WoG Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Pointed Message edit
On Herald’s Watch, tensions between Skywatch priests and islanders escalate weeks after Wilu’s murder (Ch. 23), with Artus and Jinbin barring Temeru and her priests from the garden, citing their refusal to labor. Eliles intervenes, enforcing the rule that only those who work eat, but Temeru’s claim of priestly privilege and accusation of islander violence deepen the rift. Niktir, suspected of Wilu’s murder, offers to garden, defying Temeru, but a blunted Tek crossbow bolt kills him instantly, shot from the east. Reinus, Wilu’s son, is apprehended with the weapon, confessing to the act, but Eliles, suspecting the Lord Priest’s Face (Ch. 20, 23), confirms his alibi with Barold, revealing he was fishing during the murder. The Face, impersonating Reinus, likely framed him to sow discord. Locking Reinus in a jail for safety, Eliles confronts Temeru, asserting clan law over Skywatch’s demand for execution. Temeru, dismissing the Face as a myth and rallying her followers, threatens unrest unless Reinus dies, suggesting Eliles’s refusal fuels division. Eliles, recognizing Temeru’s manipulation and possible complicity, vows to prove the Face’s existence to unite the island, rejecting Artus’s call to kill the priests or the Face. Grappling with the Sliver of Star’s temptation to resurrect Niktir—linked to the Twelfth Star Prophecy (Ch. 19)—and the moral dilemma of killing the Face, Eliles seeks a non-lethal solution to unmask the shapeshifter, aware it may target her next.
- WoG Chapter 28 — Snow Blind Kin
- WoG Chapter 30 — Dry Rains
- Whispers of Ghosts — Main Chapter Listing