the girl

The girl first appeared at a barn where soldiers were sheltering, revealing they were eating her hidden donkey, Parsnip, and asking for help to bury her dead father. When violence erupted between the soldiers, she slipped away, climbed a tree, and whispered for an angel. She later intervened to stop Thomas from killing the captive Jacquot, pleading for mercy and telling Thomas not to kill anyone else again. After spending the night in the barn, she persuaded a reluctant Thomas to bury her father, forcing Jacquot to do the grim work. She kissed her father's bloated cheek goodbye and placed a small blackthorn cross in his hand. She insisted on traveling with Thomas, salvaging her belongings: honey, a book by Thomas Aquinas, a deer-bone bird whistle, and a pine-and-lead cross given by a Franciscan. Thomas broke the cross despite her protests. She is literate in French and Latin, the daughter of a lawyer and beekeeper. In a moment of eerie clarity, she told Thomas she had seen his soul and that a devil is always near him, wanting him.

She first appeared at a barn, a small, fine-boned child with luminous gray eyes and damp flaxen hair, to tell the soldiers inside they were eating her hidden donkey, Parsnip. She asked for their help to bury her father. When violence erupted between Thomas and the thief Jacquot, she climbed a tree, whispered for an angel, then intervened to plead for Jacquot's life, telling Thomas not to kill anybody else again.

Afterward, she insisted on accompanying Thomas. She revealed she could read French and Latin, her father having been a lawyer and beekeeper. She was pious and sharp-tongued, chiding Thomas for swearing and questioning why he rode with a killer. She salvaged her father's belongings, including a book of Thomas Aquinas and a Franciscan's pine-and-lead cross, which she desperately retrieved each time Thomas threw it away in anger. In a moment of strange insight, she told Thomas she had seen his soul and that a devil always wanted him.

On the road to Fleur-de-Roche, her hair now dry and gold, she revealed her dream-driven mission. In the looted church there, she explained that the dead priest, Père Raoul, had come to her in a dream to say he died hiding from the plague and to instruct her to go to Paris first, then to Avignon. She asked Thomas if he thought her a witch, curled up, and fell asleep, her fate now bound to his reluctant protection.

She first appeared at a barn, a child with sticklike legs and damp flaxen hair, to tell the soldiers inside they were eating her hidden donkey, Parsnip. She asked for their help burying her father, but fled when violence erupted. Outside, she climbed a tree and whispered for an angel, then pleaded with the crossbowman Jacquot not to throw stones. When Thomas intervened, she stood before Jacquot and begged Thomas not to kill him, afterward telling the knight he should not kill anybody ever again.

Traveling with Thomas, she proved stubbornly observant and morally rigid, chiding him for swearing and questioning why he rode with a killer. She salvaged her father's book of Thomas Aquinas and a Franciscan's pine-and-lead cross, which she defended fiercely, sobbing when Thomas destroyed it. She revealed she could read French and Latin and had seen a devil clinging to Thomas's soul. In the plague-ravaged town of Fleur-de-Roche, she learned from a dream that the priest Père Raoul had died and told Thomas they must go to Avignon, via Paris, for something they needed, a mission she insisted he must safeguard.

On the road, her hair turned gold in the sun. She marched for two days, foraging with Thomas, and asked persistent questions about his past. At an abandoned monastery, she knelt in prayer with wet cheeks and took a temporary vow of silence. She broke it to lead Thomas through the herb garden, knowledge learned from her mother, gathering edible plants and warning of monkshood poison. As they approached the town of St. Martin-le-Preux, she used her bird whistle to signal they were friendly and called out to a priest, earning a pinch from Thomas for her trouble.

She first appeared at a barn where soldiers had slaughtered her donkey, Parsnip, asking for help to bury her father. When one of the men, Jacquot, threatened her, she climbed a tree and whispered for an angel before coming down to stand in front of him, pleading with Thomas not to kill. After Thomas killed Jacquot's companion, she told him not to kill anybody else again. She then followed Thomas, declaring he would look after her. She was precocious and learned, able to read French and Latin, and cherished relics of her faith, like a Franciscan's cross, which she retrieved from the mud even after Thomas threw it away in anger. She claimed to have seen Thomas's soul and told him a devil was always near him.

On the road, she revealed they were bound for Paris first, then Avignon, on an urgent task communicated to her by the dead priest of her town, Père Raoul. She took a vow of silence in a deserted monastery, breaking it only to laugh after throwing leaves at Thomas. Her knowledge of herbs, learned from her mother, helped them forage. In the town of St. Martin-le-Preux, she joined a procession to confront a river monster, swinging a censer barefoot. When Thomas lost his sword in the fight, she waded into the river to retrieve it, submerging herself completely before Thomas hauled her out by her hair.

She was a small, fine-boned child with sticklike legs and large feet, her flaxen hair greasy and wet. On the eve of her first bleeding and not yet promised to a husband, she emerged at a barn where soldiers were eating her hidden donkey, Parsnip, and asked for help burying her father. When confrontation erupted between the knight Thomas and the crossbowman Jacquot, she climbed a tree and whispered for an angel, then pleaded with Jacquot not to throw stones. She stood before Jacquot and begged Thomas not to kill him, afterward telling the knight not to kill anybody ever again.

Afterward, she revealed she could read French and Latin and that her father favored Thomas Aquinas, though she preferred Saint Francis. She insisted on accompanying Thomas, telling him her father called her his little moon and that perhaps he’d go to Heaven if he caught the moon doing something good. At her father’s grave, she placed a blackthorn cross in his hand, kissed his bloated cheek, and declared this knight would look out for her. She was fiercely protective of her mother’s memory and a pine-and-lead cross given by a Franciscan, sobbing when Thomas destroyed it. In a moment of strange insight, she told Thomas she saw his soul and that a devil always wanted him.

She led them to her plague-ravaged town, Fleur-de-Roche, where she concluded the priest, Père Raoul—who once played the devil in mystery plays—was dead. In her sleep, she spoke Latin and said Raoul had visited her, telling them they must go to Avignon, but first to Paris for something they needed. She solemnly informed Thomas they were going and he had to ensure she arrived safely. On the journey, she took a vow of silence at an abandoned monastery, where she gathered edible herbs her mother had taught her. Later, she tried to clean Thomas’s sword, cutting her hand, and joined a river procession barefoot, wading in to search for the weapon until Thomas hauled her out by her hair. After Thomas was wounded, she sat by him until pulled away, and was later seen in the stables talking over a lantern with a mysterious, spined figure.

She first appeared at a barn where soldiers had slaughtered her donkey, asking for help to bury her father. When one soldier, Jacquot, threatened violence, she intervened, pleading for his life and telling Thomas not to kill anyone again. Afterward, she insisted on accompanying Thomas south. She was literate, pious, and fiercely protective of her few possessions, including a cross from a Franciscan and a deer-bone whistle. She revealed a piercing insight, once telling Thomas she saw a devil always near him that wanted him.

On the road, she demonstrated a strange, somber wisdom. At a plague-ravaged town, she spoke of a dead priest visiting her in a dream, instructing her to go first to Paris, then to Avignon. She took a vow of silence at an abandoned monastery, where she knew herbs and their uses, learned from her mother. When Thomas fell ill with plague in St. Martin-le-Preux, she insisted they travel to the shrine of the Virgin of the White Rock at Rochelle-la-Blanche, claiming a saint had told her it held healing power. She unnerved the local priest, Père Matthieu Hanicotte, by calling him by his true name, which he had never told her, and warning that Death was already in his house.

On the road, they were confronted by a mob from Chanson-des-Anges intent on reclaiming a stolen Virgin statue. The girl stood in the cart and told the mob they had devils with them. After the ensuing battle destroyed the statue and the mob, she walked through the carnage, retrieved the statue's stone arm, and used it to press against Thomas's forehead. This act drove away a foul, fishy-mouthed presence, saving his life. With Thomas recovered, she prepared to continue their journey to Paris and Avignon.

She first appeared at a plague-stricken barn, revealing soldiers had eaten her donkey and asking for help burying her father. When violence erupted, she intervened to spare a life and told Thomas not to kill again. Afterward, she insisted on accompanying him south. She proved literate and learned, with a fierce piety exemplified by her defense of a Franciscan cross Thomas desecrated. She revealed she could see spiritual truths, warning Thomas of a devil that wanted him and later perceiving the death of her town's priest, Père Raoul, who in a dream told her they must go to Avignon via Paris.

On the road, she took a vow of silence at an abandoned monastery, where she foraged skillfully from the herb garden. Her strange sight intensified. She identified a priest's true name and foresaw death in his house, then confronted a mob by declaring she saw devils among them. When Thomas was afflicted by a plague-spirit, she guided them to a shrine and used a broken statue of the Virgin to drive the entity away. Her refusal to enter a seemingly hospitable castle proved prescient; while Thomas feasted and fought within an illusion, she waited outside in a tree. At dawn, the castle vanished, revealing a common grave, and she rejoined Thomas, asking if he was now ready for Paris.

She was a slight, flaxen-haired child on the cusp of womanhood when she first encountered Thomas and his men in a plague-stricken barn, having just lost her father. She pleaded for the life of the crossbowman Jacquot and insisted on accompanying Thomas, revealing a precocious, stubborn nature and an education in Latin and French. On the road, she demonstrated a deep, peculiar faith, cherishing a Franciscan cross and speaking of visions. She claimed a dead priest had visited her in a dream, instructing them to go to Avignon via Paris for a necessary item.

Her journey was marked by moments of otherworldly insight. She told Thomas she saw a devil near his soul, correctly named a priest he had never introduced, and perceived invisible foul things whispering to mobs. At a shrine, she used a broken statue of the Virgin to drive a plague-spirit from Thomas's forehead. She maintained a determined focus on reaching Paris and then Avignon for her unnamed task, guiding Thomas with an unsettling certainty.

