Gilles de Sille and Roger de Bricqueville, cousins and friends of the Marshal, scurried about the country, beating up the game and driving it in to Gilles de Rais, while a priest of his chapel, Eustache Blanchet, went to Italy where workers in metals were legion.
While waiting, Gilles de Rais, not to be discouraged, continued his experiments, all of which missed fire.

He finally came to believe that the magicians were right after all, and that no discovery was possible without the aid of Satan.
And one night, with a sorcerer newly arrived from Poitiers, Jean de la Riviere, he betakes himself to a forest in the vicinity of the chateau de Tiffauges.

With his servitors Henriet and Poitou, he remains on the verge of the wood into which the sorcerer penetrates.

The night is heavy and there is no moon.

Gilles becomes nervous, scrutinizing the shadows, listening to the muted sounds of the nocturnal landscape; his companions, terrified, huddle close together, trembling and whispering at the slightest stirring of the air.