Chapter Twenty: Four-Eyed Riddle[edit | edit source]

At Rôemhîik, Ivin, admiring a new gaming table, is haunted by dice that consistently roll all ones, the “four-eyed snake,” linked to the murder of his father, Kotin, by the monk Tokodin. Kinesee’s return with 2,000 Helmveliner warriors, soon to be followed by another 2,000, interrupts his brooding, her sundown latcu necklace dazzling him. She reveals her mission to negotiate with the Helelindin for access to the Twenty-Second Foundation, withholding details that Ivin senses but doesn’t press. Demonstrating the dice’s uncanny behavior, Ivin shares their origin: Tokodin’s night die, found beside his body, and three days dice mysteriously slipped into Ivin’s pocket, all rolling ones except when Kinesee holds the night die, briefly yielding a two, four, and six. This anomaly, tied to Tokodin’s gambling loss at the Crack of Burdenis, suggests a supernatural force, possibly mocking Ivin. Kinesee’s insight into the dice’s cheating potential deepens the mystery, hinting at a killer’s taunt. Meliu’s arrival, invited by Kinesee, disrupts their intimacy, and she confesses secrets: Ulrikt tasked her to find Tomarok, a God Wars-era crowning site for king priests, possibly linked to the Dark Waters cult’s interest in a slumbering god. She reveals Ulrikt, potentially alive in Inster, may possess the Lord Priest’s Face, a prayer allowing him to shapeshift, orchestrating wars to protect the Silone and perhaps faking his death. Ivin, reeling from the possibility that Ulrikt or an imposter killed Kotin, shares the dice’s secret with Meliu, challenging her to roll the four-eyed snake, as tensions and trust among the trio teeter amidst revelations of betrayal and supernatural intrigue.

WoG Chapter 19 — Hall of Glass
WoG Chapter 21 — Mother Secrets
Whispers of Ghosts — Main Chapter Listing