Part 2 opens with the coronation of Charles VII at Reims and the lighter episode of Elliot’s missing monkey, but the narrative darkens when Norman returns to the war. Norman and a company of one hundred Scots take part in the assault on Paris and endure battles and secret missions, yet Joan’s victories begin to falter amid the hesitation and political self-interest of the king and his nobles. Joan senses approaching disaster in the warnings of her voices and the silence of the birds, and she is eventually captured at Compiègne through Burgundian strategy and betrayal. After being wounded, Norman attempts to rescue her, enters English service in disguise, and finally reaches Joan in her prison at Rouen, but he is powerless to prevent the trial and execution already prepared for her. What began as the adventurous recollections of a young man in love becomes a sorrowful chronicle bearing witness to Joan’s faith, sacrifice, and death.
