Ashes of the Safe-Conduct

“He stole the invasion order his uncle signed. The safe-conduct that could take him home is now held by a huntress who doesn't trust him.”

One night in the archive, Don Íñigo de Vivar, an auditor at the Chancery in Burgos and cousin to Doña Beatriz, finds the secret order to invade Oakhaven before the truce can be ratified, signed by his uncle, the grand chancellor. He steals it and flees north with his auditor's safe-conduct, the paper that opens every bridge and that, from dawn onward, also gives him away. In the forest of the Mist, his horse lame and the Black Guard behind him, he is found by Irati, a huntress whose family died under southern lances. She agrees to guide him to the Gorge of Souls on one condition: she keeps the safe-conduct as a pledge.