Summer, 1224

The covenant receives word that their supplies of writing materials have been delayed, partially due to Voluntas covenant buying up a lot of the supplies, and partially because the Cistercean monks at Meaux Abbey, who the bookseller at York sources his supplies from are having problems with a strange beast.

Alicia ex Criamon and Shale ex Miscellanea, accompanied by the raven Zephon, travel down to Meaux Abbey to investigate and discover that there have been several attacks on monks, and knights hired to solve the problem have not returned. Eye witnesses have confusingly reported either giant ducks or giant snakes.

Calling the rest of the magi for backup, they track the beast down to its lair in the marshes. Alicia undergoes twilight whilst trying to prepare for possible danger, and has a vision of the young girl again (though she is not eating an apple this time), who is being attacked by a fiery demon. The twilight lasts but a moment. Zephon seems to be somewhat agitated about something.

The beast is discovered to have been injured, its face badly burnt by some form of demon. It is not aggressive, and merely has been trying to find out how to make bits of paper make words, for it has been intrigued by the concept, and hence has been trying to obtain these things called 'books'. A woman who lives out in the marsh with her daughter has been teaching it to read. The beast is able to summon an illusion of the two, and Alicia recognises the daughter as the girl from her visions. The beast says that its attackers were seeking the girl.

The magi seek out the the two in the nearby woods, and when they come across them they are being beset by demons. A huge demon, with fiery skin and huge wings manifests out of the earth, and slays the woman. Columbanus' attempt to harm it with Perdo Vim fail.

The girl runs for her mother, and a bright light forms around the two of them, blasting out and destroying the smaller demons as it touches them. Where the light touches the magi, all their magic - including their Parma Magica - fails. At this point Zephon the raven mutters “Oh fuck, he's a girl”, and takes on the form of a giant angelic raven, his tatty black feathers replaced by glowing silvery feathers of beauty. He and the demon scream at each other in an unknown tongue, until the demon gives up his physical form and is driven off.

Zephon reverts to his normal form, and falls over.

The mother is alive, with no sign of her injury other than for torn bloody clothes. She is Lifa, and her daughter is Eira. Lifa says that she was taken in by the nuns at Nun Appleton soon after she was born. In 1216, during the Long Day, she was attacked and raped by some angelic being. The nuns did not believe her stories though, and after she became pregnant she was banished from the convent.

The two are taken back to the covenant for their safety. A brief initial conversation with Jeremiah confirms that he seemed to be expecting this, if not actively seeking out the girl due to a prophecy. However, he seems concerned that she is actually a girl and mentions that there might be theological ramifications because of this.