Thomas kills the other thieves in the barn to protect a young girl named Delphine from being raped.

Thomas and Delphine meet a priest named Matthieu Hanicotte in the plague-stricken village of St. Martin-le-Preux.

Thomas fights and kills the river monster, succeeding only because Delphine's blood coats his sword blade.

Delphine heals Thomas of the plague by pressing a fragment of a shattered Virgin Mary shrine to his forehead.

A possessed stone statue of the Virgin Mary bursts into Jehan's house and kills both Annette and Jehan.

Matthieu uses the spearhead relic to drive the possessed statue out of the house.

The river raft hits a dam of corpses and tentacled severed heads crawl aboard, stinging the travelers with poison.

Thomas challenges the Comte d'Évreux to a duel, but English routiers attack and spare Thomas's life.

Delphine completes a baptism that transforms Thomas's appearance to match the Comte d'Évreux, after he forgives Marguerite.

Robert betrays Delphine's plan to the devil-pope, leading to Thomas's arrest and imprisonment.

Delphine discovers the real Pope Clement's body preserved in a wine tub in the cellar and resurrects him.

Thomas cleaves the devil-pope's head open, but Baal-Zebuth's true fly-headed form emerges and kills Thomas.

Delphine intercepts a spear thrown at Pope Clement, taking the fatal blow herself and dying.

Angels emerge from Delphine's corpse and wage battle against the demons, destroying much of Avignon.

Delphine descends into Hell to rescue Thomas, revealing to him that she is the second coming of Christ.

The novel begins with Thomas, a disgraced knight turned brigand, protecting a young girl named Delphine from his companions and agreeing to escort her toward Avignon. Along the way, they are joined by the priest Matthieu Hanicotte, who accompanies them through the plague-ravaged French countryside. In Paris, a demonic stone statue kills their hosts Annette and Jehan, driving the trio onward toward Avignon by river. The river journey ends in tragedy when Matthieu is killed shielding Delphine from tentacled monsters, and the path to Avignon grows more dangerous as demonic forces tighten their grip on the papal court. In Avignon, Delphine resurrects the real Pope Clement to confront a demon who has assumed the pope's identity, and the climactic battle costs both Thomas and Delphine their lives. Delphine descends to Hell to rescue Thomas, revealing she is the second coming of Christ and completing her sacrificial mission.

The core journey from barn to Hell and back.

Delphine arrives at the barn where Thomas and his companions have killed and are eating her donkey, Parsnip.

Thomas ties up the surviving thief Jacquot and forces him to bury Delphine's plague-dead father.

Delphine tells Thomas she receives visions from angels and that they must travel to Paris and then Avignon.

Thomas steps on a devil mask while planning to abandon Delphine and takes it as an omen to stay.

Matthieu describes how villagers dumped plague corpses in the river, attracting a monster that devoured the eels.

The river monster mimics the dying farmer's screams after swallowing him, filling Thomas with terror during the battle.

Thomas and Matthieu attend a feast at a doomed castle where the seigneur forces Matthieu to eat a mock communion.

Thomas recognizes the white hand from the river monster on the tournament knight, stabs him, and the illusion vanishes at sunrise.

Thomas and Delphine visit the Paris market and encounter a Jewish relic seller displaying a spearhead from Christ's crucifixion.

Delphine uses a kept room key to unlock the pillory and free the Jewish relic seller, who gives her the spearhead.

After leaving Paris, the group passes the possessed statue frozen outside a church; it speaks their deepest fears into their minds.

The Penitent leader Rutger the Fair resurrects three corpses in Auxerre to demonstrate his powers to the frightened townspeople.

Delphine kisses the corpses Rutger resurrected to return them to death; an angel then blinds the mob attacking her as a witch.

Thomas spots a lion-headed flying devil hunting for Delphine and watches an angel battle two demons in the sky.

Thomas returns to Normandy and finds Delphine at her farm; she does not remember him, but he calls her little moon.

This pool traces the texture and atmosphere of the journey, beginning with Delphine's arrival at the barn and the companions' slow progress through a plague-ravaged land. Early supernatural encounters — the doomed castle's blasphemous feast and the demonic tournament knight — reveal how deeply evil has infiltrated ordinary medieval life. The group's time in Paris exposes the social cruelties of the era, from antisemitic persecution to the horrors lurking after dark in a city under siege. The journey south is punctuated by encounters with fanatical Penitents and open angelic battles in the sky, underscoring the escalating war between heaven and hell. The pool ends with Thomas traveling north as the plague finally recedes, arriving at Delphine's farm where she does not remember him but accepts him as a companion — the quiet, hopeful close of the story's long arc.

The world the travelers move through, from barn to homecoming.

Delphine cries after seeing a devil standing near Thomas's soul shortly after they begin traveling together.

A plague-infected woman dies on top of Thomas by the river, leaving him with a lump signifying the plague.

Matthieu reveals to Thomas that his younger brother Robert lives in Avignon as a cardinal's companion and lover.

Thomas wakes in the night and finds Delphine speaking with Saint Sebastian, who has arrows protruding from his body.

Matthieu reveals his secret relationship with Michel to Thomas and Delphine; Delphine tells Matthieu she will always love him.

A demon manipulates Thomas while he sleeps to assault Delphine; he overcomes it and expels the creature from himself.

Matthieu is tempted in a dream to kill Delphine with a sword but sets it down and promises never to harm her.

Thomas kills the river pirate captain despite Delphine's warnings, and she tells him there will be a price to pay.

Matthieu sacrifices himself holding Delphine above his head to shield her from the tentacled stings, dying from the poison.

Delphine defeats the demonic presence called Sister Broom in an abandoned convent by refusing to grant it any power over her.

Thomas sheathes his sword and walks away from the English routiers in the bathhouse after hearing Delphine's voice urging restraint.

Delphine takes Robert to a vineyard at night and shows him reanimated corpse workers to convince him to help her.

Delphine deliberately cuts herself on Thomas's sword before the final battle to coat the blade with her holy blood.

Thomas discovers Robert's body in Avignon's rubble with a stone devil gripping his hair and a stone saint holding his hand.

Thomas, now a Franciscan friar, visits Marguerite at his old castle; she taps her ring three times and he responds in kind.

This pool charts the pivotal inner shifts and discoveries that drive each character toward or away from redemption. From Delphine's earliest glimpse of the devil near Thomas's soul to Matthieu's confession of his relationship with Michel, these moments expose the hidden lives beneath the surface of the journey. Repeated tests of moral will — Thomas overcoming a demon's manipulation in his sleep, Matthieu refusing to harm Delphine in a dream, Thomas sparing the English routiers at the brothel — trace the slow and painful progress each character makes toward choosing good. The preparations for the final battle bring Delphine's divine identity into focus, as she coats Thomas's sword in her holy blood and Matthieu's earlier sacrifice is shown to mirror the raising of the Eucharist. After the battle, the pool closes in the quiet epilogue, when Thomas as a Franciscan friar visits Marguerite and they exchange their old secret ring-tap signal, marking the last act of forgiveness and peace.