Slupor Is Captured after Attacking Tiuri at the Unauwen Gate turns a moment of charity into a final confrontation between Tiuri and the enemy he has feared throughout his journey. Disguised as a beggar near the city entrance, Slupor tries to kill Tiuri with a dagger hidden in his staff. Tiuri recognizes the danger, resists the attack, and survives long enough for Piak, passersby, and the gatekeepers to intervene. The capture brings Slupor into King Unauwen’s custody and makes visible the danger that had shadowed Tiuri’s mission almost to its destination.

Arrival at the Gate

Tiuri and Piak reach the city after a journey in which the route forward has repeatedly been uncertain. Earlier, they waited out shifting mountain mist beside a stone, eating bread until the sun appeared; at the Green Ridge, Piak avoided both visible roads, explaining that one ended blindly and the other would expose their trail to pursuers. Their eventual arrival at the city is therefore not merely a change of scenery: it is the apparent end of a passage through concealment and danger. At the entrance, stone columns decorated with carvings and unfamiliar signs frame a place of beauty and order.

Against that setting, the old beggar stands out. Near a gate, he sits leaning against a column, almost entirely covered by a torn, patched cloak and hood. Long, tangled gray hair and a beard obscure his face; a staff lies beside him, and he holds out a begging bowl. Nothing in his appearance openly identifies him as Slupor. The concealed identity is particularly dangerous because it places a would-be killer not on the road behind the travelers, but at the threshold they have reached.

Charity and Recognition

Tiuri gives the beggar the money left in the pouch entrusted to him by the toll keeper. Piak gives his own copper coin as well. Their gifts do not end the encounter: the beggar thanks them and wishes them well, then turns away as if to leave. Piak urges Tiuri to come on, but Tiuri cannot leave satisfied with having given money. He feels pity for the stranger and wants to know to whom he has given alms. Although he is in a hurry, he dismounts and offers the beggar his hand.

The gesture changes the balance of the scene. Tiuri’s concern is not limited to the beggar’s material need; he insists on meeting him face to face. When the man keeps his head bowed, Tiuri asks him to look up. His pity gives way to curiosity and an inexplicable tension, and he senses that the meeting matters before he understands why. The beggar answers by calling him a fool. Tiuri then recognizes the cold, false eyes he associates with Slupor, the enemy he has feared for so long. The disguise has brought Slupor close, but Tiuri’s insistence on seeing the person behind it prevents the encounter from remaining one-sided.

The Attack and Capture

Slupor draws a weapon from inside his staff and thrusts at Tiuri. Tiuri is prepared enough to parry the dagger; the blow leaves him only lightly scratched. He forces Slupor to drop the weapon, but the struggle continues when Slupor clamps both hands around his throat. Piak cries out Slupor’s name and joins the fight. Tiuri finds his attacker stronger, yet does not panic: he breaks free of the grip and tries to overpower him.

Help arrives from others passing through the gate, including the gatekeepers. Slupor releases Tiuri and runs. Piak shouts for the fleeing man to be caught and identifies him as a murderer; the gatekeepers draw their swords and pursue. Tiuri watches them go and realizes that people have gathered around him, alarmed and asking what has happened. The attempted killing has become a public confrontation, no longer a private struggle concealed beneath a beggar’s hood.

The gatekeepers return with Slupor in their custody and demand an explanation. Slupor protests his treatment, while Piak says that he tried to murder Tiuri. Asked who the attacker is, Tiuri identifies him as a spy from Eviellan. One of the gatekeepers formally declares him a prisoner of King Unauwen and orders that he be taken into the city. Slupor responds that now he knows this, he will say nothing more. His capture is therefore established, but the scene does not show an interrogation or disclose what he might have revealed.

Consequences and Significance

The encounter joins mercy to alertness rather than presenting them as opposing qualities. Tiuri’s willingness to give away the money and then stop to help the beggar exposes him to danger, but his attention to the stranger’s concealed face also lets him recognize the enemy. Piak’s generosity and intervention matter just as concretely: he gives his only coin, recognizes Slupor aloud, and helps bring the struggle to a point where others can assist. The gatekeepers turn that assistance into lawful custody under the authority of King Unauwen.

The capture also completes the immediate pursuit of Tiuri without erasing the ordeal that brought him to the gate. Later, King Dagonaut explains that Tiuri has fulfilled his mission and his promise to Edwinem; by acting as a knight when help was requested, Tiuri has already shown himself to be one. The king formally knights him and gives him a white shield as a sign that he will serve Unauwen as well as Dagonaut. In the final vigil, Tiuri reflects that the experiences and friendships of the journey have changed him and resolves to try to become a good knight. Slupor’s attack is not presented as the sole cause of that transformation, but it concentrates the journey’s recurring test: Tiuri must keep faith with his duty and compassion even when danger appears in an unexpected form.