The story begins years later in the secret location of Tapisillium, an underground citadel that houses a giant loom where LORD WEBRON, holds captive a people as slaves, forced to weave their own dead into a giant tapestry under the dictation of his army, THE SCAUX. It is here that we join FRONG and his ailing, grandmother, ELLEN. For three generations Ellen’s family have been imprisoned but unlike the majority she works directly for Webron as his bookkeeper, documenting the fate of the abducted slaves in ledgers and recording his memoirs. Ellen’s frailty leaves her little time to pass on the truth about Webron’s descent into evil. Making a copy of Webron’s book she entrusts it to Frong, telling him the story so he can pass on their people’s ill-starred history in the hope that those who survive can be saved before Etruria falls and is cast into the Dark Lord’s reign.
Once a Brisley boy himself, Webron as a gifted weaver so excels in his studies that he is given the honour of tutelage under The Winged Lion. While searching for new materials he ventures into Sourwood where he encounters Sartis. She questions the reason for his intrusion and Webron hastily explains his business revealing the identity of his master. Seeing her opportunity for revenge against the Lion, Sartis poisons Webron. He flees home to Brisley but as the poison takes hold, like an addict he is drawn back to Sourwood where Sartis possesses him as her own student to train in the arts of dark magic.
