Fallen out of royal favor, Pierce fled, probably to Ventrisshire. The baroness promises the posse of royalist lords to catch him if they agree also to let the shire deal with the rebels her way. Milus recruits Wilkin and Toran for the chase. Father Ruskin learns about archdeacon Robinus's heretics hunt and beats them to Annora 's cave where he gets to read the healer's priceless treasure, an alternative Epistle brought from Jerusalem by the Templars, including her burns-mutilated lover-protector. The archdeacon's troops find the cave but suffer the sting of its elaborate booby traps.
—KGF Vissers