In plague-ravaged Paris, after being cheated for a filthy room, her childhood song led them to shelter with the Norman woodcarver Jehan de Rouen and his wife Annette. There, she finally revealed her name was Delphine. She kissed Annette's hand, wept with her, and was offered a place in her bed, finding a moment of maternal comfort in the stricken city, even as Jehan warned of stone creatures that killed in the night.

Delphine first appeared as a small, flaxen-haired child with luminous gray eyes, interrupting soldiers in a barn to tell them they were eating her donkey, Parsnip. Her father was dead, and she pleaded for help burying him. When violence erupted between the knight Thomas and the crossbowman Jacquot, she intervened, climbing a tree, whispering for an angel, and ultimately standing before Jacquot to ask Thomas not to kill him. She insisted on traveling with Thomas, telling him he must ensure she reached Avignon safely after a task in Paris. She revealed she could read French and Latin, loved Saint Francis, and carried mementos of her parents, including a small cross from a Franciscan which she fiercely protected when Thomas tried to discard it.

On the road, she exhibited a pious and precocious nature, taking a vow of silence in a deserted monastery and identifying edible herbs from knowledge taught by her mother. Her journey was also marked by eerie visions. She spoke in her sleep of devils and Avignon, claimed a dead priest visited her with instructions, and later, at a mobbed shrine, she saw foul spiritual entities. She identified a healing shrine for Thomas, and when a statue of the Virgin was smashed, she retrieved its stone arm and used it to drive a demonic presence from his forehead.

Her strange sight continued to manifest. She called a priest by a name he had never told her and warned him Death was in his house. In Paris, staying with the illuminator Jehan de Rouen and his wife Annette, she finally revealed her name was Delphine. She felt drawn to the market on the rue Mont-Fetard, convinced the purpose of their Parisian stop was there. At a relic seller's stall, she became transfixed, weaving her limbs through the cart's wheel spokes and refusing to leave despite a growing mob that accused the seller of being a Jew.

After the Jew and a spice seller were pilloried and the crowd dispersed, Delphine was restless through dinner. She suddenly bolted from the house, barefoot, and ran back to the market with Thomas in pursuit. She declared she would help the Jew, and after Thomas could not break the locks, she insisted on using a small, seemingly useless key—a trinket given to her by an old woman—which she wore on a ribbon around her neck. The key miraculously opened the pillories. After freeing the spice seller, the grateful Jew gave her a small, hinged wooden tube on a rope. She kissed him, placed the rope around her own neck, and was carried away by Thomas as ominous knocking sounds approached in the dark.

Delphine first appeared as a slight, flaxen-haired child on the eve of her first bleeding. She approached soldiers in a barn to tell them they were eating her hidden donkey, Parsnip, and to ask for help burying her father. When violence erupted between the knight Thomas and the crossbowman Jacquot, she climbed a tree and whispered for an angel, then intervened to plead for Jacquot's life. Afterward, she insisted on traveling with Thomas, revealing she had seen a devil near his soul. She was learned for her station, preferring Saint Francis to her father's favorite, Thomas Aquinas, and she cherished simple religious tokens, like a cross given by a Franciscan friar and a deer-bone whistle that made bird sounds.

On the road, she demonstrated a strange, somnambulant knowledge. She spoke in her sleep of devils seeing through paintings and declared that the dead priest Père Raoul had visited her, instructing them to go first to Paris for something they needed, then to Avignon. She took a vow of silence in a deserted monastery, communicated in writing, and identified edible and poisonous herbs learned from her mother. Her uncanny sight became more pronounced at the town of St. Martin-le-Preux, where she correctly named the priest Matthieu Hanicotte and told him Death was already in his house. When a mob attacked, she saw the foul things inciting them and, after the battle, used the arm of a shattered Virgin statue to drive a plague-spirit from Thomas's forehead.

Her stated goal was Paris. There, she and Thomas found shelter with the illuminator Jehan de Rouen and his wife Annette, to whom Delphine grew deeply attached. In the city's market, driven by a conviction that what she sought was there, she became fixated on a relic seller. When the crowd accused the man of being a Jew, she was forcibly carried away but later escaped at dusk to find him pilloried. She freed him, removing the condemning brick from around his neck, and in return he gave her a hinged wooden tube on a rope, which she kissed and wore.

That night, a stone creature in the form of the Virgin Mary attacked Jehan's house, killing Jehan and Annette. In the chaos, Delphine retrieved the tube from the table, opened it, and revealed the spearhead inside—the Holy Lance. She urged the terrified Père Matthieu to touch it, sensing the creature's aversion. As the stone Virgin spoke directly to her, saying "I see you," Delphine wet herself in terror. She clutched strands of Annette's hair until the priest pried them from her fists. Fleeing the burning house, she held the spear tightly, singing a little song through her tears as animated stone saints hurled psychic abuse at the survivors. By dawn, as the statues fell still, she was feeling nauseated with a pain in her lower belly, comforting the priest by stroking his hair.

She first appeared as a slight, flaxen-haired child with luminous gray eyes, confronting soldiers in a barn to tell them they were eating her hidden donkey, Parsnip, and to ask for help burying her father. In the tense aftermath, she climbed a tree and whispered for an angel, then intervened to spare the life of the crossbowman Jacquot, pleading with Thomas not to kill. She decided to travel with Thomas, telling him her father called her his little moon. Before they left, she placed a blackthorn cross in her father’s hand, kissed his cheek, and declared that this knight would look out for her now.

Delphine proved to be a precocious and persistent companion, questioning Thomas relentlessly about his past and his morals. She was educated, able to read French and Latin, and cherished a few possessions: a deer-bone whistle that made bird sounds, a pine and lead cross given by a Franciscan, and a book by Thomas Aquinas. She reacted with fierce sorrow when Thomas damaged her cross, sobbing like a wild child. She revealed a strange clarity of sight, telling Thomas she had seen his soul and that a devil always wanted him. In the abandoned town of Fleur-de-Roche, she spoke in her sleep of a dead priest, Père Raoul, who told her they must go to Avignon, but first to Paris for something they needed.

Her journey was marked by a blend of childish innocence and eerie purpose. She took a vow of silence in a deserted monastery, communicated by writing in the dirt, and identified edible and poisonous herbs learned from her mother. She insisted they visit the shrine of the Virgin of the White Rock to heal Thomas of the plague, claiming a saint had told her of it. There, she confronted a mob, screaming that she saw devils with them. After a battle, she used the broken arm of the Virgin’s statue to drive a foul presence from Thomas’s forehead. Later, in Paris, she revealed her name to her hosts, Jehan de Rouen and his wife Annette. Her objective crystallized at a market, where she became fixated on a relic seller’s stall, howling and weaving herself into a cart wheel to stay, convinced the item she sought was there.

That item was a clay vial purported to hold the Magdalene’s oil. When a mob accused the seller of being a Jew, Delphine was dragged away but later escaped that night to free the imprisoned man. She lifted the condemning brick from around his neck and, with a key she had been given earlier, helped Thomas break the locks of the pillories. The Jew rewarded her with a hinged wooden tube on a rope, which she wore around her neck. Back at the house, she opened it to reveal a spearhead, kissed it, and sealed it away. That night, a terrifying stone incarnation of the Virgin attacked the home, killing Annette. Delphine wet herself in fear, grabbed the spearhead case from the table, and urged the priest to touch the relic, yelling that the entity did not want him to. The stone Virgin spoke directly to her, saying, “I see you.”

Fleeing Paris with Thomas and the priest, Delphine looked back at the smoking city with tears for Annette. On the road, feeling the onset of illness with sniffles and a pain in her lower belly, she told a werewolf story to pass the time in a stone barn, growing irritated when Thomas interrupted. She had prayed that God would not let her two protectors die because of her, even as she remained determined to reach Avignon with the sacred spearhead in her possession.

She was a slight child with fine bones, sticklike legs, and luminous gray eyes, her flaxen hair often tangled. When Thomas and his men took shelter in her barn, she revealed they were eating her hidden donkey, Parsnip, and asked for help burying her father. Demonstrating a startling blend of innocence and wisdom, she intervened to save the crossbowman Jacquot from Thomas's wrath, pleading that he not kill anyone else. After the burial, she insisted on accompanying Thomas south, salvaging a few possessions including a book of Aquinas, a deer-bone whistle, and a pine-and-lead cross given by a Franciscan, which she fiercely protected when Thomas tried to discard it. She could read French and Latin, had learned herbs from her mother, and saw a devil clinging to Thomas's soul.

On the road, she revealed her name was Delphine and that a vision of the dead priest Père Raoul had instructed her to go first to Paris, then to Avignon. She took a vow of silence in an abandoned monastery, where she gathered edible plants. At the town of St. Martin-le-Preux, she cut her hand cleaning Thomas's sword and later waded into a river to retrieve it for him. When Thomas fell ill, she guided the group to the shrine of the Virgin of the White Rock, claiming a saint told her it held healing. There, she confronted a mob, declaring she saw devils among them, and after a battle, used the broken arm of the Virgin's statue to drive a possessing spirit from Thomas's forehead.

In Paris, staying with the kindly couple Jehan and Annette, she was drawn to the market. At a relic seller's stall, she became violently agitated, weaving herself into the cart's wheel and insisting the object they sought was there. The seller was revealed as a Jew and pilloried. That night, she fled the house to free him, persuading Thomas to break the locks. The Jew gave her a hinged wooden tube on a rope before escaping. Back at the house, she opened it to reveal a spearhead, which she kissed and sealed away. That same night, a monstrous, animated statue of the Virgin attacked, killing Annette. Delphine grabbed the spearhead, urged the priest to touch the relic to ward off the creature, and survived the horror.

