s pilgrim company climbs a mountain pass. The disguise humiliates Balthazar because the rough habit erases the status and style he values, and the pilgrimage itself offends nearly every part of his nature: Balthazar hates the walking, the weather, the preaching, the food, and the pious self-satisfaction around him.

As the company advances, Jakob of Thorn brusquely urges everyone onward. Baron Rikard then falls into conversation with Balthazar and warns Balthazar not to speak too freely because Jakob’s elf companion may be listening. Balthazar notices that Rikard looks younger, and Rikard openly admits that he has been feeding on fellow pilgrims. Rikard claims he only takes blood gently and only takes what can be spared, but the exchange shows both Rikard’s predatory pragmatism and Balthazar’s willingness to tolerate it as long as he is not the victim.

Baptiste appears above the path and mocks Balthazar, then deliberately splashes him with water. Balthazar responds with private irritation, humiliation, and confused desire, then retreats into offended dignity and hurries toward the next shrine before Baptiste can press him further. At the top of the pass, Balthazar and Rikard reach a shrine built around a cave, and both men treat the holy site and its relics with open contempt, using it as another occasion to sneer at the Church’s habits and pretensions.

Rikard finally asks whether Balthazar has given up trying to break the Pope’s binding. Balthazar refuses to admit defeat, but he does concede that he underestimated the strength of the enchantment. Balthazar insists that he can still overcome it if he acquires the right magical tools, books, circles, and reagents. Rikard mocks the distinction between religion and magic, and the conversation ends by confirming a key fact: Balthazar remains bound to the mission and cannot free himself yet.