Chapter 8 Summary

Arkos relaxes once the Dominicans take over the cause, eleven years after Francis' incident. Francis devotes years of free time labor to his project, which blends with the tedium of days and seasons that for everyone ends with Extreme Unction and the Just King's judgment of "come" or "go." Sarl completes a fifth page before dying, leaving notes someone may use to finish the task. Fingo is restored to the carpentry shop and allowed an hour a day to work on his Leibowitz. Francis enjoys watching the martyr's visage emerge, with merry-but-sad crinkly eyes and the hint of a wry smile Francis recognizes but cannot place. The smile irritates the abbot, who hides the completed carving in his study. Word of Francis' progress on the illumination spreads and someone insists the Beatus he met must inspire him. When Jeris succeeds Horner as master...