Fleeing Paris in a cart, she felt the first pains of sickness and told a story of a werewolf knight. The group eventually took shelter in a barn with Père Raoul, who was revealed to be alive. Delphine comforted the priest when he admitted his village's hatred. That night, a tentacled monster invaded the barn. She awoke to find Thomas, under a feverish influence, had nearly assaulted her in his sleep, but he fought the compulsion off. In the morning, she discovered she had begun to menstruate, becoming a woman overnight.

She first appeared as a small, fine-boned child with luminous gray eyes, interrupting soldiers in a barn to tell them they were eating her donkey and to ask for help burying her father. In the ensuing confrontation, she climbed a tree, pleaded for mercy, and stood between Thomas and his intended victim, telling the knight not to kill anyone else. Afterward, she insisted on traveling with him, revealing she could read Latin and French, that her father called her his little moon, and that she had seen a devil near Thomas's soul. She salvaged her father's cross and a deer-bone whistle, which she used to mimic birdsong, and was deeply wounded when Thomas destroyed the cross.

On the road, she took a vow of silence at a monastery, where she demonstrated knowledge of herbs learned from her mother. She later cut her hand cleaning Thomas's sword and, in a desperate act of faith, waded into a river to retrieve it after he threw it away. Her strange nature became more apparent when she correctly named the priest Matthieu Hanicotte, warned him Death was in his house, and guided them to a shrine, where she confronted a mob by saying she saw devils with them. She used a broken statue of the Virgin to drive a plague manifestation from Thomas's forehead.

In Paris, she revealed her name was Delphine. Drawn to the market, she became fixated on a relic seller, later revealed to be a Jew, and defied Thomas to free the man from a pillory. For this, the Jew gave her a hinged wooden tube containing a spearhead, which she kissed and wore around her neck. That night, a stone Virgin animated by a demon attacked their sanctuary, killing their hostess Annette. Delphine witnessed the horror, wet herself in terror, but managed to seize the spearhead case before they fled the city.

Traveling south, she felt the first pains of sickness and told a story of a werewolf knight. Soon after, she awoke to find Thomas undressing her in his sleep, an act he stopped, and she hugged him, saying he had 'beat it.' She then began her first menstruation, a transition she acknowledged with a laugh at the priest's potential discomfort. On the subsequent journey, she walked beside the cart, foraging and pounding acorns, and engaged in a theological argument about babies and Heaven. At a riverside camp, she played an imaginary stew game at dawn and shared a found walnut equally with her companions, her womanhood now a quiet, defining fact.

She first appeared as a small, fine-boned child with flint-gray eyes and greasy flaxen hair, interrupting soldiers in her barn to tell them they were eating her hidden donkey, Parsnip. After they killed her father’s murderer, she pleaded for the man’s life and then insisted on accompanying Thomas, declaring he must see her safely to Avignon. She was precocious and pious, literate in French and Latin, devoted to Saint Francis, and deeply attached to a simple cross given by a Franciscan, which she retrieved from the mud even after Thomas destroyed it. She claimed to see spirits and devils, once telling Thomas a devil always wanted him, and later said a saint directed her to a healing shrine.

On the road, she took a vow of silence at a monastery, where her knowledge of herbs from her mother proved useful. Her strange sight intensified; she identified a mob’s demonic instigator, correctly named the priest Matthieu Hanicotte, and used a broken statue of the Virgin to drive a plague manifestation from Thomas. In Paris, she revealed her name was Delphine and became fixated on a market relic seller, sensing her purpose was there. When the seller was revealed as a Jew and pilloried, she defied Thomas to free him, receiving in thanks a wooden tube containing what she later revealed was the Holy Lance’s spearhead.

That night, a stone Virgin statue animated by a demon attacked their shelter, killing their hostess Annette. Delphine was terrified, wetting herself and clutching the spearhead, but she urged the priest to touch the relic to drive the creature away. Fleeing Paris, she began her first menstruation, becoming a woman overnight. She grew quieter, foraging and playing solemn games, but her resolve remained. When they encountered knights bound for Avignon, she physically restrained Thomas’s violent impulse, whispering that the soldiers were only shades and his anger fed them. At the survivor encampment of St. Lazarus, she learned net mending from a one-eyed boy, adapting to the harsh new world while guarding her sacred charge.

Delphine first appeared as a slight, flaxen-haired child with luminous gray eyes, her feet too big for her sticklike legs. She approached soldiers in a barn to tell them they were eating her hidden donkey, Parsnip, and asked for help burying her father. When violence erupted between the knight Thomas and the crossbowman Jacquot, she climbed a tree, whispered for an angel, and later stood between the men, pleading for Jacquot's life and telling Thomas not to kill anyone else. After Thomas killed the other soldiers, she insisted on traveling with him, believing he would protect her. She buried her father, placing a blackthorn cross in his hand, and salvaged a few belongings from her ransacked home, including a book of Thomas Aquinas and a deer-bone whistle. She revealed she could read and that her father had been a lawyer who kept bees. On the road, she was persistently inquisitive and morally strict, chiding Thomas for swearing. She also demonstrated an unsettling perception, telling Thomas she had seen his soul and that a devil was always near him.

Her strange knowledge deepened. In her sleep, she spoke of devils and said the dead priest Père Raoul had visited her, telling them to go to Avignon via Paris for something they needed. She took a vow of silence in an abandoned monastery, where she knew herbs from her mother's teachings. At the next town, she identified a relic seller's stall as their goal in Paris and, against Thomas's orders, later freed a Jewish spice seller and a pardoner from pillories. The Jew gave her a hinged wooden tube containing a spearhead, which she kissed and wore around her neck. That night, a stone statue of the Virgin animated by a devil attacked their hosts' home in Paris, killing the woman Annette, whom Delphine had grown fond of. Delphine wet herself in terror but grabbed the spearhead case and escaped with Thomas and Père Matthieu as the city fell.

Leaving Paris, she fell ill with sniffles and a pain in her belly. Soon after, she awoke to find Thomas undressing her in his sleep, though he stopped himself. She hugged him, crying that he had 'beat it,' and revealed she had begun menstruating, becoming a woman overnight. On the journey south, her mood was often somber, though she played at making imaginary stews. When they encountered the Penitents—a fanatical sect—she gave water to a crucified dwarf and urged Thomas to take him down. Later, she dreamed truly of a devil in Auxerre turning people into poppets.

Acting on this vision, she slipped away from Thomas and the priest and went barefoot into Auxerre. In the cathedral square, the Penitents, led by Rutger the Fair and a beautiful dead boy, performed a ritual that seemingly raised three plague victims from the dead. Delphine pushed through the crowd, shouting for them to stop. She kissed the hand of the first risen man, Richard, then the hand of a barmaid, and the foot of a woman named Yvette Michonneau, causing each to collapse back into death. Finally, she told the beautiful boy it was not his fault, but he was dead too, and kissed his cheek; he exhaled and died. The enraged Penitents declared her a witch, grabbed her, yanked her hair, and bound her arms, lifting her to dash her head against a wall or drown her. Resolved to die bravely, she went limp. Then an angel intervened, blinding her attackers and toppling a building to shield her. Dropped to the ground, she worked her arms free as the angel told her to run, for a devilish knight was coming.

She first appeared as a slight, flaxen-haired child with luminous gray eyes, interrupting soldiers in a barn to tell them they were eating her hidden donkey, Parsnip. After her father died of plague, she asked for help burying him and then insisted on accompanying Thomas, the knight who had protected her from his own violent companion. She revealed a precocious, devout nature, chiding Thomas for swearing and clinging to a Franciscan cross he tried to discard. She could read French and Latin, loved Saint Francis, and believed Thomas had a devil near him that wanted his soul.

On the road, she took a vow of silence at a deserted monastery, where she demonstrated knowledge of herbs learned from her mother. Her strange perceptions intensified; she spoke of a saint directing them to a healing shrine and, at Rochelle-la-Blanche, identified a mob's demonic instigators. She pressed a broken statue of the Virgin to Thomas's forehead, driving a plague-spirit from him. In Paris, she revealed her name was Delphine and, driven by a compulsion she felt in the market, engineered the rescue of a Jewish relic seller. For this, she received a hinged wooden tube containing what she later revealed was the head of the Holy Lance.

That night, a stone Virgin animated by a demon attacked their sanctuary, killing their hostess Annette. Delphine saved the spearhead and fled a dying Paris with Thomas and the priest. Soon after, she began her first menstruation, a transition to womanhood she acknowledged with weary humor. Her health wavered, but her resolve did not. At a leper encampment, she calmed Thomas's violent impulses by telling him his anger fed spectral soldiers, and she learned to mend nets.

Her purpose culminated in Auxerre, where a dream told her a devil was turning the dead into puppets. She went alone into the city's riotous square and, declared a witch by the Penitents, kissed the hands and feet of several resurrected corpses, returning each to true death. For this, the mob seized her, intending to dash her head against a wall, but they were struck blind and dropped her. Fleeing the city, she and the priest hid from a pursuing fallen angel in an oak tree. When the angel uprooted the tree, she fell, was briefly caught by a second angel, then fell again into the priest's arms as a cataclysmic battle between the celestial beings raged overhead.

Delphine first appeared as a small, fine-boned child with flint-gray eyes and greasy flaxen hair, standing in the doorway of a barn where soldiers were eating her donkey. Her father was dead, and she pleaded for help burying him. When violence erupted between the soldiers and the knight Thomas, she climbed a tree and whispered for an angel, then intervened to stop Thomas from killing the crossbowman Jacquot. She insisted on traveling with Thomas, revealing a sharp mind and a pious, willful nature. She could read, preferred Saint Francis to Aquinas, and cherished a simple cross given by a Franciscan. She also demonstrated an eerie perceptiveness, telling Thomas she had seen his soul and that a devil always wanted him.

