City of Civula

Pouncequick follows the glowing goblin to the city of Civula, then north of town, but loses him.

The city of Civula is small. Its chapel has been abandoned since the death of Brother Parvus, its monastic resident. The altar has been defaced with hammer blows, but the relic (a finger bone) inside it is unbothered. Brother Aquila takes the relic for safekeeping.

Pouncequick steals 100 sesterces hidden under the ashes in the blacksmiths's firepit. (He is not caught.)

Cingulus, the medicus, accepts Rosa's help in tending a family with a throat fever.

Sir Gerald, the squire, says goblins were completely routed a few years ago by the army and Fabulus Calamus, the wisest man in all of Rome. But lately people have seen goblins lurking about, though no one's been attacked yet. Some chickens have been taken, and hunting's been remarkably poor.

When told that the goblins are back, Sir Gerald declares his willingness to raise the militia and put them down! His militia is three men and a woman.

Junius leads his patrol to the site of the Temple of the Four Winds, which was the center of goblin civilization in the Thirties until it was smashed by Rome.