Chapter Summaries

Tommy tried to lift his struggling childhood friend Lex’s spirits by sharing food and describing the army’s pay, meals, and clothing. Lex was stunned by the possibility of a better life, and Tommy left him considering whether to join the Carnford army.

• Tommy gave Lex a strip of dried meat, and Lex accepted it gratefully and began to eat.
• Tommy asked Lex if he wanted to live a different kind of life, leaving Lex confused.
• Tommy described the regular meals and plentiful food available to soldiers in Carnford.
• Tommy pointed out his own strength and warm clothing, explaining that recruits who passed the examination received similar clothes.
• Tommy told Lex that soldiers earned one silver coin and fifty copper coins each month, and Lex reacted with disbelief.

Tommy convinced Lex that Carnford offered soldiers and their families security, medical care, pensions, land, and food. Lex agreed to leave for Carnford with his family and prepare in secret while Tommy sought out Finn.

• Tommy described Lord Karl’s promises of care, pay, and pensions for Carnford’s soldiers and their families.
• Lex worried that his disabled father, sick mother, and two younger brothers would be unable to survive if he left.
• Tommy promised that Lex’s family could join him in Carnford, receive rations, and be assigned land.
• Lex chose to go to Carnford for his family’s future.
• Tommy told Lex to discuss the plan quietly with his family and wait while he spoke with Finn.

Tommy returned to Jialan Village and found Finn still enduring exhausting labor and abuse at Barton's blacksmith shop. He recruited Finn for Carnford, and Finn agreed to leave with him despite his apprentice contract.

• Tommy found Finn hammering iron at the Blacksmith Shop and saw that Finn remained at the bottom of the shop's pecking order.
• Finn left the shop with Tommy after claiming he needed to use the toilet, despite Barton's angry warnings.
• Tommy told Finn that Carnford urgently needed craftsmen and described its wages, advancement, benefits, and protections.
• Finn recalled his harsh treatment and bleak prospects, then asked whether his apprentice contract would prevent him from leaving.
• Tommy assured Finn that Lord Karl could dissolve the contract, and Finn agreed to go to Carnford with him.

Tommy arranged for Finn to escape with him and Lex that night, then returned home to learn Anna had sold their house to Village Chief John for ten Silver coins. Tommy comforted Anna and urged her to focus on leaving safely for Carnford.

• Finn agreed to tell his parents and meet Tommy and Lex at the abandoned threshing floor behind Old Jack's house when the moon reached the treetops.
• Tommy heard Old Barton berating Finn and evaded the blacksmith's suspicious gaze before hurrying home.
• Tommy found Anna and Sarah preparing to leave their thatched hut.
• Anna told Tommy that Village Chief John had bought their house for ten Silver coins despite its much greater value.
• Tommy refused to take the money pouch and reassured Anna that a safe new life in Carnford mattered more than the house.

Tommy prepared to take his mother and sister to Carnford, while Village Chief John congratulated himself on buying their home cheaply. When Edward reported that Lex’s family also planned to sell their property and leave, the two landowners began to suspect that something unusual was happening.

• Tommy comforted his mother and promised Sarah that Carnford would become their new home, then told them to eat and pack for the journey.
• Village Chief John admired the deed to Tommy’s family home and privately celebrated buying it from Anna for ten silver coins.
• John dismissed the family’s departure as good fortune for Tommy and a chance to profit from their property.
• Edward visited John and reported that Lex’s family wanted to sell their hut and land before moving away.
• John and Edward compared the successive departures and sensed that something was changing, though they could not identify what.

After Barton reported that Finn had quit the blacksmith apprenticeship and that Tommy had spoken with him, John concluded Tommy was recruiting villagers to flee to Carnford. John and Edward prepared a force to arrest Tommy, Lex, and Finn that night and suppress the escape attempt.

• Barton told John and Edward that Finn had abandoned his apprenticeship and accused Tommy of encouraging him to leave.
• John connected the reports of Tommy, Lex, and Finn and concluded they planned to take their families to Carnford.
• John and Edward agreed that the departures threatened their authority and ordered a surprise arrest.
• John ordered Edward to arm ten retainers and summoned ten of his own guards and ten men from Captain Hugo's village guard.
• John instructed his men to capture Tommy alive if possible, prevent anyone from escaping, and prepare for the operation that night.

John, Edward, and Hugo led a night raid to arrest Lex, Finn, and Tommy for planning to flee Jialan Village. Lex and Finn were captured, but Tommy had disappeared, and John turned his threats on Anna and Sarah to learn where he had gone.