As they traveled, Delphine’s mysterious purpose solidified. She spoke in her sleep of going to Avignon and claimed the dead priest Père Raoul had visited her, instructing them to go first to Paris for something they needed. She took a vow of silence in a deserted monastery, communicated by writing in dirt, and showed knowledge of herbs learned from her mother. Her strange sight became more active; she identified a relic seller in a Paris market as crucial to their quest, and later freed a persecuted Jew from pillories, receiving from him a wooden tube containing what she called the Holy Lance’s spearhead. That night, her world shattered when animated stone statues attacked their sanctuary, killing their hostess Annette. Delphine witnessed the horror, wet herself in terror, but clutched the spearhead case and survived.

Leaving Paris, Delphine began her first menstruation, a transition she faced with a mix of tears and wry humor. On the road, she displayed a growing, solemn maturity, foraging for food and engaging in theological debates. Her power to perceive and interact with the supernatural intensified. At a leper encampment, she sensed phantom soldiers as mere shades. Near Auxerre, acting on a prophetic dream, she walked into a town square where a devil had resurrected the dead as puppets. There, with a kiss, she returned four of these ‘Penitents’ to true death, an act that saw her branded a witch and nearly killed by a mob until a miraculous blindness struck her captors.

Pursued from Auxerre by a fallen angel, Delphine hid in an oak tree with Père Matthieu. The creature uprooted the tree, and she fell, only to be caught and then dropped by a battling angel before the priest finally caught her. Later, as they traveled southeast, she suggested using river rafts for speed. That night, the priest suffered a vision where a Cistercian monk and the ghost of Michel Hébert commanded him to kill Delphine with a rusty sword, accusing her of wickedness and her father of being a Cathar. He climbed to her loft but could not do it. In the morning, Delphine told him of her own bad dream: that Saint Bernard of Clairvaux had made him kill her. She declared Saint Bernard was in Hell, a man-made saint who condemned others and urged killing for God, and extracted from the shaken priest a promise that he would never let anyone hurt her.

Delphine first appeared as a small, flaxen-haired child with luminous gray eyes, living alone after the plague killed her father. She confronted Thomas and his men in a barn, revealing they were eating her donkey, and pleaded for help burying her father. She demonstrated a startling moral clarity, intervening to stop Thomas from killing his companion Jacquot and later questioning Thomas's association with the crossbowman. After Thomas agreed to take her south, she revealed her literacy and a deep, if unconventional, piety, cherishing a simple cross given by a Franciscan. She also displayed an eerie perceptiveness, telling Thomas she had seen his soul and that a devil was always near him.

On the road, her strange nature became more apparent. At a monastery, she took a vow of silence and demonstrated knowledge of herbs learned from her mother. In the town of St. Martin-le-Preux, she was found trying to clean Thomas's sword and cut her hand. She later revealed a saint had told her of a healing shrine, and she guided the group there, where she used a statue of the Virgin to drive a plague-demon from Thomas. In Paris, she finally gave her name and sought a specific relic in the market, becoming frantic when she found it: a vial she believed contained the Magdalene's oil. When the relic seller, a Jew, was attacked and pilloried, she defied Thomas to free him at night. The Jew gave her a hinged wooden tube containing a spearhead, which she kissed and wore around her neck.

That relic drew horrific attention. A stone statue of the Virgin animated and attacked their Paris home, killing their hostess Annette. Delphine, terrified, wet herself but managed to grab the spearhead case and escape with Thomas and Père Matthieu. Soon after leaving Paris, she began menstruating, becoming a woman overnight. Her journey south was marked by a growing burden. At a leper encampment, she calmly learned to mend nets. In Auxerre, acting on a dream, she left the men to confront a devil resurrecting the dead. She ended the false resurrections by kissing the hands and feet of the 'living' corpses, returning them to true death. For this, the mob called her a witch and nearly killed her.

She was rescued when her would-be executioners were struck blind, but was then pursued by a fallen angel. Hiding in a tree with the priest, she was shaken out when the creature uprooted it. She was caught by an angel, then dropped, and finally caught by the priest. On the road again, she advised avoiding Beaune due to monsters. When they met the Tuscan merchant Rinaldo, she warned him not to accompany them, speaking to him in perfect Florentine Italian and revealing intimate knowledge of his wife and his fate, though she herself did not know what she had said.

Delphine first appeared as a slight, flaxen-haired child with luminous gray eyes, on the eve of her first bleeding. She approached soldiers in a barn to tell them they were eating her donkey and to ask for help burying her father. When one soldier, Jacquot, threatened to stone her, she pleaded for his life and stood between him and Thomas, afterward telling the knight not to kill anyone again. She insisted on traveling with Thomas, revealing she could read and that her father favored Thomas Aquinas, though she preferred Saint Francis. She was fiercely protective of a simple pine-and-lead cross given by a Franciscan, sobbing when Thomas destroyed it. She saw a devil near Thomas and told him so. In her sleep, she spoke of needing to go to Avignon, and later claimed the dead priest of her village, Père Raoul, had visited her to say they must first go to Paris for something they needed.

On the road, she took a vow of silence at a monastery, where she demonstrated knowledge of herbs from her mother. She cut her hand cleaning Thomas's sword and later waded into a river to retrieve it after he threw it away. In the town of St. Martin-le-Preux, she revealed she knew the priest's true name, Matthieu Hanicotte, and declared that Death was in his house. When a mob attacked, she screamed that she saw devils among them. After Thomas fell ill, she pressed the arm of a shattered Virgin statue to his forehead, driving away a plague-spirit. She told the priest a saint had directed her to the healing shrine.

In Paris, she revealed her name was Delphine. At a market, she became fixated on a relic seller's stall, insisting the item they sought was there. When the seller was revealed as a Jew and pilloried, she later escaped her hosts to free him, using a pretty but seemingly useless key she had acquired to unlock the stocks. The Jew gave her a hinged wooden tube on a rope, which contained an ancient spearhead. That night, a stone Virgin animated by a demon attacked their house, killing their hostess, Annette. Delphine wet herself in terror but grabbed the spearhead case before fleeing. The stone Virgin spoke directly to her, saying 'I see you.'

Leaving Paris, she began to feel nauseated and ached near her hips. She awoke to find Thomas undressing her in his sleep, though he stopped; she hugged him, saying he had 'beat it.' She had begun menstruating, becoming a woman overnight. She grew quieter, foraging for acorns and playing imaginary games. When they encountered resurrected dead in Auxerre, driven by a devil she had dreamed of, she pushed through a mob and kissed the hands and feet of the 'living' corpses, causing each to collapse back into true death. For this, the crowd called her a witch and tried to kill her, but she was saved when her captors were struck blind.

Pursued by a fallen angel, she hid in a tree with Père Matthieu. The creature uprooted the tree; she was caught by an angel, then dropped, and finally caught by the priest. Later, she suggested traveling by river for speed. She had a nightmare of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux compelling the priest to kill her, arguing the saint was in Hell. She dissuaded a friendly Italian soldier, Rinaldo, from joining them by speaking to him in perfect Florentine about his wife, though she later claimed not to know what she had said. On a pirate raft, she slept on the satchel containing their money. She woke Thomas when the crew turned hostile, sang a harvest song, and tried to protect a cage of finches during the ensuing fight. She was grabbed by an oarsman and had her chin cut by the captain's spear before Thomas killed him. As the captain died, she screamed 'No' and said, 'We're going to pay for that.'

She first appeared as a slight, flaxen-haired child with luminous gray eyes, confronting soldiers who had eaten her donkey. After they killed her father's murderer, she insisted on accompanying Thomas, revealing a precocious, stubborn faith. She could read French and Latin, cherished a Franciscan cross, and claimed to have seen Thomas's soul, warning him of a devil that wanted him. Her father had called her his little moon.

On the road, she took a vow of silence at a monastery, demonstrated knowledge of herbs from her mother, and later revealed her name was Delphine. In Paris, she was drawn to a relic seller's stall and, defying Thomas, freed a persecuted Jew from the pillory at night. The Jew gave her a wooden tube containing a spearhead, which she kissed and wore around her neck. That same night, a stone Virgin animated by a devil attacked their shelter, killing their hostess Annette; Delphine witnessed the horror, wet herself in terror, but seized the spearhead case before they fled.

Soon after, she began her first menstruation, becoming a woman overnight. Traveling south, she displayed a growing power. In Auxerre, acting on a dream, she walked into a riot where Penitents had resurrected the dead. She kissed the hands and feet of these 'shades,' causing them to return to death, an act that saw her called a witch and nearly killed by the mob before a divine intervention blinded her captors. Later, a fallen angel uprooted the tree she hid in; she was caught and dropped by an angel before being saved by the priest.

On the Rhône, their raft was attacked by gelatinous creatures inhabiting a dam of corpses. Stung on the wrist, she passed out as the raft was pulled under. Thomas and the priest shielded her and dragged her to shore in Provence, where she lay with a swollen, numb hand. In the chaos, she had heard the central abomination—claiming to be Carolus—speak in her mind, wanting to take her head under to the sea.

She first appeared as a small, flaxen-haired child with luminous gray eyes, confronting soldiers in a barn who were eating her donkey. Her father was dead, and she asked for help burying him. When violence erupted between the soldiers, she intervened, pleading with the crossbowman Jacquot and then with Thomas not to kill. She declared she would travel with Thomas, showing a precocious, stubborn morality, chiding his swearing and questioning his alliance with a killer. She revealed she could read French and Latin and cherished a simple cross given by a Franciscan, which she retrieved from the mud even after Thomas threw it away in anger. In a moment of clarity, she told Thomas she had seen his soul and that a devil was always near him.

On the road, she took a vow of silence in an abandoned monastery, communicated by writing in dirt, and demonstrated knowledge of herbs learned from her mother. Her strange nature became more apparent when she correctly named a priest, Père Matthieu, whom she had never met, and declared that Death was in his house. She claimed a saint told her of a healing shrine and saw foul entities whispering to a mob. In Paris, she revealed her name was Delphine. Drawn to a market relic seller, she became frantic, claiming the purpose of their journey was there. She later freed the seller—a Jew being persecuted—using a pretty, useless key she wore around her neck. In return, he gave her a wooden tube containing a spearhead, which she treated with reverence.

