Halla muses that she initially assumed her relatives would unlock the door the next morning, but Aunt Malva informed her that the door would stay locked until she agreed to conduct herself “properly” and marry Alver. When Halla protested this mistreatment, Malva threatened to prevent her from attending Silas’s funeral unless she complied. Alver offered weak apologies but did nothing to help. On the second day, a commotion erupted downstairs when Malva’s guardsman, Roderick, tried to obey her orders to wring the bird’s neck. It attacked his face and escaped into the rafters before flying out the door.

That night, a cousin brought dinner to Halla while Sayvil, Malva’s sister, guarded the hallway. When Halla’s thin hope of using the bird’s release to escape was dashed, she concluded that death by suicide would be her only option to prevent her relatives from seizing the inheritance. If she died before marrying Alver, her will ensured the money would go to her impoverished nieces.

Now, Halla examines the sword hanging over her bed in a tarnished silver scabbard; it is one of Silas’s odd collectibles. She finds the weapon unwieldy and difficult to handle and laments the fact that the room lacks easier methods of dying by suicide. After considering and rejecting various methods, she plans to brace the pommel against the windowsill and impale herself on the blade. Stripping to her shift and baring her breasts, she speaks what she believes will be her last words, commending her soul to any god who will take it. When she draws the sword, blue light erupts from the scabbard, coalescing into the figure of a man who introduces himself as “the servant of the sword” and immediately insists that she put her clothes back on (15).

Stunned, Halla wonders if she is hallucinating. The man shields his eyes, complaining that he expected to be summoned to a battlefield, not to what he assumes is a brothel. After she covers herself and he helps her into her dressing gown, he reiterates that he is the servant of the sword and searches the room for assassins. Broad-shouldered with graying black hair and tanned skin, he wears leather armor and carries his own sword; this confuses Halla, who asks why a sword would need a sword. He replies that he cannot wield himself.

He explains that he serves whoever wields the blade; when she tells him her name, he pledges fealty to her, calling her Lady Halla. He explains that he is from a northern land called the Weeping Lands and does not know her country, though he recognizes Anuket City. His name, Sarkis, is written on the blade in a language that Halla cannot read. When she asks if he is a djinn or demon, he grows offended, insisting that he had been a human man before he was bound to the sword. She mentions that she once considered replacing the sword on the wall with a “better” decoration, like a stuffed fish; the very thought horrifies him.

When Halla explains that she drew the sword because she was attempting to die by suicide, Sarkis forbids her from doing such a thing, declaring that he is bound to protect any woman under his care. Suddenly, Aunt Malva’s footsteps approach, and Halla urges Sarkis to hide. He tells her to sheathe the sword, and when she does, he vanishes in blue light. She kicks the scabbard under the bed before Malva enters. After another heated argument about Halla’s duty to marry Alver, Malva leaves.

Sarkis speaks from under the bed, calling Malva an “unpleasant woman.” (He was freed from the sword again when the blade slid loose from the scabbard, so he overheard Halla and Malva’s confrontation). Now, Halla explains her full predicament, telling Sarkis that her relatives will force her to marry Alver in order to gain control of the inheritance money; she believes that they will likely kill her after she and Alver marry. She explains that if she were to die before marrying, this would be the only way to ensure that her nieces inherit. Sarkis asks about her 15-year-old niece, Erris, and learns of Roderick, Malva’s guardsman. He explains that he is magically bound to prevent Halla from harming herself. When he learns that Halla is being held prisoner, his perspective shifts. He declares that they must escape at once.

Halla quickly packs her few possessions while Sarkis respectfully turns his back as she changes into a sturdy woolen habit for travel. Reflecting that she is dressed as though she is heading to a convent, she asks if there is a god who does not mind someone like her, who asks many questions. Sarkis tells her that his people worship a single great god. He helps her to sling the sword across her back, keeping the blade partially drawn so that he can remain materialized.

When Halla lists the eight inhabitants of the house, noting that the female relatives are armed only with needles and embroidery hooks, Sarkis begins counting under his breath to control his frustration with her. He claims to have fought dragons several times, although he won only once. When Halla questions the size of dragons, his exasperation grows. He explains that if he is mortally wounded tonight while fighting Roderick, he will return to the blade to heal, and she should draw him again in a fortnight.

Halla asks how he was first bound to the sword. Sarkis explains that a sorcerer-smith forged the blade and quenched the steel in his blood by stabbing him through the heart. Then Sarkis ends the conversation by kicking down the locked bedroom door.

