In a prison fort south of Alliáns, where the freezing winds of the ice-covered Kergüs plains confront the inky black and foaming Endless Sea, four prisoners waste away on naked stone floors. They are not alone, and all have been caught and led here for slights - some imagined, some real - against blood-countess Anthelia. Here they are to await the death of the world, mistreated until the very end.