That night, a stone Virgin statue came to life and killed their hostess, Annette. Delphine saw the creature clearly, shuddered when it spoke to her, and urged the priest to touch the spearhead, which it feared. Soon after, she began her first menstruation, becoming a woman overnight. Her power manifested dramatically in Auxerre, where she acted on a dream of a devil there. She pushed through a crowd to kiss the hands and feet of several dead people who had been unnaturally resurrected, causing each to return peacefully to death. For this, the mob called her a witch, seized her, and nearly killed her until a divine intervention blinded her captors.

Pursued by a fallen angel, she hid in a tree with Père Matthieu but was shaken out when the creature uprooted it. She was caught and dropped by an angel before the priest finally caught her. On the river journey south, she protected caged finches during a fight and was grabbed by a knife-wielding oarsman. She screamed for Thomas to stop killing even as her own life was threatened. When their raft was later attacked by a jelly-like creature in the river, she was stung trying to fight it with her spear and was pulled under, passing out from the cold and the wound.

Thomas carried her and the dying priest to a cottage, where she revived. She expertly tuned and played a lute she had never learned to play, singing a song that stirred memories in the men. After Père Matthieu died, she and Thomas buried him and the cottage's plague-stricken owner, then set out together toward Avignon.

Delphine first encountered Thomas and his men at her family's farm, where her father lay dead from the plague. A small, fine-boned child with luminous gray eyes and flaxen hair, she was on the eve of her first womanhood. After Thomas protected her from his violent companion Jacquot, she insisted on accompanying him, declaring he must ensure she reached Avignon safely. She was literate, pious, and precocious, often chiding Thomas for his profanity and violence. Her father had called her his little moon, and she carried mementos of her lost parents: a blackthorn cross, a deer-bone whistle, and later, a comb that was her mother's.

Her journey with Thomas and the priest Matthieu was marked by strange sights and growing peril. At a monastery, she took a vow of silence. In the town of St. Martin-le-Preux, she helped recover Thomas's sword from a river and later, when he fell ill with a supernatural plague, she guided them to a shrine. There, she used a statue of the Virgin to drive a foul creature from him. In Paris, staying with the kindly couple Jehan and Annette, her true purpose emerged. At a market, she was drawn to a relic seller, a Jew, and later returned at night to free him from pillory. He gave her a hinged wooden tube containing a spearhead. That same night, a monstrous stone Virgin attacked their house, killing Annette. Delphine seized the spearhead case and fled with Thomas and Matthieu as Paris burned.

Soon after, she began her first menstruation, a transition she acknowledged with a mix of tears and laughter. The group traveled south, their cart drawn by a mule she refused to let them eat. In Auxerre, acting on a dream, she entered a town square where Penitents had falsely resurrected the dead. She kissed the hands and feet of these 'shades,' returning them to true death, an act that saw her called a witch and nearly killed by the mob. She was saved when her attackers were struck blind. Later, pursued by a fallen angel, she was shaken from a tree but caught by an angel, then by Matthieu.

On the Rhône, their raft was attacked by jelly-like creatures. Delphine was stung trying to fight one with the spearhead and was pulled under, nearly drowning. Afterward, in a cottage, she inexplicably played a lute with expert skill. The priest Matthieu died there, and her attempt to resurrect him failed. The weight of the dead mounted in her mind: Annette, Jehan, the priest, an angel, and men Thomas had killed. Believing she was a curse to her protector, she waited until Thomas slept, touched his face, and then set out alone for Avignon.

On her solitary journey, thirsty and tired, she took shelter in an abandoned convent chapel. A scarecrow creature calling itself Sister Broom tried to terrorize her into surrendering the spearhead. Delphine defied it, drew the relic, and drove the thing away. She spent the night in a tree with the spearhead clenched in her teeth. In the morning, she found the creature was a macabre construction of a broom, sticks, and human remains. She dismantled it, buried the bones, swept the chapel, and continued her walk toward Avignon, her shoes nearly worn through, alone with her sacred burden and her dread.

She first appeared as a stick-limbed child with luminous gray eyes, interrupting soldiers in a barn to tell them they were eating her donkey and asking for help burying her father. When Thomas and his companion Godefroy quarreled, she slipped out and climbed a tree, later pleading for the life of the crossbowman Jacquot and telling Thomas not to kill anyone again. She insisted on accompanying Thomas, revealing she could read French and Latin and that her father called her his little moon. As they left her ravaged home, she placed a blackthorn cross in her father’s hand and kissed his bloated cheek.

On the road, her preternatural insight and stubborn faith repeatedly clashed with Thomas’s grim pragmatism. She chastised his profanity, defended her veneration of a simple cross he despised, and claimed to see a devil that wanted his soul. At a plague-dead town, she spoke in her sleep of a dead priest who told her they must go to Avignon, first stopping in Paris for something they needed. She took a vow of silence at a monastery, communicated by writing in dirt, and led Thomas through an herb garden, knowledge she had learned from her lost mother. Her strange nature manifested more clearly when, after Thomas fell ill, she directed them to a shrine, confronted a mob by saying she saw devils with them, and pressed a stone Virgin’s fingers to Thomas’s forehead, driving away a spectral plague creature.

In Paris, she revealed her name was Delphine. At the market, she became fixated on a relic seller, fighting to stay at his stall and later fleeing at night to free him after he was revealed as a Jew and pilloried. The Jew gave her a hinged wooden tube containing a spearhead, which she kissed and wore around her neck. That night, a stone Virgin statue came to life and killed their hostess, Annette; Delphine grabbed the spearhead case and yelled that the creature did not want them to touch it. Fleeing Paris, she began her first menstruation, becoming a woman overnight. She grew quieter, haunted by the deaths she felt responsible for, and her strange powers deepened. At Auxerre, acting on a dream, she confronted a crowd of Penitents and their resurrected dead, kissing the hands and feet of the living corpses to return them to true death, for which the mob called her a witch and tried to kill her.

She was rescued when her would-be executioners were struck blind. Later, a fallen angel uprooted the tree she hid in, and she was caught and dropped by a battling angel before being saved by the priest. Traveling south by river, she protected finches from a brutal boat captain and was grabbed by the hair during a brawl. She screamed ‘No’ when Thomas killed the captain. On the Rhône, their raft was attacked by a jelly-like creature; she was stung trying to fight it with the spearhead and plunged into the river when the raft was pulled under. After being rescued, she played a lute with unlearned expertise, something she felt was playing through her. Following the death of Père Matthieu, whom she failed to resurrect, her guilt crystallized. She counted the dead gone because of her—Annette, the priest, an angel, and the men Thomas slew—and believed she was a threat to him. She left Thomas while he slept, touching his face lightly, and set off alone for Avignon. On the road, she used the spearhead to drive away a monstrous creature disguised as a nun, and by the time Thomas awoke, she was gone.

She first appeared at her plague-stricken home, a flaxen-haired child on the eve of womanhood, whose donkey had been eaten by Thomas's band. After they helped bury her father, she insisted on accompanying Thomas, claiming a knight should look after her. She was precocious and pious, chiding Thomas for swearing and mocking saints, yet she also displayed an unsettling perception, once telling Thomas she saw a devil that wanted him and that his soul was visible to her. She revealed she could read French and Latin, and that a saint had told her of a healing shrine. Her true purpose emerged slowly: she spoke in her sleep of going to Avignon, and later claimed the dead priest of her village, Père Raoul, had visited her to say they must go first to Paris for something they needed.

In Paris, staying with the kindly couple Jehan and Annette, she felt drawn to the market. There, she became fixated on a relic seller, a Jew, and fought Thomas to free the man from a pillory. The Jew gave her a hinged wooden tube containing a spearhead. That night, a stone statue of the Virgin, animated by a demon, attacked their house, killing Annette. Delphine witnessed the horror, wet herself in terror, but managed to grab the spearhead case. As they fled the dying city, she fell ill, soon experiencing her first menstruation, which transformed her overnight from a child into a woman.

Her powers grew more defined and dangerous. Dreaming of a devil in Auxerre, she went alone into the town and found Penitents parading the walking dead. She kissed the hands and feet of these resurrected corpses, causing each to collapse back into true death. For this, the mob called her a witch and tried to kill her, but she was saved when her would-be executioners were struck blind. Later, pursued by a fallen angel, she was rescued by a heavenly being. On the river journey south, she was stung by a jelly-like demonic creature and nearly drowned, and her companion Père Matthieu died. After his death, she barely spoke, burdened by the deaths she felt she had caused.

Believing herself a threat to Thomas, she left him while he slept, intending to reach Avignon alone. On the road, she was accosted by a demonic scarecrow calling itself Sister Broom, which she drove away with the spearhead. She continued her solitary journey, her influence lingering with Thomas; miles away, hearing voices in a bathhouse, he remembered her command not to kill and spared a band of English soldiers.

She was a slight, flaxen-haired child on the verge of womanhood when she encountered Thomas and his men in her plague-stricken village. After they ate her donkey, she asked for their help burying her father. She demonstrated a precocious, stubborn faith, intervening to save the crossbowman Jacquot from Thomas's wrath and insisting on keeping a simple cross given by a Franciscan. She revealed she could read French and Latin and that her father had favored Thomas Aquinas, though she preferred Saint Francis. After the burial, she insisted on accompanying Thomas south, claiming she had something she must do in Avignon and that he must ensure she got there safely.

On the road, her uncanny nature became apparent. She spoke in her sleep of visions, correctly named a priest he had never introduced, and identified a shrine that could cure Thomas of a spiritual plague. In Paris, her quest focused on a relic seller's stall in the market. She defied Thomas to free a Jew who had been pilloried, receiving from him a hinged wooden tube containing what she later revealed was the Spear of Longinus. That night, a stone Virgin animated by a demon attacked their shelter, killing their hostess Annette. Delphine witnessed the horror, wet herself in terror, but secured the spearhead.

