Beware the man who thinks himself righteous, for he is a liar or a madman.
Seek out the man who knows himself sinful, for in him the light resides.
-From “The Wisdom of Lassar the Blessed” (The Sayings, Book I, 4:20-21)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The ConspiracyVasyllia had been shrouded in fog for weeks. It almost seemed alive, a kind of enormous grey snake squeezing the city in its coils until even the air felt unbreathable. Though the air of the Temple was not as restricted, in Otar Kalún’s mind it was forever defiled by the violence done to the Pilgrim. Even now, as he tried to bring his unruly heart back to its usual, pleasant, barely noticeable beat, he could not stop the images of blood and mayhem from huddling in on his enforced silence. For the hundredth time this day, he tensed his bone
