When young King Ghyll and his companions return triumphant from their quest to Zihaen and the battle that nearly cost the king's foster brother Olle his life, they look forward to a bit of peace. Instead, Ghyll finds his desk stacked with reports of giant wolves and monstrous birds terrorizing the outer provinces of his kingdom, and the local authorities demand he does something about it. Olle discovers his newly acquired estates lie in the heart of the wolf-plagued lands. When the king's brother decides to look over his domain and see what all the trouble is about, he soon finds out the monsters aren't the only threat. Meanwhile Zethir, the king's trusted spy, walks around with a dark secret he cannot divulge. He battles both inner torments and the Dar'khamorth assassins infesting the palace, and the whispering in his head drives him deeper and deeper into the darkness. The royal squire, Torril, disappears and war threatens... Intelligent rats beleaguer a nearby city-state... An allied ruler is murdered... To top it all, Queen Kerianna takes to her bed with pregnancy complications. That bit of peace is further away than ever.