Leaving Paris, she began her first menstruation, a transition she acknowledged with pragmatic sorrow. Her powers grew. In Auxerre, she walked alone into a riot where a fallen angel had resurrected corpses as penitents. She kissed the hands and feet of these 'shades', returning them to true death, an act that saw her called a witch and nearly killed by the mob. She was saved when her attackers were struck blind. Later, pursued by the fallen angel, she was rescued from a falling tree by a heavenly being.

Traveling by raft down the Rhône, she protected a cage of finches during a fight, an act that nearly got her killed. When their raft was attacked by a jelly-like creature, she was stung and plunged into the river. After the priest Père Matthieu died saving her, she was overcome with guilt, believing herself a curse to those around her. She played a lute with unearthly skill, though she did not know how, and finally left Thomas while he slept to continue to Avignon alone, fearing for his safety.

Thomas found her again after his duel, tending his wounds by a stream. She had grown slightly, her body showing the curves of young womanhood. She produced an invitation to dine with the pope, taken from a dead comte, and attempted a ritual of forgiveness using water from the stream. When Thomas forgave his opponent but refused to forgive his wife, the moment of potential grace ended. She warned him that without forgiveness, devils would rule and all would go to Hell, cementing her role as a fragile, determined beacon in a world unraveling into darkness.

She first appeared as a stick-limbed child, confronting the soldiers who had eaten her donkey and begging Thomas's help to bury her father. When violence erupted, she pleaded for mercy, then insisted on accompanying him. She revealed she could read, salvaged her father's books and a deer-bone whistle, and treasured a simple cross given by a Franciscan. She also saw a devil near Thomas's soul and told him so.

Her stubborn precocity shaped their flight. She led Thomas to her dead village, announced in her sleep they must go to Paris and Avignon, and took a vow of silence at a deserted monastery. She guided them to a healing shrine, where after a mob's attack she used a broken stone arm from a Virgin statue to drive a foul vision from Thomas's forehead.

In Paris, she became fixated on a market relic seller, recognizing a vial as their goal. She later ran back barefoot to free a pilloried Jew, who gave her a hinged wooden tube containing a spearhead. That night, a living stone Virgin statue killed their hostess Annette; Delphine grabbed the spearhead case as they fled.

On the road, she became a woman. Dreaming a devil was in Auxerre, she went alone to its square and kissed the hands of Penitents' resurrected dead, causing each to collapse back into true death. The mob called her a witch and nearly killed her. Later, hiding from a fallen angel in a tree, she was shaken out when it uprooted the oak.

She urged travel by raft. On the river, she protected finches during a fight and screamed when Thomas killed a captain. When the raft was destroyed, she was stung by a jelly creature and plunged unconscious into the cold water.

After the priest's death, she left Thomas, believing herself a threat. Traveling alone, she used the spearhead to drive off a monstrous scarecrow at a convent. Thomas later found her taller, with a new womanly curve. She tended him, produced an invitation to the pope from a dead comte, and led him to a stream. She washed his head when he forgave the comte, but let the water fall when he refused to forgive his wife, warning that without forgiveness, devils would rule. Finally, seeing his anger soften, she took his hand and led him back to the stream to wash his heart's anger away.

She first appeared as a slight, flaxen-haired child on the eve of her first bleeding, confronting soldiers who had eaten her donkey. After they buried her father, she insisted on accompanying Thomas, revealing a precocious literacy and a piety inherited from her mother, who had taught her herbs. She carried a simple cross given by a Franciscan and a deer-bone whistle that brought her joy, but she also displayed a terrifying clarity, once seeing a devil near Thomas and telling him his soul was always wanted.

Her resolve hardened on the road. She took a vow of silence in a deserted monastery, identified poisonous plants, and later, in a village mobbed by plague panic, she revealed she had been guided by a saint to a shrine. There, she used a broken statue of the Virgin to drive a foul presence from Thomas's mind. In Paris, she revealed her name was Delphine and stayed with a kindly couple, Jehan and Annette. At a market, she became fixated on a relic seller, a Jew, and later risked everything to free him from a pillory, receiving from him a hinged wooden tube containing what she called the Spear of Longinus.

That night, a stone Virgin animated by a demon slaughtered Annette. Delphine, clutching the spearhead, witnessed the horror and fled Paris with Thomas and the priest, Père Matthieu. Soon after, she became a woman, menstruating for the first time. Her journey grew more perilous and her power more evident. In Auxerre, she walked into a riot where Penitents had resurrected the dead, and with a kiss she returned each to their grave, for which the mob called her a witch and tried to kill her. She was saved when her attackers were struck blind.

Traveling south, she was stalked by a fallen angel, rescued by another, and caught by the priest when both angels fell. On the Rhône, their raft was attacked by jelly-like creatures; she was stung and nearly drowned. After the priest died, she blamed herself for the deaths around her and left Thomas, believing she was a threat to him. Alone, she used the spearhead to drive off a demonic scarecrow. Thomas found her again later, changed—a cat's whisker taller, with a new curve to her body. She revealed their purpose: they had an invitation to dine with the Pope, taken from a dead comte. She attempted to perform a baptismal miracle on Thomas, washing away his anger, but it failed when he refused to forgive his wife.

Disguised as the page of the Comte d'Évreux, she accompanied Thomas to Pope Clement's lavish feast in Avignon. There, amidst grotesque entertainments, she warned Thomas about the wine and later discovered a maggot moving on his thigh. She had bound her nascent breasts beneath the livery and, fighting a full bladder all evening for fear of exposing her sex, finally relieved herself in a dark alley after the feast.

Found alone after the plague killed her parents, Delphine persuaded the hardened knight Thomas to protect her. A child on the cusp of womanhood, she was preternaturally observant and devout, with a fierce moral compass that compelled her to challenge Thomas's violence and despair. She revealed an ability to perceive the supernatural, warning Thomas of a devil that shadowed him and later seeing the foul spirits that incited mobs. Her journey with Thomas and the priest Père Matthieu was driven by a mysterious purpose she only gradually disclosed: a saint had told her they must go to Avignon.

Her compassion and courage repeatedly placed her in danger. In Paris, she defied Thomas to free a persecuted Jew from the pillory, receiving from him a wooden case containing what she later revealed was the head of the Holy Lance. That night, a stone statue of the Virgin, animated by a demon, slaughtered their hosts; Delphine used the relic to drive the creature away, but was traumatized by the bloodshed. Soon after, she underwent her first menstruation, a physical transformation that coincided with a deepening of her uncanny gifts.

Those gifts manifested catastrophically in Auxerre, where a devil had raised the dead to torment the living. Driven by a dream, Delphine went alone into the city square and, by kissing the hands and feet of the walking corpses, returned them to true death. The mob declared her a witch and nearly killed her before a divine intervention blinded her captors. Fleeing, she and her companions were pursued by a fallen angel, an encounter that ended with the heroic sacrifice of a guardian angel and the death of Père Matthieu. Grief-stricken and believing herself a curse to those who protected her, Delphine later fled from Thomas, determined to reach Avignon alone.

On the road, she used the spearhead to repel a demonic scarecrow, a act of defiant faith. Reunited with Thomas, she had grown slightly taller, her body curving into womanhood, and her resolve had hardened. She revealed their mission: to use an invitation stolen from a dead noble to gain audience with the pope and save him. In Avignon, disguised as a page with her hair shorn, she attended a blasphemous papal feast where she sensed the corruption in the wine and recognized the nude 'stag women' as something abominable.

Her purpose crystallized when she sought out Robert Hanicotte, the brother of the man who had died helping her. She convinced Robert to ride with her to the pope's vineyards by night, where they witnessed the dead silently harvesting grapes and treading wine. Pursued by these sorrowful corpses, they escaped back to the city. Delphine persuaded Robert to arrange a private papal audience for their stolen identity, the Comte d'Évreux, insisting the stench of evil emanated from the palace itself. Returning to Thomas, she finally confessed the full truth: the man on the throne was not the pope but the devil Baal'Zebuth, who was raising armies of the dead, and the women at the feast had been corpses. She whispered that they both knew what they had to do next.

Delphine first appeared as a slight, flaxen-haired child on the verge of womanhood, emerging from the woods to find soldiers eating her donkey. Her father lay dead in their cottage, and she persuaded the knight Thomas to help bury him. From the start, she displayed a preternatural perception, telling Thomas she saw a devil near him that wanted him. She insisted on accompanying him south, revealing she could read French and Latin and that a saint had told her of a healing shrine. Her father had called her his little moon.

On the road, her strange nature deepened. At a monastery, she took a vow of silence. At a riverside village, she cleansed Thomas of a plague-spirit by pressing a stone Virgin’s hand to his forehead, having seen the foul thing that animated a mob. In Paris, she felt compelled to seek something in the market, which proved to be a relic seller. When the seller was revealed as a Jew and pilloried, she returned at night to free him, receiving in return a hinged wooden tube containing a spearhead. That same night, a stone Virgin animated by a devil slaughtered their hostess, Annette; Delphine saw the creature clearly and heard it speak to her.

Leaving Paris, she began her first menstruation, becoming a woman. Her journey grew more perilous. Learning from a dream of a devil in Auxerre, she went alone to the town square and found the dead walking. She kissed the hands and feet of these resurrected figures, causing each to collapse back into true death, an act for which the crowd called her a witch and nearly killed her. She was saved when her attackers were struck blind. Later, a fallen angel uprooted the tree in which she hid, and she was caught and dropped by a warring angel.

After the death of their companion, Père Matthieu, Delphine believed herself a threat to Thomas and left him to travel to Avignon alone. On the road, she used the spearhead to drive off a demonic scarecrow calling itself Sister Broom. She and Thomas were reunited after he spared some English archers, influenced by her early command not to kill. She showed him an invitation to dine with the pope, taken from a dead comte, and attempted a ritual of forgiveness with river water, which failed when Thomas would not forgive his wife.

