Prince of Thorns

The Forest Watch finds Jorg and Makin, and Jorg identifies himself. At the Watch’s camp, they again meet Watch Master Coddin, who tells them that he has orders to return with Jorg’s head. Gorgoth, Rike, and a couple of other Brothers appear. Jorg proposes that he will seize the Renar Highlands for himself and reward those who help him.

Rike wants to kill Jorg for the bounty, but Jorg stares him down. Coddin agrees to bring the Forest Watch into Jorg’s service as long as Jorg is able to convince the brothers of his plan. Jorg pretends that he doesn’t want the brothers to join him and that he will reconcile with his father. Rike is furious, thinking that Jorg intends to live the high life while the brothers slog through the mud. Rike insists that he won’t leave Jorg’s side until he has received his fair share of loot. Jorg asks if the brothers can hold The Haunt’s gates until the Forest Watch can charge them. Everyone says they can do their part.

At the Grand Mêleé, Jorg survives until there is only one man left. He is just about to receive a killing blow when a crossbow bolt kills his last opponent. Confusion spreads, and the brothers begin causing further chaos. Mounting a warhorse, Jorg charges at the spectators’ box containing Corion and Renar.

Jorg nearly runs over Renar, but a bodyguard snatches him aside, and the Count runs to the protection of more guards. Jorg turns to go after Renar, but Corion commands him to stop.

Corion begins working a knife between Jorg’s armor to stab him in the neck. Jorg tries to muster every last ounce of his will, focusing on his pain and rage and resentment, but he can accomplish nothing other than turning the point of his dagger towards the sorcerer. Corion allows Jorg to magically see the course of the skirmish, and Jorg witnesses several Brothers die. Corion shifts to give Jorg a final cut, but the horse he rode into the stands kicks him in the back. Jorg crashes into Corion, and his dagger sinks into the wizard’s chest.

Jorg finishes Corion off and cuts his head off. He brandishes the Corion’s head before him, telling the guards that his business is with Renar only and that Corion was the true power behind the throne. The guards let him pass. Spotting the Forest Watch coming into view, Jorg drops Corion’s head and feels an enormous weight lifted. Ahead, Gorgoth is straining to keep The Haunt’s portcullis from closing completely.

Jorg charges towards the portcullis as archers fire at him. Twenty spearmen emerge to block his path. Jorg stops before them, unable to think of a way to get them to step aside.

Jorg can see Rike and Makin coming up the street behind him. The leader of the guards asks hesitantly if Jorg serves House Renar. Realizing that the soldiers do not know what has happened, Jorg scrapes the mud from the coat of arms on his stolen armor and claims to be Alain Kennick. The guards grant him sanctuary and turn to fight Rike and Makin.

Closer to the portcullis, Jorg sees charred corpses and Gorgoth straining to hold the gate up. Gorgoth points to Gog, indicating that the child has burned all those men.

Count Renar, standing before the gates of the keep, orders his men to shoot Jorg. The Prince turns to Renar and bows, addressing him as “uncle.” Jorg asks the guards to be allowed to settle things personally with Renar, as between family. A guard raises his crossbow, but Gog sets him on fire. Able to see the guard’s ghost, Jorg grabs it and allows its voice to be heard. He adds the voices of the other dead in the area, and Renar’s guards flee in terror. Jorg charges.

Ensconced in Corion’s old lair atop The Haunt’s highest tower, Jorg reflects on the path that has led him to this point. It is difficult for him to sort out the degree of Corion’s influence on his actions over the past four years, but he has decided that: “Corion may have sought to guide the destination but the journey, the murderous, random, broken journey was all mine” (371). Although he explicitly does not feel remorse for his actions, he has no desire to repeat them and no longer feels that he is the same person.

He remembers wondering if killing Corion would allow him to grow into the sort of man that the Nuban and Tutor Lundist hoped he would become. He reasons that it has not, since that man would have given Count Renar a quick death. Instead, Jorg has stuck Renar in the depths of the dungeon to beg for death without relief. He considers it a sign of his maturity that he intends to kill Renar after finishing writing out the history of his adventures on the road: “The old Jorg would have kept him there forever” (372).