A fugitive lurks in the shadows of the City of Petitioners. Although his fellow Forsaken Dead are no longer alive, lone wolf Severian still intends to escape from Terra by any means possible - but the mysterious hunter Yasu Nagasena is on his heels. Meanwhile, news of the massacre at Isstvan V spreads ever wider, and as Severian retraces his own steps to the place where it all began, both he and Nagasena will have to face a number of unpleasant facts in the face of an even more uncertain future.