Disguised as the Comte d’Évreux’s page with shorn hair and bound breasts, she attended a sinister papal feast where she warned Thomas of poisoned wine and witnessed nude women with stag masks. In Avignon, she sought out Robert Hanicotte, the dead priest’s brother, calling him by his childhood nickname. She showed him the pope’s vineyards, where the dead harvested grapes in silence, and revealed the stag women at the feast had been dead, prepared with oils and honey. She told Robert the man posing as the pope was one of the Devil’s marshals, named Baal’Zebuth, who was raising the dead. She secured Robert’s promise to arrange a private papal audience for the ‘comte,’ declaring their purpose was to save the true pope.

She first appeared as a slight, flaxen-haired child on the verge of womanhood, discovering soldiers had eaten her donkey. After Thomas protected her from the crossbowman Jacquot, she insisted on traveling with him, revealing she could read Latin and French. She displayed a pious, precocious nature, chastising Thomas for swearing and clinging to a Franciscan's cross he tried to discard. More disturbingly, she claimed to see a devil near Thomas and spoke in her sleep of a mission to Avignon, first stopping in Paris for something they needed.

On the road, her uncanny knowledge grew. She identified a healing shrine, saw the foul spirits driving a mob, and with a touch of a stone Virgin’s arm, drove a plague-demon from Thomas. In Paris, she was drawn to a market relic-seller, whom a mob revealed as a Jew. That night, she fled to free him from the pillory, receiving from him a wooden case containing a spearhead. She later identified it as a fragment of the Holy Lance. That same night, a stone Virgin animated by a demon slaughtered their hosts, and Delphine witnessed its power, wetting herself in terror but securing the spearhead as they fled the dying city.

Soon after, she began her first menstruation, crossing into womanhood. Her holy sight continued to manifest. At Auxerre, she undid a demon’s resurrection of the dead by kissing the living corpses, returning them to true death. For this, a mob declared her a witch and nearly killed her. She was later pursued by a fallen angel, saved only by a heavenly intervention. Haunted by the deaths she felt she caused, including that of their companion Père Matthieu, she left Thomas, intending to reach Avignon alone. On the road, she used the spearhead to drive off a demonic scarecrow.

Reunited with Thomas near Avignon, she had grown taller, with a new curve to her hips and small breasts. She helped him assume the identity of the slain Comte d’Évreux, using a miraculous forgiveness ritual with river water to alter his appearance. Disguised as the Comte’s page, with her hair shorn and breasts bound, she entered the papal city. There, she sought out Robert Hanicotte, the brother of the dead priest, and showed him the Pope’s vineyards, where the unclean dead harvested grapes in silence. She convinced Robert the cardinal served a devil and secured his promise to arrange a private papal audience.

Back in their lodgings at the Elysium House, she revealed their purpose: the man posing as Pope was a devil named Baal’Zebuth, raising armies of the dead. The stag-masked women at the feast, she whispered, were prepared corpses. As papal guards arrived to arrest them, Delphine saw the courtyard outside their window miraculously transform into a riverbank beyond the walls. Telling Thomas to let himself be taken, she clutched the spearhead case, opened the shutter, and rolled out the window to escape.

She first appeared as a slight, flaxen-haired child with luminous gray eyes at a plague-stricken farm, where she discovered soldiers eating her donkey. After asking for help burying her father, she intervened to prevent violence, pleading with Thomas not to kill and telling him never to kill again. She insisted on accompanying him south, revealing a pious, precocious, and stubborn nature. She could read Latin and French, cherished a simple cross given by a Franciscan, and was on the cusp of womanhood.

On the road, her strange gifts manifested. She saw devils clinging to men, received guidance from dead priests in dreams, and identified a holy spearhead in a Paris market, which she freed from a persecuted Jew. This act drew the attention of monstrous, animated statues that killed her protector, Annette. Delphine witnessed these horrors, clutching the spearhead for solace. Soon after, she began her first menstruation, crossing into womanhood even as her spiritual burdens grew.

Her purpose clarified as a crusade against the unclean dead. At Auxerre, she bravely confronted a mob and a false preacher who had resurrected corpses. With a kiss, she returned these 'Penitents' to true death, an act for which she was called a witch and nearly murdered. She was saved by a miraculous blindness that struck her attackers. Later, on the Rhône, she was stalked by a demonic entity in the water and stung by a jelly-like creature, suffering a swollen wrist.

After the death of their companion, Père Matthieu, Delphine believed herself a mortal danger to Thomas and fled alone toward Avignon. She was accosted by a scarecrow demon she called Sister Broom, which she drove away with the spearhead. Reunited with Thomas, now disguised as the Comte d'Évreux, she had grown taller, with a woman's shape and shorn hair. She guided him to the papal court, where she recruited the guardsman Robert Hanicotte by revealing the cardinal's vineyard was harvested by the silent, obedient dead. She disclosed that the man posing as the pope was a devil named Baal'Zebuth, who was raising an army of the deceased, and that their mission was to save the true pontiff.

In Avignon, as guards came to arrest Thomas, Delphine saw a vision of the riverbank beyond their window. Weeping, she told Thomas to let himself be taken, then rolled out onto the bank, disappearing. She reappeared beside the papal physician's cart as Thomas, tortured in the comte's body, was wheeled from the dungeon. She cooled his brow and showed him his own true body emerging from the Rhône. After Thomas's spirit was restored through a breath-sharing kiss, she laughed with relief, kissed the dead comte's cheek, and told Thomas to give the river back its due.

Delphine was a lawyer's daughter, a beekeeper's child with fine bones and luminous gray eyes, who first encountered Thomas and his men in her family's barn. Her father was dead, her donkey eaten, and she pleaded with the knight not to kill. She saw a devil near Thomas and told him so, a secret sight that defined their journey. Insisting on accompanying him south, she revealed a mission: they must go to Paris, then Avignon. Along the way, her precocious faith and unsettling visions guided them. She protected a Jewish relic seller in a Paris market, acquiring a wooden case containing what she later revealed was the Spear of Longinus. That same night, she witnessed the murder of their hostess Annette by a stone Virgin animated by a demon, an event that hardened her resolve.

Her pilgrimage was marked by a burgeoning supernatural power and a deepening burden. She began menstruating, a physical transition into womanhood that coincided with her ability to undo false resurrections. In Auxerre, she kissed the hands of the walking dead, returning them to true death, and was nearly killed by a mob as a witch. She was rescued by Thomas and an angelic intervention. After the death of their companion, Père Matthieu, she grew silent, believing herself a threat to those around her. She briefly left Thomas, confronting and banishing a demonic scarecrow alone with the spearhead, a act that solidified her solitary courage.

Reunited with Thomas near Avignon, she had grown taller, her body curving. She showed him an invitation to a papal feast taken from a dead noble and performed an abortive baptismal rite, warning that his unforgiving heart would let devils rule. To infiltrate the feast, she cut her hair and donned the livery of a dead page, binding her breasts. At the debauched banquet, she recognized the stag-masked women as the dead, prepared with oils and honey, and sensed the poison in the wine. Afterward, she sought out Robert Hanicotte, the papal chamberlain, and showed him the demon Cardinal's vineyard worked by the unclean risen to turn his allegiance.

Back in their lodgings, she revealed the full truth to Thomas: the man at the feast was not the pope but a devil's marshal named Baal'Zebuth, raising an army of the dead. Their purpose was to save the true pope. When guards came for Thomas, she urged him to surrender, and as a miraculous vision of a riverbank replaced their courtyard, she rolled out the window with the spear, vanishing. She later appeared to guide Thomas's spirit back to his body after a supernatural duel. Finally, she persuaded a chamber boy to let her into Elysium House to retrieve Thomas's armor and horse. At a Franciscan monastery, she anointed his sword with her own blood, gave him the spear, and prepared with him to attend the feast where a new cardinal would be created, the moment for which their entire journey had been a prelude.

Delphine first appeared as a slight, flaxen-haired child on the verge of womanhood, whose donkey had been eaten by soldiers. After asking them to help bury her father, she witnessed a confrontation between the knight Thomas and the crossbowman Jacquot, pleading for the latter's life and telling Thomas not to kill anyone again. She then insisted on accompanying Thomas south, revealing a precocious, stubborn nature and a deep piety, cherishing a simple cross given by a Franciscan. She could read French and Latin, having been taught by her lawyer father, and possessed an unsettling perceptiveness, once telling Thomas she saw a devil that wanted him.

Her journey with Thomas and the priest Père Matthieu was marked by strange events and growing revelations of her purpose. At a shrine, she used a statue's arm to drive a foul spirit from Thomas. In Paris, she felt compelled to visit a market, where she desperately tried to reach a relic seller before he was attacked. That night, she freed the man—a Jew—from the pillory, and he gave her a hinged wooden tube containing a spearhead. Later, a stone Virgin animated by a demon attacked their lodgings, killing their hostess Annette; Delphine saved the spearhead and witnessed the horror. Soon after, she began her first menstruation, becoming a woman overnight.

Her abilities grew more defined and fearsome. At Auxerre, she acted on a dream of a devil there and confronted a crowd of Penitents who had resurrected their dead through demonic pacts. By kissing the hands and feet of the risen, she returned them to true death, an act for which the mob called her a witch and nearly killed her. She was rescued when her attackers were struck blind. Later, on the Rhône, she was stung by a jelly-like creature and heard a demonic voice in her mind. After the priest drowned, she briefly left Thomas, believing her presence endangered him. She fought off a scarecrow demon at a convent using the spearhead and traveled on alone.

