Spring, 1224

Friar Luke Walding obtains a letter of introduction from the village priest near Nocte Flamma to Bullington Priory, enquiring as to the missing covenfolk. At the Priory he is able to ask questions and determine that the guards who accompanied the nuns remember coming across dead bodies on the road, apparently attacked by bandits. They brought them back to the Priory for burial. Their memories seem incomplete and sketchy.

Karl-Erik is also able to gain access to the canons, and using Luke's letter is also given the opportunity to question the nuns. One of them has a much clearer memory of what happened, but insists that the bodies were found on the road, not at the manor that is the covenant. The nuns had gone with another of their number who was starting a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and were returning from the port where she had boarded a ship down to London. They stayed at the manor on the way back, and say they found the bodies the following morning.

There have been a couple of unfortunate deaths here in the last year, and many of the nuns seem to be remarkably skilled and are very prideful of those skills. Friar Luke picks up a hint of unholy taint in one of the nuns, who is gifted at flower arranging.

Uriel sneaks inside the priory and investigates the nun's quarters, eventually finding some sharp, thin knives in their cells. They possibly match the wounds the magi determine are on the bodies - precise strikes into the brain. One of the canons, a gifted scribe who was also prideful of his work, was possibly killed in a similar way. Uriel also investigates the libraries at the priory, which seem to be of good quality and contain some interesting works on academic knowledges, as well as languages and music.

There is much discussion as to motives and the nature of the assassins. Though many aspects of the situation points towards demons, some of the motives seem odd.