The Rapist Caper and Other Stories

The Knights of the Rose and Cross - concerned about Aleksei's tendency to get into trouble - send a Poor Knight to babysit him, the ex-slave Marie-Celeste Minuit. She joins the heroes in their regular habit of rotating homes to drink and talk and quarrel, and hears Aleksei inform his friends that a relative of his has been abducted by a one-handed man. Discussion of how to find this one-handed man is cut short, however, by the arrival of Sebastien, who has come from the house of Lady Christine with news that a friend of hers is in trouble.