Upon returning to Upchurch after breaking the curse, the consortes find Purer Grundy waiting for them. Purer introduces himself as a healer and man of the Five. Aftering hearing many stories of Sir Hamral and his men, he decided to come to Upchurch to offer his services. Purer examines the unnatural wound that Mendelor suffered in the infernal caves, but the healer cannot explain why the festering wound would not respond to either natural healing or even prayer.

After obtaining Sir Hamral's leave, Sir Will Garnfellow, Valerius, Vandoren, Mendelor, and Purer all set off for Heremac, in hopes that the Chalice of Amalthea may be able to restore Mendelor. While on the road the travelers notice that many peasants are extremely fearful and anxious in light of the fall of Eredy -- as well as rumors that King Tereus himself has set up residence in Derwich. Vandoren and Purer do their best to soothe these worries with inspiring song and deed.

Once in Heremac the travelers find the town overflowing with the sick and destitute: refugees from the conquered territories. The travelers immediately head for the Shrine of St. Marius and the Bergenian monastery there. Vandoren speaks with the porter and quickly arranges for a meeting with Abbot Peter.

The Abbott appears glad to see the visitors, especially once he learns that St. James is not present. After a brief discussion, Vandoren persuades the Abbott to allow Mendelor to drink from the Chalice. The Abbott sends the pilgrims down the the chapel, where a pair of oblates bring the Chalice out from the reliquary. Mendelor, strangely enough, shrinks back at the sight of the holy relic, but in the end he steels himself and drinks from the cup. The woodsman falls to the ground and moans, but after a few moments he recovers from his transport and relays that his foul wound is now healed.

The visitors then make for the Bristling Boar, where Dame Ellen Golding is only too glad to see them all, especially Vandoren. Valerius then sends a message to St. James's old tutor Roger, requesting a meeting.

The tall, lanky man soon arrives. Roger provides a few updates on recent goings on in town. No one knows who killed Tim, though Roger admits he had assumed that Valerius may have been behind it. Maggie probably had nothing to do with the nasty deed. Roger nearly admits that he may have picked up some of Tim's illicit traffic with the wizard Hecatesseus. After Roger leaves, Purer notices that a few urchins have been paying a little too much attention to the group; a stern glance from Valerius is enough to disperse the spies.

In the next few days Mendelor, Vandoren, and Valerius look for presents for Sir Hamral, while Purer spends his time in the streets of Heremac, tending to the sick and impoverished. Mendelor buys a silver scabbard for Legrand and a small knife; Vandoren buys a pair of sumptuous robes, while Valerius commissions the Bergenian monks to prepare a book of poetry.

While moving through Heremac, the group notices that they are being followed. Mendelor drops back and lays hold of the spy, dragging him into an ally for a good pummeling and interrogation. The man says that he is one of Roger's men and reveals that a shipment of goods bound for Hecatesseus is due to leave the city that night. After a good thrashing Vandoren then casts a charm that alters the spy's memory so that he does not remember his interrogation. The travelers then gather their belongings and secretly speed from Heremac, making directly for the shipment's rendezvous point.

Once at the rendezvous, Mendelor begin looking for a place to lay an ambush. But then Noxumbra spies four gleaming objects, circling ominously in the sky. The objects -- flying things fashioned into the likenesses of giant bronze eagles -- swiftly descend unto the group.

Valerius conjures up a series of air elementals to fight the bronze eagles. The eagles ignore the elementals and drop into the group, first attacking Valerius and Mendelor. Though made of unliving metal, the things are armed with talons and beaks as sharp as knives, and they move with unnatural speed. Valerius is hurt before he is able to turn invisible, and two eagles then turn their attention to Vandoren.

Mendelor hacks at them with his axe while Vandoren fires his crossbow. One of the eagles manages to overwhelm the minstrel, who falls in the midst of battle. Meanwhile Mendelor suffers grievous wounds at the hands of these sorcerous constructs. Fortunately, Purer rushes forward and provides healing prayers that both resuscitate Vandoren and restore Mendelor to health.

Meanwhile, the eagles begin to falter under the counter-attack. Valerius's great elephant, conjured up from the earth, smashes two of the bronze eagles to pieces, and the air elementals finish off the the other two.

Weary from the fight and itching for revenge, the group considers what to do. No shipment appears to be forthcoming, so the group returns to Heremac to settle up with Roger. Back at the Bristling Boar, Sir Garnfellow relates that Roger has been looking for the travelers, concerned that they were heading into an ambush.

Soon Roger himself arrives and professes complete innocence in the ambush. The lanky man explains that at the last minute he received word that the shipment was not to be sent out; based on this change he feared that Valerius and the rest were heading into a trap. When he went to warn them, he found they had already left the town.

Purer says that it appears Roger is not telling any outright lie in this account, but Valerius and his fellows give the lanky man a stern warning against future dealings with Hecatesseus. Roger appears to take this advice to heart and leaves the Bristling Boar.