Reunited with Thomas near Avignon, she had grown taller. She used water from a stream in an attempted ritual of forgiveness for him, which failed when he refused to forgive his wife. Disguised as a page, she infiltrated a papal feast with Thomas and confirmed her suspicions: the man posing as Pope Clement was a demonic marshal. She sought out Robert Hanicotte, the priest's brother, and showed him the demon's vineyard worked by the dead to turn him to their cause. She revealed the stag women at the feast were also dead, prepared with oils and honey.

In Avignon, her mission crystallized. She told Thomas they had come to save the real pope. When guards came for Thomas, a mystical doorway opened in their room; weeping, she told him to let himself be taken and then rolled out the window onto a riverbank. She later helped Thomas escape a fatal poisoning by guiding his spirit into a revenant's body. She prepared him for the final confrontation, anointing his sword with her own blood and giving him the holy spear. At the public feast, she slipped away, found the wine cellar, and located a specific barrel. Kissing the lock open, she pried it apart, whispered to the corpse inside, and pulled the real, murdered Pope Clement VI from his vinous tomb, telling him the war of angels was coming.

She first appeared as a slight, flaxen-haired child on the verge of womanhood, whose donkey had been eaten by Thomas's company. After they helped bury her father, she insisted on accompanying Thomas south, displaying a precocious, stubborn piety and a disturbing perceptiveness. She told Thomas she saw a devil that wanted him, and she spoke in her sleep of visions that directed them first to Paris, then to Avignon. In Paris, she was driven to free a persecuted Jew from the pillory, receiving from him a wooden case containing a holy spearhead. That night, a stone statue of the Virgin animated by a devil slaughtered their hosts, and Delphine fled the dying city with Thomas and the priest Père Matthieu, clutching the spear.

On the road, she underwent her first bleeding, becoming a woman. Her strange powers grew more evident. At a shrine, she used a statue's arm to drive a plague-demon from Thomas. In Auxerre, she walked into a mob to kiss the hands and feet of the unclean risen, returning them peacefully to death, an act for which she was nearly killed as a witch. She was saved when her attackers were struck blind. She began to believe she was a danger to those around her, and after the priest drowned in the Rhône, she left Thomas, intending to complete her mission alone.

Reunited with Thomas outside Avignon, she had grown taller, her body curving. She revealed their purpose: to save the true Pope Clement, who was imprisoned, from the devil Baal'Zebuth who sat in his place. Disguising herself as a page, she enlisted the help of the papal guardsman Robert Hanicotte by showing him the devil's dead harvesters in the vineyards. She secured an invitation to a papal feast, where she identified the stag-masked women as corpses.

On the eve of the feast, she used the holy spear to open a miraculous path, escaping their guarded room. She then found the true pope's corpse sealed in a wine barrel in a storehouse. Whispering 'Rise,' she resurrected him and led him to the Courtyard of Honor. As the false pope was unmasked and Thomas fought, Delphine stood by Clement's side, holding his hand. When Thomas was killed, she threw herself in front of a spear meant for the pope, was mortally wounded, and died in the grip of devils, finally knowing what she was.

Delphine first appeared as a flaxen-haired, gray-eyed child of fine bones, on the eve of her first bleeding. She found soldiers in her barn eating her donkey and asked for help burying her father, a lawyer and beekeeper. She intervened to stop violence, pleading with the crossbowman Jacquot and the knight Thomas not to kill. She insisted on traveling with Thomas, revealing she could read French and Latin and possessed an unsettling clarity, once telling Thomas she saw a devil that wanted him. Her goal, she said, was to reach Avignon, guided by dreams and the ghost of her local priest.

On the journey, her peculiar nature manifested. She calmed mobs, identified poisonous herbs, and at the shrine of the Virgin of the White Rock, she drove a plague devil from Thomas by pressing a stone statue's fingers to his head. In Paris, her quest centered on a relic seller's stall, where she fought to free a Jewish spice seller from a pillory, receiving from him a hinged wooden tube containing a spearhead. That night, a stone Virgin animated by a devil slaughtered their hosts; Delphine grabbed the spear case and fled the city, now sickened with guilt and the first pains of menstruation.

Her power grew as her body changed. In Auxerre, she walked alone into a riot where a devil had resurrected the dead, and with a kiss returned each to their rest, an act for which the mob called her a witch and nearly killed her. She began to believe she was a danger to her companions. After the priest Matthieu died, she left Thomas sleeping, determined to go to Avignon alone. On the road, she used the spearhead to drive off a monstrous creature and buried its grisly components, feeling herself becoming something new.

Reunited with Thomas near Avignon, she had grown taller, with a new curve to her hips. She facilitated a moment of forgiveness that healed his wounds, and they secured an invitation to a papal feast by impersonating a dead comte and his page. In Avignon, she revealed the horrifying truth to Robert Hanicotte, showing him the false pope's dead harvesters in the vineyards. She confessed that the man on the throne was a devil named Baal'Zebuth, raising the dead, and that they had come to save the true pope. On the eve of their audience, she rolled from a window onto a miraculous riverbank, later helping Thomas recover his soul from a revenant in the Rhône.

Her final preparations were ritualistic. She smeared her blood on Thomas's sword and gave him the Holy Lance. She then slipped into the palace wine cellar, resurrected the true Pope Clement from a barrel, and led him into the Courtyard of Honor. There, as Thomas fought, she stood by Clement, holding his hand. When a spear was thrown at the pope, she threw herself in front of it. Mortally wounded, she was then mutilated by devils. In her dying moments, her inherent holiness proved lethal to an abomination of corpses, and from her ruined body, a radiant light burst forth. She became the gateway through which the Archangel Michael and a host of angels were born into the world.

She first appeared as a slight, flaxen-haired child on the verge of womanhood, whose donkey had been eaten by Thomas's company of routiers. After they helped bury her plague-stricken father, she insisted on accompanying Thomas south, revealing a pious, stubborn, and eerily perceptive nature. She could read Latin, saw the devils that clung to men, and was guided by dreams and visions of saints. Her journey with Thomas and the priest Père Matthieu was a pilgrimage of escalating miracles and horrors. In Paris, she secured the Holy Lance's spearhead from a persecuted Jew. At a shrine, she used a statue's arm to drive a plague-demon from Thomas. In Auxerre, she ended a false resurrection by kissing the dead, returning them to peace.

As her body matured, so did her power and her burden of guilt. She believed herself a danger to those around her, a fear confirmed when Père Matthieu died. Leaving Thomas, she traveled alone toward Avignon, using the spearhead to defend herself from a demonic scarecrow. Reunited with Thomas, she revealed their purpose: the man in the papal palace was a devil named Baal'Zebuth, who was raising the dead. Disguised as a page, she infiltrated Avignon, proved the corruption to a cardinal's nephew, and orchestrated a plan to restore the true Pope Clement, whom she resurrected from a wine barrel.

In the final confrontation in the Courtyard of Honor, she stood by the true pope as Thomas fought the impostor. When Thomas was killed, she threw herself before a spear meant for Clement, suffering a mortal wound. As devils mutilated her body, the light of her holiness broke forth, birthing angels into the world and destroying the hellish legion. Her death was a gateway for divine vengeance.

In Hell, she later appeared to the tormented Thomas, driving a cart surrounded by protective daylight. She healed his infernal wounds, revealed she was the last soul she could save, and asked him to remember her and their love. Placing him in the cart, she drove away under a harmless sky, having fulfilled her sacred purpose.

She first appeared as a child on the cusp of womanhood, her parents dead of plague, begging the soldier Thomas and his company for help burying her father. Despite her grief, she displayed a preternatural wisdom and moral clarity, immediately seeing the darkness around Thomas and forbidding him to kill. She insisted on accompanying him south, revealing she could read Latin and French and believed she had a holy purpose in Avignon. Along the journey, her uncanny nature manifested. She saw invisible devils, received messages from the dead in dreams, and identified a sacred spearhead—the Holy Lance—which she freed from a persecuted Jew in Paris.

Her power grew as they traveled. At a shrine, she used a statue of the Virgin to drive a plague demon from Thomas. In Auxerre, she confronted a devil who had resurrected the dead as puppets; with kisses of compassion, she returned them to true death, an act for which a mob branded her a witch and nearly killed her. She was saved by a divine blindness that struck her attackers. After the death of their companion Père Matthieu, burdened by the fatalities she felt she caused, Delphine left Thomas to travel to Avignon alone. On the road, she used the Holy Lance to banish a demonic scarecrow, a testament to her growing strength and solitude.

Reunited with Thomas outside Avignon, she had grown taller, her body curving into womanhood. She revealed their mission: to save the true Pope Clement, who was imprisoned and replaced by a devil’s marshal named Baal’Zebuth. Disguising herself as a page, she infiltrated the papal court with Thomas. She convinced the chamberlain Robert Hanicotte of the threat by showing him the devil’s dead harvesters working the vineyards. On the eve of their audience, she guided Thomas through a mystical baptism, attempting to wash the anger from his heart, knowing forgiveness was their only shield.

When soldiers came to arrest Thomas, Delphine opened a miraculous window to a riverbank, allowing his spirit to escape and reclaim his body from a cart of corpses. She then prepared him for the final confrontation, anointing his sword with her blood and giving him the Holy Lance. While Thomas fought in the courtyard, she slipped into a tower, found the true pope’s corpse in a wine barrel, and resurrected him with a whispered command. She stood beside the restored Clement as the false pope was unveiled.

In the ensuing battle, after Thomas was mortally wounded, Delphine threw herself in front of a spear meant for the pope, taking the blow through her abdomen. As she died in the grip of a twelve-eyed devil, her ruined body became a sacred gateway. A radiant light erupted from her, and an angel of God was born into the world through her sacrifice, her blood upon its wing. This holy light destroyed the diabolical abominations and turned the tide of the celestial war. Later, a being that was both Delphine and something more returned in a cart of golden light to the infernal ruins of Paris. There, she healed Thomas’s tormented spirit, offered him the harder path of remembering their love, and guided him away from damnation.