• John, Edward, and Hugo divided thirty men into three groups and set out to arrest Lex, Finn, and Tommy at the same time.
• Hugo's group surrounded Lex and his family at the abandoned threshing ground, beat and bound them, and took them into custody.
• Edward and Barton caught Finn packing to leave, beat him unconscious, and dragged him away.
• John's men searched Tommy's home but found only Anna and Sarah; Tommy was nowhere to be found.
• Hugo and Edward reported that Lex and Finn had been captured but Tommy had escaped, and John threatened Anna and Sarah for information.
• John kicked at Sarah, but Anna shielded her daughter and took the blow without revealing Tommy's whereabouts.

Tommy escaped John's nighttime raid by hiding on his family's roof while his mother, sister, Lex, Finn, and their families were captured. After surviving the search until dawn, he climbed down and prepared to flee Jialan Village, with Lord Karl as his only hope of rescuing them.

• Tommy heard intruders approaching and slipped through a window to hide on the roof rather than risk being captured with his family.
• John's retainers seized Tommy's mother and sister, while Hugo and Edward reported that Lex and Finn's families had also been captured.
• Tommy endured the freezing night as John ordered a search throughout Jialan Village, but the searchers failed to find him.
• After the search quieted at dawn, Tommy climbed down from the roof and decided he had to leave immediately.

Tommy escaped Jialan Village and struggled toward Fran City to seek Karl’s help rescuing his imprisoned family and friends. At the camp, Karl accepted that he would marry the Princess, then learned that Tommy had arrived in desperate condition.

• Tommy slipped out of Jialan Village, vowed to return for his imprisoned family and friends, and headed toward Fran City to contact Karl.
• Karl brooded over Charlotte’s departure and the court’s decision that he would marry the Princess.
• Karl resolved to make the best of the marriage and focus on strengthening Carnford.
• A guard reported that Tommy was requesting an audience after traveling through the night.
• Karl saw Tommy’s exhausted, frostbitten state and asked what had happened.

After Tommy told Karl that Village Chief John had captured his family and friends for trying to flee Jialan Village, Karl decided to intervene. He saw the rescue as a chance to punish oppressive local rulers and draw the oppressed to Carnford, then ordered his cavalry to march on Jialan Village.

• Tommy reported that Village Chief John, Edward, and Barton had arrested Lex and Finn's families, as well as Tommy's mother and sister, after their escape plan was exposed.
• Tommy begged Karl to rescue the captives and blamed himself for the failed plan.
• Karl decided that protecting Tommy's family and friends could also help him build popular support by punishing local oppressors and freeing the people they controlled.
• Karl reassured Tommy that the arrests were not his fault and promised to rescue the captives.
• Karl ordered all cavalry to assemble, arm themselves, and set out for Jialan Village.

John ordered Lex and Finn whipped publicly to deter villagers from resisting his authority, while Tommy’s family and the two families remained imprisoned. In the dungeon, Lex and Finn’s families clung to hope that Tommy would reach Lord Karl and bring help.

• Hugo reported that the three families had been imprisoned and that Tommy was likely to have escaped the village.
• John decided to punish Lex and Finn publicly, ordering Hugo to whip them without killing them.
• Hugo went to the dungeon, where Lex and Finn were held near their families, including Tommy’s mother Anna and sister Sarah.
• Lex and Finn reassured their families that Tommy had escaped and would seek help from Lord Karl.
• Old Hansen doubted Lord Karl would intervene, but Lex insisted that Karl would protect his soldier and the soldier’s family.

Village Chief John sentenced Lex and Finn to a public whipping for allegedly plotting to flee Jialan Village and violating Finn’s apprenticeship contract. As Hugo prepared to strike them, a large cavalry force thundered toward the square, leaving the villagers and their leaders startled.

• Guard Captain Hugo ordered Lex and Finn dragged from the dungeon, and Finn cried out for Tommy and Lord Karl to save them.
• Edward and Barton watched as the villagers gathered around the whipping frames, where the retainers bound Lex and Finn.
• Village Chief John accused Lex and Finn of plotting to escape and violating the village’s laws, while Barton condemned Finn for breaking his contract.
• John sentenced Lex and Finn to a public whipping, and the executioners drenched them with icy water.
• Hugo raised a whip over Lex, but approaching cavalry thundered toward the village and stopped the execution.

Tommy returned to Jialan Village at the head of an armored cavalry force and rescued Lex and Finn from execution. He told the terrified villagers that he had brought an army to seek justice and set things right.

• Tommy led dozens of armored cavalrymen through the village gate and into the square.
• A cavalryman shot Hugo in the shoulder when he raised his whip against Lex and Finn.
• Tommy cut Lex and Finn free from the wooden frame with his sword.
• Two cavalrymen killed Edward’s retainers when they tried to block the cavalry.
• Tommy stopped the panicking villagers and announced that he had returned with an army to seek justice.

