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Penric's Mission

Penric is on a diplomatic mission to Patos to contact General Adelis Arisaydia who seems to want to defect to Adria. Upon arrival he is arrested as a spy and left to drown in an underground cell. After escaping, he discovers that the general has been blinded on orders of the emperor of Patos who fears he would try and seize power for himself. The Arisaydia is under the care of his sister Nikys and Penric, feeling guilty of having provided the emperor with an excuse to attack his rival, presents himself to Nikys as a physician and over the course of a week manages to repair his eyes, secretly using sorcery. When the emperor's men come to ensure Arisaydia has indeed become harmless they find out he can actually see and attack him. Penric neutralizes them and takes the general and is sister with him away from the city. Penric wants to take them to Adria, but the general believes that Orbas is easier and safer. They flee for a couple of days, until the emperor's men catch up with them, accompanied by another sorcerer. Penric fights him and wins, killing or chasing away the rest of the soldiers.

Mira's Last Dance

Penric, Arisaydia and Nikys are still fleeing from Patos and find refuge at a bordello in Sosie. In exchange for food and shelter, Penric rids the place and the customers of the lice and other parasites and even treats the owner's breast cancer. Easily recognizable, Penric decides to disguise himself as Mira, the fifth rider of his demon and a rich and independent woman, eccentric enough to be accompanied by two masked servants, Adelis and Nikys. To test his Mira persona, Penric mingles among the customers and catches the eye of General Chadro who insists on spending the night with Mira. Mira's personality convinces Penric that Chadro could provide the money they need to continue their travels towards Orbas, so she takes over, promising Penric he would not even need to take his clothes off. Nikys, who has started to get attracted to Penric notices that if she marries him she would also marry Desdemona and all the past personalities, which puts her off. The purse however let them rent a carriage with horses. When they almost reach the border, they are caught up by a group of soldiers, but instead of being arrested, it is Chadro who attempts one last time to convince Mira to marry him. In Orbas, they are welcomed by the duke who hires all three of them. Some weeks later, as Adelis already left to fight for the duke, Penric proposes to Nikys but she refuses as she does not want to have to share Penric with all the other personalities.

The Prisoner of Limnos

In Orbas, Nikys receives a coded message from Lady Tanar, the woman in Thasalon Adelis was meant to marry before falling into disgrace. The message informs her that her mother was taken prisoner and sent to the island of Limnos, in a retreat of the Daughter's Order from which she cannot leave. Nikys asks Penric to accompany her to Limnos and free her mother. They first visit Tanar in secret, who welcomes them and agrees to help them. As only women are allowed in the retreat, Tanar and Nikys disguise Penric into a woman. The plan is to find Nikys' mother and exchange her with Penric. The latter will give them the night to escape as far as possible from Limnos before himself escaping, somehow and rejoining them in Akylaxio. They are accompanied by Bosha, Tanar's faithful servant since her childhood. The retreat is an impregnable fortress at the top of a cliff a thousand feet tall. The plan goes well, but in the middle of the night Penric is woken up by a man who entered through the window: Nikys' half-brother Ikos who is a bridge builder and who had also planned to save his mother. Penric and Ikos escape using the latter's rope-and-pulleys contraption. The manage to leave the island on a ship belonging to friends of Ikos' and meet with Nikys and her mother who also managed to reach Akylaxio. As they go through customs, an imperial courier arrives with probably a description of the fugitive. Using his powers, Penric puts a geas on him, making him forget his mission. They then embark on a ship for Orbas. During the trip, Nikys discusses with Desdemona, comes to terms with Penric hosting multiple personalities.