Halla approaches a public house called The Drunken Boar, anxious about being found by constables. She wryly reflects that her life has shifted from her normal routine to a strange parallel existence where she travels with an enchanted sword. Inside, she is relieved when the other patrons ignore her, and she eats breakfast by the fire, savoring her return to civilization. Overcome by exhaustion, she inadvertently falls asleep in her chair until a woman named Mina approaches. Expressing nervousness because she is a woman traveling alone, Mina asks if she and Halla can leave together for the sake of safety. Halla agrees, and they walk along the road together.

Halla notices Mina looking behind her several times and wonders if the woman is fleeing from someone. She suggests stepping off the road, and Mina readily agrees. As they pass through a break in a hedgerow, a man with a large knife appears and confronts Halla, and Mina’s demeanor shifts from fearful to irritated; she is complicit in the ambush. The man demands Halla’s money, and Mina recommends that they steal the sword as well. Halla calls for Sarkis but trips and falls.