As the expedition travels away from the Holy City, Alex struggles to stay on horseback and thinks through her new role as a supposed princess. Suspicious of the armed Church escort and determined to stay ready to run if needed, Alex studies the strange company around her and decides the elf seems the safest person to approach. Alex introduces herself to Sunny, and their wary conversation becomes unexpectedly warm: Sunny reveals that people once displayed her in a circus as a villain, and Alex admits she has only recently become a princess. The exchange gives Alex her first fragile connection inside the party.

At the same time, Balthazar obsessively studies the mark Pope Benedicta placed on his wrist, trying to understand how the binding works. His nausea and violent sickness whenever he contemplates defiance convince him the spell is genuine, and Baron Rikard offers no solution beyond dry amusement. Rikard tells Balthazar that another imprisoned sorceress tried for months to break the same binding and failed before dying, which confirms both the danger of the enchantment and Balthazar’s lack of control. When Sunny rides past and tells him to hold on to something, Balthazar dismisses the warning at first.

Meanwhile, Brother Diaz rides with Duke Michael, Jakob of Thorn, and Baptiste. Diaz admits that he once thought himself clever but now sees himself as a fool, and Michael turns that confession into a lesson in humility. Diaz tries to steady himself with faith, asks uneasy questions about Baron Rikard and the heavily secured wagon, and receives only evasive answers. Then Sunny silently appears beside the group and reports that three or four dozen riders are following half a mile behind. Because of that warning, Jakob asks Baptiste for a defensible stopping place, learns of the walled inn called the Rolling Bear, and the convoy increases speed to reach shelter before the pursuers strike.

As the wagon lurches faster, Balthazar seizes the moment to attempt an escape from Benedicta’s binding. Using a stolen prayer-sheet, improvised runes, and a crude spell, Balthazar believes for an instant that he has succeeded, but the binding answers with another savage fit of vomiting. Almost immediately the attack begins: arrows fly from the trees, the wagon driver is shot through the throat, and Balthazar is forced into the driver’s seat despite having no idea how to control the team. Under arrow fire, with Duke Michael helping Alex keep her seat and riders closing behind them, the wagon hurtles toward the Rolling Bear. Baron Rikard finally hauls on the brake, the wagon crashes through the inn gate, one horse goes down, and Balthazar is thrown forward as the vehicle charges toward the building.