The doorframe shatters as they fled into the hallway. Cousin Alver, wearing a white n, comes up the stairs. Sarkis mocks him and threatens him with death. Alver retreats in fear as Aunt Malva arrives and accuses Halla of having an affair. Halla tries to explain that Sarkis is a sword, but Malva bellows for Roderick.

The guardsman appears, bandaged from his encounter with the bird. Sarkis descends to meet him, and after an exchange of words, Roderick reluctantly draws his sword. They duel on the staircase, with Sarkis easily driving Roderick back. While Sarkis fights, Alver grabs Halla’s wrist, and Aunt Malva slaps her hard across the face, causing her to fall down the stairs. Sarkis catches her and states that he may have to kill Roderick. Halla gives him permission to do so.

Enraged, Sarkis attacks furiously, incapacitating Roderick and permanently disabling his sword arm. As a furious Malva disowns Halla and orders her never to return, Sarkis opens the front door; he and Halla head out into the night.

Outside, Halla warns that the constables will soon be raised. Sarkis proposes stealing a horse, but Halla protests this plan. They hide in an alley as Malva’s shouts of murder ring out. Halla directs them toward the churchyard, planning to escape through the lich-gate at the far end, where Silas’s body is lying in state while someone from the church holds a vigil.

They evade multiple pairs of constables while crossing through narrow alleys and the market square. When Sarkis suggests using arson as a distraction, Halla refuses. She notices that his arm is bleeding, and he explains that Roderick got in a lucky blow during the duel. He reassures her that it will heal when the sword is sheathed for a while. At the churchyard wall, Sarkis kneels so that Halla can climb onto his shoulders, then stands to help her over. At his suggestion, she sheathes the sword, causing him to vanish, then drops the blade into the churchyard, allowing Sarkis to rematerialize there. Seeing the rush of blue light, some townspeople cry out. Sarkis catches her as she climbs down.

The town alarm bell begins ringing. At the lich-gate, they encounter Ladden, the young man who is keeping vigil over Silas’s body. Halla concocts a story about checking for grave robbers and introduces Sarkis as Roderick. The deception works, and Ladden lets them pass through the gate and out of town.

On the lich road, they run through open fields. When Halla stops to catch her breath, Sarkis asks if the villagers use tracking dogs. She assures him that the town is too small to have “slewhounds.” When he expresses his surprise that no one keeps hounds to retrieve enslaved people, Halla is horrified at the thought of enslavement, but she is silenced when he retorts that his people have never forced women into marriage in order to steal their money.

Sarkis reflects on his existence as an enchanted sword, passed through generations as an heirloom. His previous wielder was a young boy defending family lands against impossible odds. Sarkis knew they would lose, but he still fought to make the enemy pay dearly. When the boy died, Sarkis felt the psychic snap of his wielder’s death and returned to the blade’s interior, “a place of silver shadows, of darkness and metallic dreams” where time passes vaguely (54).

He had slept in the sword for decades until Halla drew him. Being summoned by a half-naked woman planning to die by suicide was not what he expected, but he found her handsome and admired her generous figure. Her constant questions exasperate him, though he acknowledges that she handled their escape well. He recalls a cruel wielder who repeatedly cut out his tongue, though he healed each time he was returned to the blade. Sarkis is relieved that Halla seems kind.

He concludes that her questioning is likely a coping mechanism for nervousness and resigns himself to enduring it as they flee.

When Sarkis spots approaching horsemen, he and Halla hide in a ditch filled with blackberry brambles. They are forced to hide twice more as riders pass. Halla complains about Sarkis yanking her arm and requests that he simply tell her when to hide in the ditch. As the night grows colder, she leads them into the stony hills to find an abandoned shepherd’s hut for shelter.

Inside the dilapidated structure, Sarkis refuses to return to the sword despite the cold, citing his duty to protect her. He explains his most recent history, stating that he was killed and that his last wielder died shortly afterward. Because the sword could not be drawn from the sheath while he recovered, it was likely considered useless and passed from one person to another through the years until Halla drew it earlier tonight. Seeing how cold Halla is, Sarkis decides to risk building a small fire for warmth.

When Halla apologizes for not helping him to build the fire, he shows empathy for her exhaustion, guessing that she had been nursing the dying Silas in the days before her flight from her family’s home. She admits that she hated the task and had no patience for it, even though she loves Silas. Sarkis reveals that he has died many times; he describes it as pain followed by “a long, silver sleep” inside the blade (63). He explains that he awakens when someone draws the sword, but notes that after he is killed, there is always a recovery period of a fortnight before the blade can be drawn again. Suddenly remembering his wound, Halla bandages his arm with a kerchief, noticing the tattoos and scars covering his skin, including a scar cutting across a tattooed stag’s throat. She huddles by the small fire and falls asleep.

