Prince of Thorns

One of Marclos’s escorts, Sir Renton, is still alive. Although the knight insists he will tell Jorg nothing, Jorg is confident that Renton will reveal everything he knows before being burned by the village’s survivors.

After some back and forth between Renton, Gomst, and Jorg, the young prince tells Renton how he once interrogated Bishop Murillo. Jorg hammered nails into the Bishop’s brain, one by one, literally killing parts of the man’s mind. When Jorg then displays a nail in one of his hands, Renton tells Jorg everything and is then turned over to the peasants and burned. 

Four years earlier, Jorg follows Lundist out of the classroom and into the open air. His father’s dungeons are stuffed with criminals to be publicly executed the next day, and Lundist instructs him about the use of terror and spectacle in ruling a populace.

Jorg and Lundist encounter Makin drilling boys in the courtyard; he has just been promoted to Captain of the Guard. Makin invites Jorg to spar with the trainees. Jorg insists on fighting the biggest boy in the group and manages to deck him with a single shot to the throat.

When one of the trainees complains that Jorg cheated, Jorg turns to Makin, saying “It’s not a game, Sir Makin.