Karl von Schmidt arrived in Jialan Village and used the King’s Imperial Edict to prove his authority as he sentenced John to death. He then freed the villagers from coercive contracts, leaving John defeated and his control over them destroyed.

• Tommy named Karl von Schmidt’s titles and identified him as the man who had come to deliver justice.
• Karl emerged from the cavalry and sentenced John to death for abusing his authority, unlawfully imprisoning people, and using private torture.
• Karl displayed the Imperial Edict bearing the Heirloom Seal of the Realm, confirming his royal authority and duties as Guardian of the Northern Border.
• Karl declared unjust or coercive dependency and debt contracts between John and the villagers null and void, freeing them to stay or leave.
• John collapsed as he realized Karl had destroyed both his life and the basis of his power over the villagers.

Karl used an authentic royal edict to deceive the villagers into believing he had authority to condemn John and free the serfs. After learning their families were imprisoned, Tommy led a rescue party into the dungeon and found his mother Anna and sister Sarah injured but alive.

• Tommy warmed Lex and Finn, then learned that their families and his own were still imprisoned beneath John's house.
• Karl gave Tommy permission to take several soldiers and rescue the prisoners.
• Tommy and the cavalrymen overpowered the dungeon guards and entered the underground cells.
• Tommy found Anna and Sarah, who had been beaten and kicked, and freed them from their cell.
• Tommy comforted his family and began leading them out as Lex and Finn reunited with their families.

After rescuing Jialan Village’s prisoners, Karl refused Tommy’s request to kill John immediately and announced a public trial to expose the village chief’s crimes. He invited the villagers to speak, promising protection from retaliation as the reckoning began.

• Tommy and the Carnford cavalrymen helped the rescued families leave the dungeon and return to the village square.
• Tommy asked Karl for permission to kill John for beating his mother and hurting his little sister.
• Karl urged Tommy to pursue public justice, pointing out that John and his followers had oppressed the entire village.
• Tommy accepted Karl’s plan for a public trial, and Karl invited Jialan’s villagers to testify against John, Edward, Hugo, and their lackeys.

A woman accused John before Prince Consort Karl and the villagers, recounting how John killed her husband, assaulted her, and ruined her family. Her testimony left the crowd and even the Carnford cavalry furious, as the public reckoning against John began.

• Karl called on the villagers to step forward and voice their grievances, but fear kept the crowd silent at first.
• A ragged woman and her daughter approached Karl, and the woman accused John of abusing her family.
• She said John had forced her husband Andrew to work without pay, then tortured him to death when he refused.
• The woman accused John of assaulting her, causing her eldest daughter to lose her sanity, and selling her younger daughter to traffickers.
• She begged Karl to punish John with death, while the villagers and Carnford cavalry reacted with anger.

Karl gathered the villagers’ accusations against John, Edward, Hugo, and their enforcers, then rejected John’s claim that his appointed office protected him from judgment. The chapter left John publicly condemned as a tyrant and criminal, with the villagers’ testimonies recorded as evidence.

• Karl urged the villagers to report their grievances, and Tommy and two soldiers recorded their accusations.
• Villagers described abuses by John, Edward, Hugo, and their lackeys, including land seizures, extortion, violence, and assaults.
• Karl stopped the testimony and asked John whether he confessed to the crimes.
• John denied the accusations and argued that Karl could not judge an appointed village chief based on villagers’ claims.
• Karl invoked his royal appointment and denounced John for abusing his authority and harming the people.

Karl sentenced John, Edward, and Hugo to death and had them executed before the villagers. After their revenge was fulfilled, the villagers looked to Karl for guidance on what would come next.

• Karl sentenced John, Edward, and Hugo to death and ordered the cavalry to carry out the executions immediately.
• Two cavalrymen shot John and Edward with arrows, killing them as the villagers cheered.
• Hugo begged Karl to spare him, but Karl had him shot as well.
• The villagers' celebration faded as they wondered what freedom meant for their ruined homes and uncertain future.
• Karl recognized that the villagers were waiting for him to offer them a new goal.

Karl freed the people of Jialan Village and invited them to settle in Carnford, then ordered the confiscation of the condemned magnates’ property. When he asked Tommy where else people suffered, Tommy told him about the brutal iron mines and estates of Sir Sonny.

• Karl announced that the villagers’ unjust debts and dependency agreements were annulled and that they were free subjects of the kingdom.
• Karl welcomed the villagers to Carnford, and Tommy explained the promised rations, land, and work; many villagers decided to leave for their new home.
• Karl ordered Tommy to confiscate the condemned men’s property while protecting innocent family members from harm.
• After Tommy organized the confiscation, Karl asked him where else people were being exploited.
• Tommy described the abuse of workers and serfs in Sir Sonny’s iron-mining district and estates east of Jialan Village.