In this short prelude, the author writes about three different types of silence at the Waystone Inn: a hollow quiet caused by “things that were lacking” (1), such as people and music; a “small, sullen silence” (1) from a pair of men huddled at a bar avoiding talk about troubling news; and the kind that wraps around the others, which a red-haired man at the bar caused. The man, Kote, owns the Waystone, and this heavy, deep silence is “the patient, cut-flower sound of a man who is waiting to die” (1).

Old Cob tells a story at the inn to five people who make up the usual crowd. It’s about Taborlin the Great, who escaped the fierce Chandrian unscathed. Thanks to a token from a tinker, he possesses the ability to call out the names of things, which saved him.

The man Carter then enters dramatically, smeared with blood, saying that a giant spider-like creature just attacked him, though it is now dead. Kote identifies it as a scrael and says he’s surprised to see one this far west. The men think it’s a demon, but Kote explains that there’s an easy way to tell: “Iron or fire” (9).