While Halla sleeps, Sarkis climbs a hill to scout the landscape and plan their next move. He concludes that the exposed farmland to the north is too dangerous and that a city would be better for hiding. Thinking back to his time as a commander, before he became the servant of the sword, he remembers his lost companions, Angharad Shieldborn and the Dervish. He then sourly reflects that if he ends up escorting Halla to a nunnery, his long-lost friends would be highly amused to hear of it.

In the morning, Halla wakes, feeling hungry and thirsty. Sarkis asks her to plan their route because he is unfamiliar with the land. Surprised to be consulted, she proposes seeking help at the Temple of the White Rat in Archon’s Glory, the capital of Archenhold. She explains that the priests of the White Rat are practical problem-solvers known for finding solutions. The temple is about five days away on foot.

She suggests stopping first in the town of Amalcross to ask for help from a friend of Silas’s, a fellow collector who might assist in exchange for objects from Silas’s house. Sarkis agrees, claiming that he trusts greed more than goodwill. Halla warns him they must avoid the Vagrant Hills to the south, as these are “strange” and “uncanny” lands; people sometimes wake to find themselves among the hills despite having camped elsewhere.

They set out at frosty dawn, drinking from a stream and eating blackberries as they walk. Halla asks how Sarkis learned her language. He explains that the sword’s magic allows him to speak and understand the wielder’s tongue; this is a necessity because languages change over the centuries, and being unable to communicate with his wielder on a battlefield would be fatal. He reveals that there are at least two other similar servants of swords like him: his friends, the Dervish and Angharad Shieldborn.

When Halla asks why he would choose such a fate, Sarkis is evasive but eventually admits that he was a commander in a war that ended badly. He reluctantly confirms her guess that he sacrificed himself to become a weapon for a war that was ultimately lost. Halla calls him noble and expresses gratitude that he is with her now. He tells her that he is glad to be of help.

As they hike, Sarkis notices that Halla is limping and trying to hide her exhaustion. He realizes that her constant questions are really a coping mechanism to distract herself from pain and fatigue, similar to how his soldiers once talked endlessly on forced marches. Drawing upon his former duty as a commander to boost the morale of his troops, he engages her in conversation about sheep. The discussion leads to Halla asking if Sarks had ever been married. Sarkis reveals that he was once, but his wife left him years before he was bound to the sword because she did not want to be wed to a man who might be gone for years at a time.

They make camp for the night in a thicket where a hedgerow meets some trees. Sarkis announces that they will stop at an inn the next day, but Halla will need to go in alone, with the sword sheathed, in order to avoid drawing attention and risking their pursuers finding them. When Halla says that her age and plainness will allow her to pass without notice, Sarkis surprises her by calling her a “fine-looking woman” (79), blaming the “decadent south” for not properly appreciating her. He advises her to distract any questioners at the inn by using her talent for asking confusing questions.

Halla discovers a large, broken blister on her heel, and Sarkis bandages her foot with a strip torn from her. When Halla’s stomach growls loudly, Sarkis apologizes for being a poor guard and failing to provide for her. Halla lists numerous wild foods that she could gather if they had time, impressing him. She insists that she is not completely useless, and he tells her that he never thought she was. Halla falls asleep, vaguely hearing Sarkis speaking to her during the night.

Halla wakes to find herself in Sarkis’s lap with his arms wrapped around her for warmth. He explains that she was restless in her sleep and latched onto him; when he asked permission to move her, she only snored in response. She asks if she is heavy; he replies that both his legs are asleep. She rolls off him, immediately feeling the cold air.

Sarkis’s thoughts reveal the full story: Halla had inadvertently rolled on top of him, landing in an awkward, inappropriate position in her sleep. After several attempts to reposition her failed, he lifted her into his lap as the most practical solution. He reflects that he feels protective of her and notices a physical attraction. He believes that her mourning clothes do not suit her and that she would look better in jewel tones.

They set out, passing a swineherd. Approaching a public house, Sarkis repeats his plan for her to enter alone while the sword is sheathed. He reasons that the constables will be looking for two people traveling together, not a lone woman. Overjoyed at the prospect of real food, Halla quickly sheathes the sword, and Sarkis vanishes in a swirl of blue light.