Chapters 18-19 Summary

Serpentine and her retinue recover Hunter's corpse as well as the spear which slew the Great Beast of London. Later, Richard wakes in the care of the Black Fryers. All of his wounds have been cleaned and dressed, his finger set and splinted. The abbot soon reunites Richard with Door and the wheelchair-bound Carabas. Richard points out that everyone has achieved their goal save for him - Richard still wants to go home.

The abbot asks about the key. Door explains that she slipped the real key into Richard's back pocket when he brought her curry at the Floating Market. Richard is dumbfounded; when he told Croup and Vandemar that he had the key, he really did have the key. Indeed, the key is found in Richard's back pocket. Annoyed, Richard doesn't see the point in having recovered the key, since...