The Reckoning

After being found with a married woman, Nicholas escapes his village in 1380. On the road, he witnesses a fellow member euthanized and is captured by a traveling acting troupe who explains the killing and offers him a place to replace the deceased member.

On their journey to the next town, a collapsed bridge forces the troupe into a new district. They must mend the cart and continue the journey without money, relying on the charity of strangers and their performance to survive.

The troupe reaches a town with a castle under reconstruction. A woman is condemned to death for killing a boy, based on the testimony of a Benedictine monk. The troupe performs a Biblical passion play, but attendance is low and they struggle to bury a dead member or fix their cart.

Martin decides to stage a new play centered on the boy’s death. He and Nicholas visit the mute woman in the dungeon and come to believe she is innocent, even as the crowd perceives her as a seductress, angering the boy’s parents.

Lord de Guise observes from the castle and sends the sheriff to clear the square by force. The crowd's discussions reveal more about the boy's death and disappearance, hinting at a larger conspiracy behind the crime.

The troupe is told to leave by first light, but Nicholas insists on uncovering the truth. That night, a body is unearthed and found to have been sodomized before death and exposed to plague, suggesting a more recent crime than initially believed.

The King’s Justice confronts Nicholas and he is forced to leave the town. He soon returns in disguise as a monk, continuing the investigation while the troupe moves toward Durham.

The troupe continues its journey toward Durham and Martin steps down as leader, altering the group’s dynamics. Nicholas’s investigation deepens as events surrounding the case unfold.

Nicholas meets the monk who testified at the trial; the monk reveals he had nothing to do with the death and is protecting someone else. This hints at a larger conspiracy and the monk’s deliberate silence.

Nicholas and Martin learn that the monk has been found dead, removing a key source of evidence. They discover that de Guise is plotting a revolt to seize the English throne.

The sheriff notes a pattern of boys’ disappearances tied to de Guise. Nicholas gathers more evidence to prove the woman’s innocence, and the troupe returns to seize the scaffold to stage a new play based on the latest information.

Nicholas presents his findings to de Guise, who confesses with a sense of invulnerability. Nicholas reveals his plague exposure; de Guise stabs him, and the crowd lynches de Guise as the castle is set aflame by enraged townsfolk.

The town’s new authorities wish the deaths forgotten, while the King’s Justice promises that Nicholas’s work will reach the king. Sarah notes that Nicholas acted for the wrongly accused and for his own redemption.

Martin announces that Nicholas will live on in the troupe’s forthcoming Durham performance, and the group departs as the castle burns behind them, turning the tragedy into art.