Brishen arrives in the City of Hands, and goes to the palace of the Priest-Queen. The Priest-Queen, Third-Vision, is conferring with a black Khatta, by the name of Feli Kurai, aka "Jynx", aka "Unlucky One" – the same black Khatta that escaped from the Embassy some time ago, found prowling around the Old Cemetary. Brishen learns of Jynx's quest to retrieve and destroy the Artifact of Calderas … and of the successful escape of the eight Savanite slaves from the Embassy, plus a ninth: Kame Ikata.

Brishen expresses an interest in helping Jynx with this quest, and agrees to go along. Jynx considers several places to go to get rid of the Artifact, and at last settles upon a Forbidden Zone in the Himaat, through which Zoltan (the "Redeemer of Shadows") somehow managed to leave Sinai and go to another world – Abaddon – where magic is believed not to exist … and where the magical Artifact of Calderas presumably would cease to function.