Content Warning: Both the source text and this guide contain descriptions of enslavement and depictions of extreme poverty.

Andry Trelland travels to a temple with the knight for whom he squires, Sir Grandel Tyr. They are also accompanied by a band of Companions, and their goal is to stop a Spindleblade thief and the Red, a wizard who intends to rip open a Spindle (a doorway to another realm). Among the Companions are six Elders (immortal beings who have lived in Allward for millennia). One Elder, Domacridhan, goes by “Dom” and is an Elder prince of Iona. The group also includes knights from Galland, and a mortal man named Cortael of Old Cor, who is said to have been born with Spindleblood; this means that his blood (or those of his relatives) can be combined with a Spindleblade to open a Spindle to another realm.

When the group arrives at the temple, they encounter the Red and Taristan of Old Cor, Cortael’s twin brother. Andry and the others are too late to stop Taristan, who has stolen a Spindleblade and has already torn open the Spindle. Now, Taristan taunts his brother Cortael and the Companions and states that becoming king is worth destabilizing Allward by tearing open all the Spindles.