Lady Aphris meets a handsome rune priest who wants to consult the haruspex. The man from Torvaldsland, named Kari, is however attacked by a wild tarsk and hit unconscious. Lady Aphris decides she likes the stranger and orders the outriders to strip and enslave the guy. This been done the fresh slave is branded with the Kataii mark at his hips and left behind in a cellar, naked, cold, chained, thirsty almost broken....