Secondary worship of Erastil is grudgingly permitted. When his father discovers that his son has befriended an elk, out in the forest, he has Vicenç kill it and mount the head; then he forces him to take a lesson in torture from their Chosen confessor, with his hunting horse as the unfortunate victim.

Vicenç is old enough to understand that this is a gesture of protection, a reminder that the line between primary worship and secondary worship must be clear and unambiguous. It doesn't make him hate his father any less, and he begins to fantasize about shooting him on one of their hunts. He never gets the chance; his father is a savvy hunter as well.

He takes the to torture lesson better than he expected. He has the hunter's knowledge of anatomy of corpses; the torturer learns some about the anatomy of living beings. He learns to sketch and paint. The mounted heads of beasts make for memorials and demonstrations of superiority; the paintings of bodies and torture make for memorials and demonstrations of cruelty. 

His father eventually dies, and he inherits the barony. He makes himself indispensable to the count, pushing back the forest in his barony and even helping out his neighbors with the beasts from the woods. He is as talented at tracking men as he is beasts, and bandits and fugitives learn to avoid Terpi and the woods nearby.

He is in the woods for the first three days of the four day war; he returns to his castle to discover the Chosen in a panic and his guardsmen all confused. They begin to muster, but then receive the news; he tortures the Chosen to death in the castle square, burns almost all of his paintings, and pulls the cleric of Erastil that he had helped hide to the castle, putting him in the Chosen's old place. The temple is partially converted by the time inspectors arrive, and Vicenç has painted an unicorn and an elk cresting a hillside, backlit by a sunrise, to send to the capital as a gift to the Queen. The count doesn't survive the new government inspecting his affairs.

Vicenç manages to suppress enough of the rumors, and he really does have a good record against the forest and is well-liked by the populace, compared to most Chelish barons. Nevertheless, he feel like he only narrowly survives.

When the time comes, he puts forward his name for election because it would be shameful not to, and handily wins despite no campaigning, voted for by peasants who hope that skills at defending against the forest will translate to skills at defending against the new Queen. He leaves at the latest opportunity, arriving to the convention just as it begins, and then staying silent, trying to learn how to read the wind between the trees.